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 |