Take a look at the festival catalogue (PDF):
Introduction

National programme

International programme

Take a look at the list of the awards in the National programme.

Film Critic's Jury Vote

1. Two Lovers – 4,5
2. Burning Plain – 4,33
3. Absurdistan – 4,25
4. Ahillles and the Tortoise – 4,17
5. Captive – 4,0
6. Bellamy – 3,86
7. Tulpan – 3,83
8. Eden is West – 3,67
9. Transsiberian – 3,5
10. Brideshead Revisited– 3,29
11. The Killer– 3,29
12. French Gigolo – 3,17
13. Landscapes no. 2 – 2,83
14. I Loved You So Long – 2,67
15. The Countess – 2,6
16. Bluebeeard – 2,4

Young Cinephiles Jury Vote

1. Eden is West  – 45
2. Two Lovers  - 41
3. Captive - 39
4. Landscapes no. 2 - 37
5. Ahillles and the Tortoise - 37
6. Brideshead Revisited - 36
7. I Loved You So Long  - 34
8. Burning Plain - 32
9. French Gigolo - 32
10. Tulpan - 30
11. Transsiberian - 30
12. The Countess - 29
13. Bellamy - 28
14. Absurdistan - 28
15. The Killer - 28
16. Bluebeeard - 23

The National Programme of the 56th Pula Film Festival , that will be held from 18 to 25 July, shall present a record ten films.

Eight 35mm films shall be presented in the ancient Roman Arena, that can host up to 5000 spectators, and the two HD films at the new cinema, named after Pula born diva Alida Valli.

Pula Film Festival, founded in 1954, is the oldest and the most popular Croatian film festival (43 800 spectators at the 55th edition).

Eight Croatian films will have their world premieres in Pula: I believe in angels (Vjerujem u andjele) by Niksa Svilicic, The Blacks (Crnci) by Zvonimir Juric and Goran Devic, The Land of Wonders (U zemlji cudesa) by Dejan Sorak, The Man Under the Table (Covjek ispod stola) by Neven Hitrec, Donkey (Kenjac) by Antonio Nuic, Closeness (Blizine) by Zdravko Mustac, Love Life of a Gentle Coward by Pavo Marinkovic and Zagreb Tales – omnibus  of 9 short films, one of which (Ciao mama by Goran Odvorcic) was in Cannes Official Competition.

Two other films in National Competition are Metastases (Metastaze) by Branko Schmidt, premiered at the Moscow Film Festival, and Penelope (Penelopa) by Ben Ferris, premiered at One Take Film Festival in Zagreb. Penelope and Closeness are in HD, while the other films are on 35mm.

The National Programme jury members are: director Zrinko Ogresta, actress Vlasta Knezovic, editor Josip Podvorac, writer Vlatko Perkovic and film critic Bruno Kragic.

The Festival shall also screen the best Croatian shorts and documentaries, pay tribute to the winners of Croatian film awards for life achievements Relja Basic and Bogdan Zizic, but also present excerpts from five Croatian feature-length films in production (Work in Progress).

CROATIAN FILM FOCUS

The Croatian Films Focus of the 56th Pula Film Festival will be held from 21 till 25 July 2009. In this programme Focus participants will have the possibility to see all the new Croatian feature films and the very best of new Croatian documentaries and shorts in just 4 days. Some of the screenings are in the regular Festival schedule, while some screenings will be organized especially for foreign festival directors, selectors, journalist and critics – participants of the Croatian Film Focus.

The Focus will start on Tuesday , 21 July 2009, at 19,30 in the Festival Centre, and will end on Saturday, 25 July at 12.00, after the round table on new Croatian Cinema. The Festival closing ceremony will be held on Saturday 25 July at 21.30 in the Arena.

On Saturday, 25 July 2009, at the Valli Cinema the Croatian Film Marathon shall take place and screen all films from the National Programme of the 56th Festival.

Find out more about the films in National programme.

This year the Pula Film Festival introduces the European Film Directors cycle. The first retrospective of the cycle is dedicated to a famed Spanish filmmaker, Oscar- winner Pedro Almodóvar. As part of the retrospective, organized in cooperation with the Spanish Embassy in Zagreb, 10 films from Almodóvar's early and middle phases, marked by comedies and melodramas respectively, shall be presented.

The films to be screened are the following: Labyrinth of Passions (1982.), Dark Habits (1983) What Have I Done to Deserve This? (1984), Matador (1986), Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (1988), Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! (1989), Kika (1993), Flower of My Secret (1995), Live Flesh (1997) and All About My Mother (1999).

Find out more about the films in Almodovar retrospective.

The International Programme of the 56th Pula Film Festival shall present 20 films, selected from the most prestigious world film festivals and from submissions made by producers. The films shall be screened at Kastel and in the Valli Cinema as part of Europolis-Meridians section and in the Arena as part of the PoPular Programme. The programme is mostly composed of genre films (crime films, comedies, melodramas...) and special emphasis this year is on French cinema.

The fifth edition of the Europolis-Meridians Programme opens on July 11th at Kastel with Eden is West (Eden à l'Ouest), a drama that closed this year’s Berlin Film Festival, directed by Greek-French veteran filmmaker Costa Gavras, centred around adventures of a young illegal immigrant in the European Union. French director Claude Chabrol, last year’s Pula laureate, shall be presented with the crime film Bellamy, the filmmaker’s first collaboration with Gerard Depardieu playing the part of the famous Parisian inspector Bellamy who takes up a mysterious murder case while on summer holidays. i

Find out more about the films in the International programme.

Zlatko Vidackovic

Pula Film Festival Artistic Director
Nazorova 37
HR-10000 Zagreb

Hrvatska / Croatia

You can also give the screener to our artistic director during the festivals in Berlin, Cannes, Venice or Rome. To schedule a meeting, please write to: artistic.director@pulafilmfestival.hr

Please note that our festival is a summer, mainly open-air festival, made for the general public. We especially like quality genre films (comedies, thrillers, melodramas...). We screen only Croatian premieres.

There is no entry fee nor entry form. Please enclose your direct or mobile phone and e-mail.  If your film is selected, we will contact you asap. For issues regarding the international competition, please write to: artistic.director@pulafilmfestival.hr