Pula Film Festival
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Pula Film Festival ( hr, Pulski filmski festival) is an annual Croatian film festival, established in 1954. It is held in a Roman
amphitheater An amphitheatre (British English) or amphitheater (American English; both ) is an open-air venue used for entertainment, performances, and sports. The term derives from the ancient Greek ('), from ('), meaning "on both sides" or "around" and ...
known as the
Pula Arena The Pula Arena ( hr, Pulska Arena; it, Arena di Pola) is a Roman amphitheatre located in Pula, Croatia. It is the only remaining Roman amphitheatre to have four side towers entirely preserved. It was constructed between 27 BC and AD 68, Kristina ...
. Pula Film Festival is the oldest Croatian film festival and is usually held in the summer, in July or August. Apart from film screenings open to the public, the annual Croatian film industry awards are also traditionally presented at the festival. The awards presented at the festival (called Golden Arenas) are the main national film awards in the country, and they serve as the Croatian equivalent of the American
Academy Award The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...
s. The festival was originally started in 1954 and within a few years it became the centerpiece event of the Yugoslav film industry, with the first national awards being presented in 1957. This lasted until 1991, when the festival was cancelled due to the
breakup of Yugoslavia The breakup of Yugoslavia occurred as a result of a series of political upheavals and conflicts during the early 1990s. After a period of political and economic crisis in the 1980s, constituent republics of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yu ...
, only to resume in 1992 as the Croatian film awards festival. It has been held every year since (with the exception of the 1994 edition, which was also cancelled).


History

When it was established, it was known as the ''Festival of Yugoslav Film'', and it quickly became the most important national film festival in
SFR Yugoslavia The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, commonly referred to as SFR Yugoslavia or simply as Yugoslavia, was a country in Central and Southeast Europe. It emerged in 1945, following World War II, and lasted until 1992, with the breakup of Yug ...
. Over the following decades the festival gained considerable recognition internationally, along with the Yugoslav film industry which continued to thrive since the 1960s. Many film production companies were soon founded across the former Yugoslavia and the industry released about 20 new feature films for nationwide distribution every year. These films competed for a number of awards at the festival, since the award categories and the festival concept were modeled after the
Academy Awards The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...
. However, the festival often served as a launching pad for new films before being released in cinemas nationwide, so - unlike the Academy Awards - the festival usually marked the beginning of a new season for filmgoers, not its ending. In 1991 the festival was cancelled because of the outbreak of the
war War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular o ...
and the related
breakup of Yugoslavia The breakup of Yugoslavia occurred as a result of a series of political upheavals and conflicts during the early 1990s. After a period of political and economic crisis in the 1980s, constituent republics of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yu ...
. In 1992 the festival was restarted, but it was renamed ''Filmski festival u Puli (eng: Pula Film Festival)''. The 1992 edition was also the first one that was dedicated solely to Croatian films, since the unified Yugoslav film industry disappeared along with the former country. In 1995 it was renamed again and called ''Festival hrvatskog filma (eng: Croatian Film Festival)'' to emphasize its now exclusively Croatian character. However, since the Croatian film industry proved to be insufficiently productive, with only a handful of new titles being released each year, the festival's popularity rapidly plummeted. In order to rectify this, the festival opened for foreign films for the first time in its history in 2001, and was renamed once again to ''Festival hrvatskog i europskog filma (eng: Croatian and European Film Festival)''. From then on, apart from screenings of Croatian films, the festival also regularly offers an international program, as well as various one-off theme programs and retrospectives.


Golden Arena awards

The national film industry awards called Golden Arena are always presented at the festival. All the locally produced feature films made in the preceding 12 months are screened at the festival and everyone involved in making them automatically qualify for the Golden Arena award in their respective category. Therefore, there are no
Academy Award The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...
-style shortlists of nominees announced prior to the actual awarding ceremony. However, some festival editions in the past also had runner-up awards for some categories, called Silver Arena. The awards are given by the jury made up of prominent
film critics Film criticism is the analysis and evaluation of films and the film medium. In general, film criticism can be divided into two categories: journalistic criticism that appears regularly in newspapers, magazines and other popular mass-media outlets ...
, directors, actors, etc. * National competition awards **
Best Film This is a list of categories of awards commonly awarded through organizations that bestow film awards, including those presented by various film, festivals, and people's awards. Best Actor/Best Actress *See Best Actor#Film awards, Best Actress#F ...
**
Best Director Best Director is the name of an award which is presented by various film, television and theatre organizations, festivals, and people's awards. It may refer to: Film awards * AACTA Award for Best Direction * Academy Award for Best Director * BA ...
** Best Leading Actor ** Best Leading Actress ** Best Screenplay ** Best Supporting Actor ** Best Supporting Actress ** Best Production Design ** Best Cinematography ** Best Costume Design ** Best Film Editing **Best Makeup ** Best Film Music **Best Sound Editing * Other awards **''Golden Birch'' ( hr, Zlatna Breza) for best debuting director **''Oktavijan Award'' given by the ''Croatian Film Critics' Association'' for best film **''Golden Gate of Pula - Audience Award'' for best film as voted by festival audiences


See also

*
List of Croatian films A list of films produced in Croatia. For an A-Z list of Croatian films see :Croatian films. 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s *List of Croatian films of the 1950s 1960s *List of Croatian films of the 1960s 1970s *List of Croatian films of ...
*
List of Yugoslav films This is a list of the most notable Yugoslav cinema films. 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s See also * List of Bosnia and Herzegovina films *List of Croatian films * List of Macedonian films * List of Montenegrin films ...


References

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Further reading

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External links


Official websitePula Film Festival of Yugoslavian Films (1954–1990)
at the
Internet Movie Database IMDb (an abbreviation of Internet Movie Database) is an online database of information related to films, television series, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and personal biographies, ...

Pula Film Festival (1992–present)
at the
Internet Movie Database IMDb (an abbreviation of Internet Movie Database) is an online database of information related to films, television series, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and personal biographies, ...
{{coord missing, Croatia Pula Film festivals in Croatia Cinema of Yugoslavia Film festivals established in 1954 1954 establishments in Croatia Summer events in Croatia Festivals in Yugoslavia