Everything Set for the Opening of the 73rd Pula Film Festival: Guide for Festival Days

The 73rd Pula Film Festival will open on Thursday, 9 July, when the Arena will welcome the 800,000th viewer of the film The Wedding. This year’s edition of the Festival brings two most watched Croatian films in the last 30 years, while the film How the War Started on My Island will close the Festival. The seven Festival days abound in film and side programmes, and everyone will be able to find something for themselves. We are bringing a guide to help you find your way in the most intensive film week in Pula.

OPENING CEREMONY AT THE ARENA

The warm-up for the opening ceremony for the 73rd Pula Film Festival will start on Thursday at 8.15 p.m. outside the Arena with the performance of the Wind Orchestra of the City of Pula; and we will be welcoming numerous guests from film, culture and social life. The big crew of the film The Wedding will walk the red carpet, and the film will also open the Festival and mark a new record – The Wedding will surpass the number of 800,000 viewers in Croatian cinemas at the most beautiful cinema under the stars. Livio Morosin and a number of others will perform at the opening ceremony, and you can find all the details here. Following the Arena, all interested members of the audience will move to the Festival Centre, located at the Home of Croatian Veterans, for the music programme with some of the best DJs continuing late into the night.

Main Programme: Croatian Film

MORNINGS AT THE FESTIVAL CENTRE

Every day, from 10 a.m. to noon, the Festival Centre will be the location of presenting film crews of films in the Main Programme screened the previous evening. Every morning, the audience will have a chance to listen to filmmakers, directors, and actors and actresses of films screened the previous evening, and from noon to the High Noon programme, a critics’ duel where eminent film critics and journalists will face off their opinions on the films in the Croatian Programme. The programme and events at the Festival Centre are open to the public, and the schedule of events is available here.

Main Programme: Minority Co-productions

FESTIVAL LOCATIONS AND PROGRAMMES

All films in the Croatian Programme are screened at the Arena and the Istrian National Theatre, while films in the section Minority Co-productions are screened at Valli Cinema and the Istrian National Theatre, with announcements from members of film crews.

Films in the Regional Programme are screened at 8 p.m. at Valli Cinema, with conversations with film crews following the screenings. PoPular Pula is an essential programme for film hits screened at the Arena later in the evenings, and the always popular programme Ambrela, held at Ambrela Beach, will have its audience, as well as the programme Time Machine, bringing a number of restored classics to Valli Cinema. This year, Pula Film Festival is discovering the work of Vlasta Lah, Argentine film director od Croatian origin, and one of the pioneers of Latin American cinema.

The film programme and screening schedule are available on the Festival website, where you can also download the programme booklet.

CHILDREN’S AND YOUTH PROGRAMME

The Main Programme includes three new Croatian children’s films, and the Arena will host two special film evenings entirely dedicated to the youngest audience. The feature animated film The Crystal Planet, directed by Arsen Anton Ostojić, will have its premiere on Friday, and will be followed by The Second Diary of Paulina P., directed by Neven Hitrec. The film Extraordinary, directed by Marina Andree Škop and Vanda Raýmanová, will be screened on Sunday, followed by the German film Momo, which was filmed in Pula. On both evenings, the famous Lima Len from Galižana will perform before the film screenings, and the youngest visitors are in for a number of other surprises as well. A special programme at Ambrela is dedicated to children, and will see screenings of restored children’s classics such as Train in the Snow, which is celebrating its 50th year from the start of distribution, Sky Blue Seagull, and the film Good Luck, Kekec!

TICKETS FOR EVENINGS AT THE ARENA

Entry to all programmes, excluding the evenings at the Arena, is free. Tickets for evenings at the Arena can be purchased online, at the Festival Info Point at Giardini, or outside the Arena. Tickets for screenings on the day are also valid for city bus transport from 7 p.m. to 4 a.m. the next day. Tickets for individual film evenings at the Arena are six euro, and a set of tickets for all evenings at the Arena are 35 euro, with special benefits that you can learn more about here.

END-OF-DAY PARTIES

At the end of each day, the Festival Centre will become the location for amazing concerts that will start at 11 p.m., with free entry. We will be dancing to music by some of the best musicians from Croatia and the region, such as Partibrejkers, Sakupljači perja, Sara Renar, Let 3, and Kiklop. All concerts will be followed by DJ performances, with DJ Mario Kovač closing the Festival.

PULA TRAVELS
Parallel with the Festival, the programme Pula Travels will start, and films in the Main Programme of Pula Film Festival will be screened across Croatia at more than 30 locations. This initiative aims at providing additional visibility to domestic film, and in cooperation with the Croatian Independent Cinemas Network, other independent cinemas and numerous summer cinemas, enable the films to be screened to as many audiences as possible. This programme is gaining larger audiences in Croatian cinemas every year, with more than 7000 viewers last year.

Traffic regulation for the duration of Pula Film Festival

From 7 p.m. to 2.30 a.m., from 9 to 16 July 2026, traffic of motor vehicles is prohibited in the part of Istarska Street from the intersection with Dubrovačka bratovština Street to the Nimfej Square, Flavijevska Street, Amfiteatarska Street, Nella Milotti Promenade, part of Scalierova Street up to the intersection with Dubrovačka bratovština Street, and in Istarska Street up to the intersection with Stiglicheva Street, Nezakcijska Street, Ozad Arene, Gladijatorska Street, Varaždinska Street up to the intersection with Scalierova Street to Croazia Street, Učki uspon from Flavijevska Street up to Gladijatorska Street, and Scaleta Street. Roundabout routes via other streets are in effect for the duration of the traffic closure.