The 64th Pula Film Festival, which will run from July 15 to 22 this year, will show the most abundant edition of the Short Pula programme to date, with three new competition categories: drama series, documentary series and previews.
In the new category of drama series, the first episode of The Guardian of the Castle (Čuvar dvorca) by Lukas Nola will have its Croatian premiere, and will be the first series shown in the Arena. Other series in the competition are The Paper (Novine) by Dalibor Matanić, Black and white world (Crno-bijeli svijet) by Goran Kulenović and Road Patrol (Patrola na cesti) by Zvonimir Jurić.
Tin - 30 years of travel (Tin - 30 godina putovanja) by Davor Žmegač will have its Croatian premiere in the category of documentary series. Other series in the competition are Housing Matters (Stambeno pitanje) by Silvana Menđušić, The Republic (Republika) by Božidar Domagoj Burić and Heroes of Vukovar (Heroji Vukovara) by Eduard Galić.
The competition in the category of feature documentary films, which has been a part of the competition programme of the Festival since 2014, but is now a separate category, will include A Million Dollar Life (Život o milijun dolara) by Robert Zuber, The Boss (Gazda) by Dario Juričan and It was all just a dream (Sve je bio dobar san) by Branko Ištvančić, but will also show the film Funne: Sea Dreaming Girls (Fuune: ragazze che sognavano il mare), a Craotian-Italian co-production by Katja Bernanrdi.
In the running for the award for best short or mid-length feature film, a category that has been continuously present at the Pula Film Festival from 2009, the following films are in the competition: Half a Man (Po čovika) by Kristina Kumrić, Milk and Honey (Med i mliko) by Marko Jukić, Blue Peter (Plavi Petar) by Marko Šantić, Safe Flight (Siguran let) by Also Tardozzi and Chocolate egg (Čokoladno jaje) by Tomislav Šestan, and the film Red Light (Na Červeno) by Toma Waszorow, a Bulgarian-Croatian co-production, will also be shown.
In the new category of commission film, the award will go to the best preview of a Croatian feature film from this year’s competition. The rest of the categories of Short Pula are non-competitive, and the programme will be announced at a later date.
The films in competition for Short Pula were selected by Nikša Sviličić. The awards for Short Pula will be given by a jury, whose members are Pavao Pavličić, celebrated film and TV screenwriter, writer and fellow of the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts (Ritam zločina, Zločin u školi, Treći ključ, Čovjek koji je volio sprovode, Orao, etc.), Vanja Černjul, director of photography with a noted international career (winner of last year’s award for best TV series cinematography by the American Society of Cinematographers, for the series Marco Polo, and two-time Emmy nominee), and director and producer Jure Pavlović, winner of the European Film Award for best short film (Piknik).
Along with the series Čuvar dvorca and short film Siguran let, which will be shown in the Arena, premiere films from this programme will be shown at Valli Cinema, with repeat screenings at the Istrian National Theatre.
