FESTIVALS AND EVENTS

THE LAST PICTURE SHOW — PULA 1999

This year’s Croatian Film Festival in Pula that took place, at the same time as the newly founded International Film Festival at Motovun not only brought about a division among both audiences and film critics, but created uneasiness among those who professionally follow film events. Coincidentally, something which falls hard on the heart of a sensitive film lover is the ever-growing crisis in Croatian cinema that has manifested itself in the troubling form of closures of cinema halls in many Croatian cities (Vinkovci, Karlovac, Šibenik, Pula). By following this year’s film festival, Krelja critically reviews Croatian film production through an analysis of the screened films.

His additional reflections on the general condition of the Croatian cinema reveal his relationship toward film and the significance that going to the movies had in his life. Recalling his youth spent in Pula, he remembers film screenings in once crowded cinemas that are now empty or shut down like those in many other cities which have recently witnessed the closing of their last remaining cinema hall.

Petar Krelja