The Croatian Independent Cinemas Network Award, established last year, presented by the representatives of independent cinemas to the best Croatian film, is as important as the contribution in the discussion on the potential of the Croatian Independent Cinemas Network. This year, the same jury will present the award to a film in the international programme as well. The awards present an incentive to future film distribution in the form of ensuring advertising space and a minimal number of cinemas within the Croatian Independent Cinema Network in the first week of distribution. With this cooperation with the Croatian Independent Cinemas Network, Pula Film Festival seeks to contribute to quality communication and cooperation between cinemas and distributers and provide a concrete example to impact further positive practices in film distribution.
JURY:
Maja Holek
Maja Holek holds a degree in French and Croatian Language and Literature. After working in a school, she became the head of music and performing activities of Open University Koprivnica and worked in organising cultural activities at the “Domoljub Hall”. At the same time, she also worked on organising the programmes within the complimentary activities of Velebit Cinema. In 2015 she was the president of the Koprivnica Culture Council. Since 2018, she has been the managing director of the Open University Koprivnica, which manages Velebit Cinema, but still runs its entire programme. In 2019 she attended “Bologna Innovation Lab”, organised by the network Europa Cinemas. In 2022, Velebit Cinema became a full-fledged member of Europa Cinemas. She is currently a member of the Koprivnica Culture Council, and has been a member of the Board of Directors of the Croatian Independent Cinema Network since 2019.
Jelena Svirčić
Jelena Svirčić (1982) graduated in journalism from the Faculty of Political Science in Zagreb. She has worked in journalism since her student days, and has worked with various independent media in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina for a number of years. Since 2014 she has worked with a number of film festivals (Zagreb Film Festival, Motovun Film Festival, KinoKino Film Festival, Subversive Film Festival, and others) as head of press office and in PR. She is head of PR at Restart and permanent external associate of Zagreb Film Festival and Subversive Film Festival. Since 2019 she has been the coordinator of the film programme at Fortress of Culture in Šibenik’s House of Art Arsen and Barone Fortress.
Nataša Šimunov
Nataša Šimunov was born in Pula in 1983. She graduated from the Pula Gymnasium and enrolled in the textile and fashion design programme of the Faculty of Natural Sciences and Engineering in Ljubljana. She soon changed course and graduated in culture and tourism from the Communication Studies and Information Sciences of the University of Zadar. She has volunteered and worked at a number of film festivals in Croatia and abroad (Motovun Film Festival, Zagreb DOX, Zagreb Film Festival, Mediterranean Film Festival Split, New York International Children’s Film Festival). In the summer of 2008, she started working at the Public Institution Pula Film Festival as an assistant in the Production Department, and later also at Valli Cinema. In 2014 she became head of production at the Public Institution Pula Film Festival and was a long-time producer of Pula Film Festival. Since October 2021 she has been the head of Valli Cinema. During her work at
the Public Institution Pula Film Festival, she attended a number of courses and seminars in Croatia and abroad, such as “Bologna Innovation Lab”, organised by the network Europa Cinemas, Art + Cinema in Venice, organised by the International Confederation of Arthouse Cinemas (CICAE), and a four-week workshop on digital photography at the New York Film Academy. She was a member of the jury of the European Children’s Film Association (ECFA) at the 36th International Festival for Young Film Lovers LUCAS. From 2016 to 2023 she was a member and president of the Culture Council of the City of Pula for performing, drama, and film arts. She is a member of the Croatian Producers Association.
