hrvatski
Apart from the competition programme featuring Croatian feature-length films, the Pula Film Festival traditionally offers another programme presenting recent Croatian film production. In other words, films awarded at the Days of Croatian Film in Zagreb shall also be showcased in Pula. A special part of the programme is dedicated to films that were awarded at the 17th Days of Croatian Film that ran from 25 to 30 March 2008 in Croatia’s capital. This year the experimental film Lunch by Ana Hušman made an absolute triumph and won both a Grand Prix for best film and an Audience Award.
Just like last year, the films will be subtitled in English. The audience, as well as artistic directors and selectors of renowned international film festivals, shall have the opportunity to see best Croatian middle- and short-length feature, animated, documentary, experimental and appropriated films, as well as music videos. In the meantime, some of these films have already received awards at international film festivals, such as the animated film She Who Measures and Morana, awarded at recent festivals of animated film respectively in Zagreb and in Annecy.
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FIRST DAY SCREENING
Slučajni sin
(The Accidental Son)
Documentary film, 55 min, DV Cam
production Maxima film
directors Tomislav Mršić, Robert Zuber
screenplay Davor Šišmanović, Robert Zuber
cinematography Alan Stanković
editing Hrvoje Mršić
music Danijel Maoduš
SUMMARY: Robert Zuber’s documentary The Accidental Son is an autobiographical story. Robert is a foster child. Until recently, he did not attach much importance to this fact because his life was filled with care offered by his foster parents. However, after his foster mother deceased, the bureaucratic apparatus tried to convince him that he actually had no parents. On his 31st birthday, Robert decided to clear up his undefined family relations. He contacts his biological mother and tries to find out who his biological father is.
DIRECTOR: Tomislav Mršić was born in 1972 in Zagreb. He is the author of numerous acclaimed documentary films and broadcasts (Šala nije na liniji 310, Rio bravar, Čardak i na nebu i na zemlji). He works as an assistant director on feature films and series. Robert Zuber is a journalist and he works for the Croatian Television. He is a two-time winner of the Croatian Journalists’ Association Award. He tackles social and humanitarian issues, particularly in his broadcast entitled Mission. The Accidental Son is his second documentary, the first one being Na stanici u Puli.
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SECOND DAY SCREENING
Edo Maajka – Sevdah o rodama
(Edo Maajka – Love Song About Storks)
Documentary film, 52 min, Digi Beta
production Hrvatska televizija – Dokumentarni program
director Silvio Mirošničenko
screenplay Silvio Mirošničenko
cinematography Ivan Kovač, Damjan Petrović
editing Hrvoje Mršić, Nenad Vuković
music Edo Majka, Silvana Armenulić, Amira
SUMMARY: The documentary follows the rapper Edo Maajka from his home town Brčko in Bosnia and Herzegovina to Novi Pazar in Sandžak where he is to have his first concert in that part of Serbia. This is the first Croatian documentary centring on hip-hop. It reveals some of the unknown information about the popular rapper and composer Edo Maajka.
DIRECTOR: Silvio Mirošničenko has directed eighteen documentaries screened at renowned international and national festivals. Some of his work was awarded. He is one of the three scriptwriters for the feature film for children and youth Duh u močvari that achieved great success in Croatian cinemas in 2006.
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THIRD DAY SCREENING
Manire čine čovjeka – Ručak
(Lunch)
Experimental film, 15 min, Beta SP
production Studio Pangolin
director Ana Hušman
screenplay Ana Hušman
cinematography Ivan Slipčević
editing Iva Kraljević
animation Ana Hušman, Dina Rončević
additional animation Lala Raščić, Marko Rukavina, Maja Krišković, Nicole Hewitt
SUMMARY: There are various books describing rules for good manners – etiquette. It is often pointed out that their purpose is to help us better understand each other and make communication easier. Their purpose is also to give us more confidence when socializing with others. The film centres on lunch etiquette. Having lunch together creates a central stage on which we show others that we are well-mannered and civilized…
DIRECTOR: Ana Hušman was born in 1977 in Zagreb. She graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb, with a degree in multimedia art education. She has participated in numerous national and international exhibitions and festivals. Currently she works as an associate at the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb. She has received numerous national and international awards for her recent work. She has published her last two videos for EGOBOO.bits, under the terms of the GNU General Public License.
Bastion
(Bastion)
Experimental film, 30 min, Digi Beta
production Hrvatski filmski savez
director Zdravko Mustać
screenplay Zdravko Mustać
cast Barbara Prpić, Ivana Roščić
cinematography Boris Poljak
editing Dubravka Turić
music Matej Meštrović
SUMMARY: Two young women enjoy their passionate love affair. However, a violent event disrupts their harmonious relationship. We follow the creation and the break-up of a love story through ten vague pictures.
DIRECTOR: Zdravko Mustić was born in 1961 in Zadar. As a member of the forth generation of the Split school of alternative film, he made around twenty short alternative films in the eighties. In the last two decades he has been professionally involved in film production as well. He has directed more than twenty documentaries, video recordings, and short fiction films (Bouquet, Amen, Ludar, Nigredo, Rat za Harmagedon, Sjeti se Sali, Zrmanja i po / in situ, Morena, Sinaj, etc.), achieving success at national and international festivals. He has been awarded three Oktavijan Prizes.
Pitala si me
(She Has Asked Me)
Music video, 3 min 55 s, HDV
production Dim produkcija
director Dinko Klobučar
screenplay Dinko Klobučar
cinematography Petar Milić
editing Dinko Klobučar
animation Dinko Klobučar, Josip Klobučar, Boris Barna (design)
music Hladno pivo
SUMMARY: Through a simulation of a music box with real-life performers this music video follows the course of a love story…
DIRECTOR: Dinko Klobučar was born in 1980 in Zagreb. He studied for a degree in informatics, IT design programme, at the Polytechnic of Zagreb. He worked for two years in a photo studio and then another two years as an informatics teacher at Tesla Technical School. An area of his special concern is digital video and post-production, as well as 3D graphics and programming. He directed the music video My Way, Ruska and Mornarska majica, among many others.
Ovog puta ne možemo reći da nismo znali
(This time we can't say we didn't know)
Appropriated film, 3 min, Digi Beta
production Žimbra film
director Slaven Žimbrek
screenplay Slaven Žimbrek
cast Bjanka Auslender, Božo Švarc
cinematography Želimir Guberović, Predrag Bambić
editing Slaven Žimbrek
music Kristijan Lopešić, Slaven Žimbek (odabrali / selected by)
SUMMARY: From 2003 until today, in the Darfur region of western Sudan, the Sudanese army and paramilitaries have killed around 400 000 civilians and sent more than two million people from their homes. In September 2006, a photography exhibition entitled Darfur was opened in New York so as to educate the public about the genocide and humanitarian crisis in Darfur. The film was shot so as to warn Croatian public about the humanitarian disaster and to push it into action and stimulate it to visit the exhibition in Zagreb…
DIRECTOR: Slaven Žimbrek is an independent film director and producer. He has directed more than twenty short- and medium-length films (features, documentaries, appropriated films and music videos). He has been active in film production since 2004. Žimbrek studied at the New York Film Academy, as well as at the Film Department of the New York University’s School of Continuing and Professional Studies. He has been awarded at national and international film festivals.
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FOURTH DAY SCREENING
Krupni otpad
(Waste)
Short fiction film, 20 min, HDV
production Studio dim
director Igor Mirković
screenplay Igor Mirković
cast Elvis Bošnjak, Veronika Seferović, Marija Kohn, Lucija Šerbedžija
cinematography Silvestar Kolbas
editing Ivana Fumić
SUMMARY: Kralj, an energetic business man, unexpectedly falls into trouble: at the same moment both his wife and his mistress look through his carefully constructed lies. Actually, it is one of those days when everything goes wrong… The film is a story in which people don’t meet or talk, and try to solve their accumulated problems via SMS.
DIRECTOR: Igor Mirković is a TV-journalist and documentarist from Zagreb. He worked as a journalist and editor from 1989 to 2001, producing numerous documentary programmes and political magazines, in most part for the Croatian Television (broadcasts U potrazi, Javna stvar, 007, etc.) He has received a series of national and international awards for his documentary reports. He started directing documentaries in 1998. The films Novo, novo vrijeme (directed in cooperation with Rajko Grlić) and Sretno dijete were screened as part of the regular programme of Croatian cinemas and they have been among the most-seen Croatian films in the last few years. In 1999 he started working for the Motovun Film Festival as the member of the Festival’s creative team and currently he serves as Festival Director. He has directed the documentaries Orbanići Unplugged and Deseti film.
Ma sve će biti u redu
(It'll all be alright)
Short fiction film, 18 min, DV Cam
production Akademija dramske umjetnosti
director Goran Dević
screenplay Goran Dević
cast Krešimir Mikić, Rakan Rushaidat
cinematography Almir Fakić
editing Vladimir Gojun
SUMMARY: A story about two friends going on a trip. The two friends become accomplices to a crime…
DIRECTOR: Goran Dević was born in 1971 in Sisak. He studied for a degree in law, archaeology, and film and TV directing. He has shot two documentaries - Uvozne rane and Nemam ti šta reć’ lijepo. He made his feature directorial debut with Ma sve će biti u redu. His documentaries have been awarded at several international festivals. With director Zvonimir Jurić he wrote the script for the feature-length film Crnci that they directed jointly.
Morana
(Morana)
Animated film, 12 min, 35 mm
production Kenges
director Simon Bogojević Narath
screenplay Simon Bogojević Narath
editing Simon Bogojević Narath
animation Kristijan Dulić
additional animation Darko Kokić, Goran Mitrović
music Hrvoje Štefotić
SUMARY: In Old Slavic mythology Morana was the goddess of evil, death, darkness, underworld, the personification of winter. The root of the word, mora, means nightmare, trouble, suppression… Through two parallel stories, centuries apart from one another, the metaphor of Morana defines the destiny of two men…
DIRECTOR: Simon Bogojević Narath was born in 1968 in Zagreb. He studied for a degree in painting at the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb. He’s been concerned with experimental films, video and videoinstalations from 1990. Three years later he also engaged in 2D and 3D computer animation. He has been working as an artistic director for the Kenges studio from 1997. Since 2004 he has worked as a senior lecturer at the Split University’s Art Academy, where he teaches the course on Electronic Animation, and at the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb. He directed a series of animated and experimental films (Hand Of The Master, Bardo Thodol, Plasticat, Levijatan, Morana), as well as TV theme songs (TV programme Kokice at HTV). His films have regulary received prestigious national and international awards.
Ona koja mjeri
(She Who Measures)
Animated film, 6 min 40 s, Beta SP
production Kenges
director Veljko Popović
screenplay Veljko Popović
animation Marin Kovačić
additional animation Milivoj Popović, Kristijan Dulić
scenery Milivoj Popović
music Hrvoje Štefotić
SUMMARY: Are we really free? Or are we slaves to consumption and limitations of the society we were born into? Is there a chance to escape?
DIRECTOR: Veljko Popović was born in 1979 in Split. He received the City of Split scholarship to study for a degree in painting at the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb. He graduated in 2003. He has been professionally engaged in computer graphics since 1998. Since 2003 he has been working as a senior graphic designer at Lemonade Productions, a computer games development studio. In 2005 he co-founded Lemonade 3D, a 2D and 3D graphics and animation studio. He works as an assistant lecturer at the Split University’s Art Academy where he teaches a course on Electronic Animation.
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special screening
Zagorka
(Zagorka)
documentary feature, 87 min, Video (HD)
production Fade In, HRT, Zagreb film
producers Magdalena Petrović, Igor Grubić, Vinko Brešan, Vanja Sutlić
director Biljana Čakić Veselič
screenplay Biljana Čakić Veselič
cast Klara Justić, Irena Hihlik, Vedrana Ćetković, Nada Gačešić Livaković, Nika Jelaska, Bojan Navojec, Vesna Tominac Matačić, Lucija Barišić, Zvonko Novosel, Pero Kvrgić, Žarko Potočnjak, Željko Vukmirica, Zvonko Zečević, Urša Raukar, Kristina Krepela, Mira Bosanac, Dubravko Sidor, Jagoda Kralj Novak, Mladen Martić, Ana Šetka, Nebojša Borojević, Ivan Talan
cinematography Boris Krstinić, Jasenko Rasol
editing Miran Miošić, Morana Komljenović
production design Velimir Domitrović, Lidija Janković
costume design Vjera Ivanković
music Marko Josipović
make up Zvjezdana Mikulić, Verica Grgurić
special effects Zvonimir Mikšić
SUMMARY: The subject of the documentary feature film Zagorka is Marija Jurić Zagorka (1873-1957), the first female journalist in South Eastern Europe, most read Croatian female writer, author of the novel Grička vještica (The Witch of Grič), chronicler of the city of Zagreb and one of the most engaged women’s rights activists; a woman ahead of her time in many ways. The quest for information on the life of Zagorka begins with a text from her autobiography Što je moja krivnja (What Is My Guilt). In this text, Zagorka requests and it is her last wish «to summon a jury and that her work, which has been attacked all of her life, be tried publicly». During her lifetime, and fifty years after her death, she never received such an opportunity. Up to now. The film portrays her difficult life path, from a childhood in a dysfunctional family and a forced marriage, to the struggle with newspaper editors for the acknowledgement of her work as a journalist and her death under mysterious circumstances. The film also offers archive recordings from Zagorka's time, thus providing the historical context in which she worked. On the other hand, living witnesses of the last years of her life tell about the loneliness and isolation in which she lived as an old woman...
DIRECTOR: Biljana Čakić Veselič was born in Vinkovci in 1969. She became engaged in filmmaking as a student at the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb. After graduation, she studied Film Arts in Denmark (European Film College). Her documentary film Dečko kojem se žurilo (The Boy Who Was in a Rush) earned a number of acknowledgements in both her home-country and abroad, among others the Grand Prix at the Days of Croatian Film and the Oktavijan Award, as well as an award at the Leipzig Festival. She also directed the feature film Jasnovidka and the segment Choreography at Sea from the omnibus Über die Grenze - Fünf Ansichten von Nachbarn.
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Jury Awards of the 17th Days of Croatian Film
Grand Prix for Best Film
Experimental film LUNCH by Ana Hušman
Best Director Award
Goran Dević for the short feature film MA SVE ĆE BITI U REDU
Best Script Award
Igor Mirković for the short feature film WASTE
Best Editor Award
Hrvoje Mršić and Nenad Vuković for the documentary film EDO MAJKA – SEVDAH O RODAMA
Best Sound Award
Hrvoje Štefotić for MORANA and SHE WHO MEASURES
Best Cinematography Award
Boris Poljak for the experimental film BASTION
Best Debut Award
Veljko Popović for the animated film SHE WHO MEASURES
Best Producer Award
Kenges for the films MORANA and SHE WHO MEASURES
OKTAVIJAN prizes granted by the Croatian Film Critics Association:
category: short feature film
WASTE, directed by Igor Mirković
category: documentary film
SLUČAJNI SIN, directed by Tomislav Mršić and Robert Zuber
category: animated film
MORANA, directed by Simon Bogojević Narath
category: experimental film
LUNCH, directed by Ana Hušman
category: appropriated film
THIS TIME WE CAN'T SAY WE DIDN'T KNOW, directed by Slaven Žimbrek
category: music video
PITALA SI ME (Hladno pivo), directed by Dinko Klobučar
AUDIENCE AWARD for best film
Experimental film LUNCH, directed by Ana Hušman