Five Days of PRO Industry Programme of Even More Events for Film Professionals
Pula Film Festival will take place from 9-16 July 2026, and Pula Pro will run from 12 to 16 July, in the second part of the Festival. The industry programme brings more and more film professionals years after year with the aim of stronger networking and education about the many themes concerning all phases of developing and marketing of films and series. Authors’ Room is this year’s novelty, a partnership project realised in cooperation with the portal Drame.hr, focusing on presenting plays to be adapted into screenplays for feature films. Accreditations for film professionals opens on 23 June via Eventival
At the 73rd Pula Film Festival, the Pula PRO industry programme will have five categories. Developing and marketing of projects consists of workshops and pitching programmes aimed at supporting authors in different phases of development. Pula Film Form consists of talks, meetings, and panels with participation from representatives of domestic and international audiovisual community. In cooperation with the Croatian Independent Cinemas Network, Pula PRO will bring together a number of domestic cinema exhibitors at the Festival, and their jury will present the award as an incentive for film distribution. First Time on Film successfully continues for the second year in a row with the aim of supporting the promotion of actors whose first time on film is seen in this year’s festival selection. The Student Programme is developed in cooperation with students of the Academy of Dramatic Art in Zagreb, and aims at including students in the events of the industry programme.
“We are continuing with the development of quality and intensive workshop programmes again this year, with emphasis on screenplay development and quality cooperation of authors with the aim of creating a durable enabling framework for supporting authors in Croatia. The new Authors’ Room programme is an important step forward in terms of strengthening the professional community, as it opens up space for exchanging ideas and deepening cooperation within author’s teams, but also among all programme participants as well. In line with the focus on screenplay development, we have established cooperation with the editorial board of the portal Drame.hr, which select the best plays with potential to be adapted into feature film screenplays, while the Festival is organising the presentation of projects, creating new opportunities for authors to connect with producers and directors. This year’s novelty is that we will be opening the Pula PRO Centre, a space for accredited film professionals available for independent work, meetings, and contacts during the Pula PRO programme,” said Selma Mehadžić, head of Pula PRO.
DEVELOPING AND MARKETING OF PROJECTS
The Script Your Hit programme will run for the fourth year in a row, and is aimed at developing screenplays of domestic feature films that successfully combine commercial and authorial sensibilities, and is organised in cooperation with the Croatian Screenwriters and Playwrights Guild (SPID). This year we saw a record number of applications, as many as 45, twice as many as last year. Six projects have been selected: Chubby (Luka Galešić), Holy Sinners (Nina Mitrović and Hrvoje Osvadić), Nativity in Bura (Đurđica Čilić and Srđan Ćesić), Heroes (Ante Marin), and Luna and Bruna (Gloria Dubelj and Iva Šimić Šakoranja). This spring in Zagreb and later online, for the second time in a row, the workshop for screenplay development was held under the mentorship of screenwriter Ljubica Luković, director Vinko Brešan, and director and screenwriter Mitja Okorn. The pitching will be held at the Festival, with producer Vanja Jambrović working with the participants on preparing their pitch. The best project will be selected by a three-member jury: director Marina Andree Škop, director Igor Šeregi, and International Theatrical Director (Blitz Film & Video Distribution) Ines Žuljević. The winner will receive a prize of 10.000 euro from the distribution company Blitz and the Croatian Audiovisual Centre.
The pitching programme Work in Progress, aimed at Croatian and minority feature projects in the phase of postproduction, will see participation from four authors of selected projects: Tamara Kotevska with the project Man vs. Flock, Ivana Škrabalo with the project Five Days at Sea, Filip Mojzeš with the project First Week of August, and Saša Poštić with the project Rozalina. Their mentor for pitching preparation will be producer Vanja Jambrović, and they will pitch to an international jury made up of director, producer, and selector at Locarno Film Festival Stefan Ivančić, managing director of the international sales agency Bendita Films Luis Renart, and producer Tina Tišljar (Eclectica). The first prize is 6,000 euro and is sponsored by Brijuni Rivijera, while services of image postproduction by Color Gradin Academy make up the second prize.
Authors’ Room is a new, three-day workshop programme within Pula PRO dedicated to the process of writing screenplays for film and television projects, based on the collaborative creative process of writers’ room. The workshop will be mentored by directors and screenwriters Goran Stanković and Vladimir Tagić, with participation from authors’ teams of four selected projects: Andrija Mardešić and Rea Rajčić with the project King Arthur’s Night, Espi Tomičić, Sara Grgurić, Karla Leko, and Dana Budisavljević with the project Growing Up, Petar Vukičević and Marta Bregeš with the project Land of Bulls, and Lana Kosovac, Amanda Prenkaj, and Matija Drniković with the project Good Enough.
In cooperation with the portal Drame.hr, finalists of the competition for the adaptation of a play into a feature film screenplay will be presented. The jury, made up of director Snježana Tribuson, playwright and editor of the portal Lana Šarić, and producer of the portal Mirta Puhlovski, selected three plays: Naslov by Vanja Jovanović and Petra Pleše, Marija Antoaneta za ovo nema vremena by Sanja Milardović, and Suza za umjetno oko by Ružica Gašperov. The authors will present their projects at the pitching, with the aim of connecting with film professionals, and the best project will receive a cash prize.
PULA FILM FORUM
As part of Pula Film Forum, prominent film professionals will gather to discuss four interesting and important topics. The Festival will welcome Monica Felea, the winner of this year’s EFM Distributor Award and co-founder of Bad Unicorn, the leading film distribution company in Romania. The lecture Good practice example: Distribution of independent film will focus on how to successfully position and distribute independent, domestic, and arthouse films within the multiplex system, how to attract younger audiences, and how to effectively programme and position these films within the independent cinemas network.
The lecture and conversation Children’s film – Investment in the future is motivated by new successes of domestic children’s films (as many as three films in the main programme this year) and the new Specialised public call for screenplay and project development offered by the Croatian Audiovisual Centre. Ljubica Luković, who wrote the screenplay for the hit film How I Learned to Fly, will give the introductory lecture about the specific characteristics, formal framework, and requirements for children’s film, followed by a discussion with the audience about the situation in children’s film in the region.
The growing influence of artificial intelligence on domestic and European film industry will be the topic of the panel AI in film – Challenges and advantages. The discussion will focus on the possibilities AI can bring to film art and audiovisual production across all phases of development to postproduction, as well as a number of current issues relating to authorship, copyright, ethical challenges, and the position of film authors and creative workers in the context of rapid development of AI technology. The panelists will be Dario Bojanjac, PhD, associate professor at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing of the University of Zagreb, Igor Gliha, PhD, full professor at the Faculty of Law of the University of Zagreb, and Jasna Nanut, film director and president of the Croatian Film Directors’ Guild.
Directors and screenwriters Vladimir Tagić and Goran Stanković (Operation Sabre, Morning Changes Everything) will give the lecture Work in a writers’ room, intended for a wider audience, especially screenwriters, directors, and producers. The conversation will focus on explaining the process of writing and the concept of working in a writers’ room, based on the experience of the speakers.
FIRST TIME ON FILM
The second edition of the First Time on Film programme is intended for debutant actors whose first time on film is seen in this year’s festival selection. The programme continues its development as a platform for supporting young actors at the start of their film careers. The carefully designed workshop, mentored by casting director Timka Grin and talent agent Anila Gajević will offer the participants an opportunity to earn how to prepare for auditions and castings in a quality manner, present themselves to directors and producers in a professional manner, and how to create a compelling self-tape. The workshop will be led by actress Katarina Madirazza, and the participants will be Anđela Alavirević (Three Weeks After), Vid Bešlić (Women, Loonies and a Few Good Gays), Lea Cok (White Wash at Ninety), Dora Dimić Rakar (Women, Loonies and a Few Good Gays), Đorđe Galić (Beautiful Evening, Beautiful Day), Petja Golec Horvat (Desire Lines), Ramona Ivanda (The Second Diary of Paulina P.), Gavrilo Jović (Petty Thieves), Rok Juričić (Desire Lines), Igor Jurinić (Women, Loonies and a Few Good Gays), Tit Medvešek (Women, Loonies and a Few Good Gays), Ana Topolko (The Second Diary of Paulina P.), and Ana Marija Veselčić (God Will Not Help and Honey Bunny)
AWARD OF THE CROATIAN INDEPENDENT CINEMAS NETWORK
The Award of the Croatian Independent Cinema Network will be presented for Best Croatian Film for the fourth time for Best Croatian Film and for the best film in the Greater Adria programme. Representatives of the Croatian Independent Cinemas Network will be guests at the Festival, and the jury made up of Vesna Bičak-Dananić (Zelina Cinema – Open University Sv. Ivan Zelina), Miroslav Perošević (Novska Cinema – Open University Novska), and Nedjeljko Pajtak (30. svibnja Cinema – Open University Daruvar) will select the best films they think will draw the attention of cinema audiences. The cooperation with the Croatian Independent Cinema Network is aimed at contributing to quality communication and cooperation of cinemas and distributers, and providing a concrete example to impact further positive practices in film distribution. In cooperation with media partners Jutarnji list and Tportal, the Festival has secured prizes in the form of advertising space, while the cinema exhibitors will secure fifteen big screens in the fist month of distribution.
STUDENT PROGRAMME
The Student Programme is a competition programme, and will present short films produced by partnership film education institutions from the region (Serbia, Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Albania, Romania). Following from last year’s positive experiences, and once again in cooperation with students of the Department of Production at the Academy of Dramatic Art, students from Croatia and the region will actively participate in all events of this year’s Pula Film Festival industry programme. The goal of the programme is student networking, raising the level of information on topics from the industry, and including and motivating students to participate in all Pula PRO programmes, as well as to connect with film professionals. The students will also have time to visit the pitching sessions in the Pula PRO programme, which will give them insight into the current trends in the film industry in Croatia.
YOUNG CINEPHILES
In cooperation with the Croatian Audiovisual Centre, the Festival presents the Young Cinephiles programme, aimed at young cinephiles who will actively participate in the Festival and watch current domestic and international films, take part in expert discussions and lectures, and have an opportunity to meed authors and professionals from the audiovisual industry. The programme will be led by distinguished film critic Silvestar Mileta, with guests experts in film and the audiovisual industry. Through conversations, analyses, and discussions, the participants will develop critical thinking, adopt tools of film analysis, and gain insight into contemporary film practices and tendencies. The programme will end with an open debate about the films screened in the Main Programme of the Festival.
CALL FOR ACCREDITATIONS FOR FILM PROFESSIONALS
The call for accreditations for film professionals is now open, and accreditation requests are available at the EVENTIVAL platform. Approved professional accreditations will be printed and available for collection at the Festival Center, located at the Home of Croatian Veterans (Leharova 1, Pula) for the duration of the 73rd Pula Film Festival, from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., from 9 to 16 July 20206.
Request for PROFESSIONAL ACCREDITATIONS
The Pula PRO programme will be held at the Archeological Museum of Istria, Youth Centre, and the Festival Centre (Home of Croatian Veterans), and starting this year, the Pula PRO Centre, located at the Student Club (University of Pula) will be open to all accredited guest.
