FESTIVALS AND EVENTS

THE FIRST MOTOVUN FILM FESTIVAL

The First International Film Festival in Motovun 1999 from August 10 to 14, was, for the majority of visitors, the only opportunity to see films that they would never see and which would, for the most, never find their way into the regular cinema repertoire.

Coming into existence after the successful Imaginary Academy in Grožnjan held over the last several years, the Motovun festival gathered numerous film professional from around the world who helped in the realization of the festival and in the procurement of a series of quality European films. In addition to the main program of recent European films, supplemental programs including a selection of Dutch and new Croatian films, as well as films by students of the Imaginary Academy in Grožnjan were held. The festival organizers also remembered the anniversaries of the film work of Branko Bauer and Tomislav Pinter, who were the honorary guests of the event.

Following this successful beginning, it can be stated that the Motovun festival has opened up Croatia’s closed and isolated film milieu, which does not have enough contact with international film production, to Europe. Perhaps Motovun will encourage distributors to consider distributing some of the screened films on the regular cinema repertoire, since it is obvious that the tremendous audience turn out at the first festival in Motovun proves that people are hungry for a quality selection of European films.

Sanja Muzaferija