Festival Pula
The exhibition FESTIVAL PULA is organized in cooperation between Pula Film Festival Public Institution, the Historical and Maritime Museum of Istria – Museo storico e navale dell’Istria, and the Croatian State Archives. The aim of this joint project is to mark the 60th anniversary of the first National Film Revue (1954) held in the Arena. We are talking about an annual film event, the history of which is determined by two key components – the national character of the festival and the Arena, as an open-air auditorium.
The first public film screening in the Arena took place on June 18, 1938. This marked the beginning of a tradition to use this monumental Roman amphitheatre as a movie theatre and a central gathering place for cinephiles during the warm summer months. The tradition is continued in 1953, when a Foreign Film Revue, lasting several days, was organized. The success of the revue encouraged Marijan Rotar, the then director of the Pula City Film Company, to initiate the launch of the National Film Revue in 1954, with the help of Jadran film and the Croatian Cinema Association. This marked the beginning of the history of the film festival as a national film festival and its so-called Golden Age. The revue soon developed into the Pula Film Festival (1955), the Yugoslav Film Festival (1956), and the Yugoslav Feature Film Festival (1960), taking place every year at the end of July, all the way until 1990. At the first edition there was no official jury and no awards. Later on, the festival introduced competition, as well as the official and the critics jury.
The Gold Medal Arena (1955) is granted by the official jury for the following categories: director, screenplay, photography, music, actor and actress in a leading and a supporting role. The Golden Arena Award of the official jury has been granted for different categories since 1960. Vjesnik u srijedu, as a co-organizer, introduces the Jelen Audience Award for best film in 1958. Since 1983, the Pula Municipality has granted the Golden Gate of Pula, the Silver Gate of Pula, and the Bronze Gate of Pula Audience Awards to best film screened in the Arena.
Pula becomes the centre of the first-rate national film event in the former Yugoslavia. The film festival is an opportunity to annually present all national films and gather different film artists, producers, distributors, film critics, journalists and culture professionals, as well as many international visitors, in one place.
Due to the war that was starting in Croatia, the Festival was cancelled in 1991. Only one film was presented in the morning hours – Fragments: Chronicle of a Vanishing by Zrinko Ogresta.
In 1992, the Pula festival becomes a national festival, bearing different names – Film Festival in Pula ’92 (1992 – 1993), Croatian Film Festival Pula (1995), and Croatian Film Festival (1996 – 2000). The beginning of this period was marked by a modest film production because not much was being produced. The initial attempt to provide the festival with an international character failed. Since 1993, only national films were being presented. In 1994, an event entitled Film Nights in the Arena – 100 Years of Cinema took place instead of the film festival.
Later on, in 1995, the Istrian National Theatre takes over the organization of the film festival. International retrospectives are being organized, with the intention to restore the festival in terms of the importance that it once enjoyed. Gradually, year by year, the national film production is on the rise.
In 2001, the Festival becomes European – alongside a jury for Croatian film, there is jury for European film, and the festival’s name changes into the PULA FILM FESTIVAL. The programme of the film festival becomes richer. Alongside national and European competition programmes, taking place in the Arena and at the Istrian National Theatre, the regional program Warm-Cold, running on Kastel, is being introduced. In 2003, on the occasion of the 50th jubilee edition of the festival, Pula Film Festival Public Institution is founded, taking over the organization of the entire Festival, together with the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Croatia, Croatian Television, and the Festival Council. The Italian Community (Circolo) becomes the festival’s centre. In 2005, the 52nd festival becomes the Pula Film Festival, keeping this name to this date. Year after year, the number of film programmes is constantly on the rise, taking place in different locations in town. Firstly, the foreign film international programme is established. This is followed by the introduction of Europolis-Meridians, PoPular Pula, European Film Directors, Pulica Children’s Programme, Short Film Programme (feature and animated films). In 2008, the newly opened Valli Cinema becomes another festival venue, alongside the Italian Community (Circolo) and the atrium of the Historical and Maritime Museum of Istria (Kastel).
The Festival is granting the following awards: Grand Golden Arena (since 1996) and Golden Arena (since 1992) in different categories, Vjesnik’s award Breza for Best Debutant Director (since 1993), Golden Gate of Pula Audience Award (since 1995), Fabijan Šovagović Award to an actor/actress for a significant contribution to the Croatian filmmaking industry (since 2001), Oktavijan Award of the Croatian Film Critics’ Association for Best Film (since 2002), Marijan Rotar Award to individuals and institutions whose ideas and works have brought together Pula and the film (since 2004).
In the course of the six decades of the Pula Film Festival, encompassing a total of 443 film nights, 1513 national and 249 foreign films have been screened.
Regardless of all the transitions that the Pula Film Festival has experienced and outlived, the biggest constant is its audience, traditionally loyal to the Festival, which has become part of the city fabric.
The aim of the exhibition FESTIVAL PULA is to show some sketches from the history of the longest-lived and most visited Croatian festival, its impact on the life of Pula and its citizens, the importance of the Pula Film Festival for Pula and Istria, and its role in the domestic film production, both on national as well as European levels. Furthermore, our goal was to stress the importance, richness and extreme value of the preserved materials on the history of the Pula Film Festival, kept in different institutions and private collections to this date.
Gordana Milaković and Lana Skuljan Bilić
