JERNEJ JELEN: SHADOW OF A CHARACTER - INTIMATE PORTRAITS OF TRUTH
VALLI CINEMA
OPENING: 4 July 2025
In a world ruled by perfection, masks, and artificial displays, Shadow of a Character looks for the opposite – the quiet, true, and human beauty that doesn’t scream, beauty that isn’t immaculate, but real. The project explores the inner world of actors, who stand in front of the camera with no make-up, no stylisation, no predefined roles. They are not acting, they are existing. Just like they are.
Jernej Jelen has a degree in visual communications and marketing, and is a photographer specialised in portraits, fashion, and street photography. He started his career at Ljubljana Fashion Week and Mecedes-Benz Fashion Week Ljubljana. He worked with top names such as Fabio Mancini, Marcel Floruss, and Xenia Adonts, and actors Milan Marić, Momčilo Otašević, and Daniel Jesch of the Vienna Burgtheater. His work has been published in magazines such as Elle, Grazia, and Gloss. He has had three solo exhibitions.
PAVEL POSAVEC: PANORAMAS OF THE EVERYDAY
MAKINA GALLERY
OPENING: 9 July 2025 – 9:00 p.m.
After years of absence, Pavel Posavec returns to the Zagreb audience with a new series of panoramic photographs inspired by the work of Swedish photographer Jens Olof Lathstein, known for his photography surveys of post-transition and post-war spaces of Eastern and Southeastern Europe. By choosing to use the Widelux panoramic analogue camera, the author incorporates purposeful distortions into the images, and later time, or duration, further enhanced by the possibilities of the wide shot.
MEDITERRANEAN 2035 - THROUGH THE EYES OF CREATIVES / THE NEXT CHAPTER & NOMAD MOVIE ART RETROSPECTIVE
HUiU GALLERY
OPENING: 10 July 2025 at 8 p.m.
After three successful editions of the NoMAD MOVIE ART project – in which Croatian authors interpreted movie classics – this year we shift from nostalgic portrayals of iconic Mediterranean films to personal, creative visions of the region today and in the future. Mediterranean 2035 merges retrospection with speculation, focusing on the present and the personal experience of today’s Mediterranean. Seven artists from the Mediterranean – Franka Tretinjak (Pula), Lucija Bužančić (Split), Luka Duplančić (Split), Goran Radošević (Split), Ivan Milas (Split), Vjeran Juhas (Pula), and Boris Pehar (Mostar) – were invited to share their visions through photography, design, illustration, or typography, presented as limited-edition digital prints. Alongside new artworks, selected interpretations of Mediterranean film classics from past editions of NoMAD MOVIE ART will also be exhibited – a contrast to contemporary visions that opens space for personal reflection, interpretation, and welcomes open dialogue. The exhibition is open throughout the festival and all artworks will be available for purchase.
CINEMANIAC > THINK FILM 2025
BEHIND THE TIDE: SEA OF IMAGES
Tina Gverović, Siniša Ilić, Stefan Kruse, Elena Mazzi, Renata Poljak, Oliver Ressler, Petar Trinajstić, Mladen Tudor
NOVO GALLERY
OPENING: 11 July 2025
CURATOR: Branka Benčić
IN COOPERATION WITH: Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art Rijeka, Pula Film Festival, Metamedij Association, Apoteka – Space for Contemporary Art
The twenty-fourth edition of the exhibition and research project based on reflecting on the position of moving images and contemporary art, Cinemaniac > Think Film, brings to the side programme of Pula Film Festival a selection of works from the recent international exhibition Behind the Tide of the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art Rijeka. The selection focuses on the works of eight artists made primarily in the medium of film and photography. By observing the immediate surroundings as a space that entwines historical perspectives, everyday events, and the imagination of the future, the exhibition Behind the Tide: Sea of Images directs attention to the layered contexts that frame the complex dynamics of maritime logistics, which, as the foundation of the modern society, geopolitics, and economy, are structured around a series of conditions, positions, and ideas specifically shaped by the sea. The selection spans from themes of labour and portrayals of life and work by and on the sea as fundamental conditions of existence, through current phenomena including contemporary scenes of migration, ecology, landscapes as sites of exploitation and extraction. Focusing on the correlation of image and the world, the moving images establish a relationship to current film and artistic currents, new visual languages of contemporary art and how these entwine in the views on current aesthetic phenomena and social issues.
72 FRAMES – A JOURNEY THROUGH THE HISTORY OF PULA FILM FESTIVAL
ECPD - REGIONAL CENTRE FOR DEVELOPMENT STUDIES
OPENING: 12 July 2025 – 8 p.m.
The exhibition is a unique artistic journey through the history of Pula Film Festival told in ceramics. In a recognisable blend of film and visual art, 64 authors made 72 pieces of ceramic art – sculptures and ceramic paintings – inspired by films that have marked the festival at the Pula Arena, from its very beginning to its latest edition. The first frame takes us to 1954 with the film Vesna, the first winner of the Pula Film Festival, and the last frame closes the circle in a symbolic way with films from 2024. This exhibition is a retrospective of sorts, and at the same time a celebration of creativity, togetherness, and lasting inspiration that film gives to artists across generations.
