In response to the proposal to change the concept of the Pula Film Festival

The Pula Film Festival is a national film festival with the longest tradition in the world and at the same time it is a number one world national festival in terms of the number of visitors per screening

Regional festivals are international festivals and their screenings are considered international premieres and therefore can not take part in the competition of any major festival in the world.  

by Zlatko Vidackovic

 

Year after year some individuals have been launching a misplaced thesis that Croatia should turn the National Programme of the Pula Film Festival into a regional one (or rather, for the territory of the former Yugoslavia). Those who propose that change, out of ignorance or bad intentions, do not mention the basic fact related to international festival rules: Regional festivals are international festivals and their screenings are considered international premieres and therefore can not take part in the competition of any A festival in the world. When the A film festival in San Sebastian wanted to include Rajko Grlic's Border Post in its competition programme, they asked Pula to issue a certificate that the film screened only in the National Programme. The certificate was issued and Border Post had its international premiere at an A festival, which would not be the case if it had previously screened for example in Sarajevo or any other regional festival.

 

Furthermore, Vinko Bresan's Will Not End Here had its international premiere at last year's edition of the Karlovy Vary Festival (and there it received the FIPRESCI Critics' Award). The film screened almost a year before in Pula, while Croatian films that showcased in the competition of Sarajevo, a regional festival, could not compete at A festivals.   

On July 11th, after receiving a best director award for his new film Just Between Us in Karlovy Vary, Rajko Grlic stated for Jutarnji list: „In terms of its importance, Sarajevo is a B festival. The fact is that the Croatian media has overblown it and now everyone is a bit disappointed that there are no Croatian films. There is something of a colonial air too that can be sensed in this disappointment.”

 

If Pula was a regional festival, Croatia would loose its national festival and Croatian films wouldn’t have to participate, just like Jasmila Zbanic’s magnificent film On the Path did not screen in the Sarajevo competition. Croatian films would loose prime time in the Arena, which would be reserved mostly for foreign films.

 

The 2001 decision of the Pula Film Festival Council that the National Programme would not be turned into a Balkan one but that a European section would be added was not the result of a lack of courage or due to political fear. It was the result of wisdom and familiarity with international festival rules. The Pula International Programme has been open to neighbours during all the past ten years. In the last ten years Ljubisa Samardzic (Natasa, Black Horses), Goran Paskaljevic (Midwinter Night’s Dream), Srdan Karanovic (Besa), Igor Šterk (three films) and many others came to Pula. The Pula Film Festival awarded Tijana Kondic, Lazar Ristovski, Jasmila Zbanic, Adis Bakrac, etc. There is no need for the festival to be regional so as to invite films from the region. And it is not good that to put Pula in a position to be forced to select films from neighbouring countries in the years when their film production has fallen short in qualitative terms. The audience in Pula wants to see the best they can get from Europe and the world in the international programme, in other words, the selection of foreign films which is based on quality and not on a quota system. Neither is the co-productions section regional. It is open to all and already next year we will see Croatian co-productions with Denmark, USA and Germany. Motovun has also given up on the festival award “from A to A”, withdrawing due to the Sarajevo competition, and now old films which are not in the principal programme of the Festival compete for the new Bauer Award for best film in the region.

For Croatia, Golden Arenas are what BAFTAs are for Great Britain, David di Donatello for Italians, Cesar for French and Goya for Spanish. National awards in the field of film, just like Porin in the field of music or Croatian Theatre Award for drama, opera and ballet. It is a place where the jury, the critics and the audience valorise what we have created in our country. However, when it comes to other forms of art, nobody has come to an idea to turn something like that into a revue of the countries from the former Yugoslavia. Croatia, as opposed to Bosnia and Herzegovina for example, has enough films to have its national film festival in the Arena every year and the audience has shown much interest in this programme, which justifies the concept.

 

The Pula Film Festival is a national film festival with the longest tradition in the world (up until 1991 the federal country and after that independent Croatia) and at the same time it is a number one world national festival in terms of the number of visitors per screening. Instead of taking pride in this fact, we cry claiming that the neighbour’s grass is greener.

 

After all the professional arguments, I leave the political one to the readers. In cultural aspects, does Croatia today, when it is the first country in the region to accede to the EU, need to go back to the context of the former Yugoslavia or does it need a festival with a well-defined national programme and an international programme which is wide-open to Europe and the world, and also neighbours? Figure it out for yourselves.