Nataša Šimunov, Pula Film Festival producer, has had an almost decade-long relationship with the Festival. The journey from coordinator at Valli Cinema to producer was long, she says, but it has given her invaluable and needed experience.
What is it like to be a producer of a film festival of this size? What does the job entail?
Being a producer of such a large film festival is a very responsible job. Preparing a Festival with more than 170 films, more than 500 guests and accredited visitors, as well as a team of 150 people working at the Festival is a great challenge. At the opening ceremony, thousands and thousands of people in the audience in the Arena and in front of their TVs watch and judge the results of months of work of our team. There are no words to describe the tension before the first film is screened in the Arena. Even though many might think it is a simple thing, there are many people and a lot of effort involved, and at that moment, expectations from the professionals and the audience are at an all-time high. Multiply that with 170, because there are as many films, and keep in mind that each film, regardless of its artistic impression, deserves to be treated the same way in terms of organising effort and its screening and promotion. Also, we have to keep in mind the side programme, Festival guests, and the media, who all keep a watchful eye over everything. We want to make everybody happy and to have everybody enjoy the Festival, because, after all, that’s what it’s there for.
Other than the main film programme, the Festival offers a large number of side events. Cooperation with numerous local galleries and museums that join the Festival and hold exhibitions, some more and some less directly related to film, is extremely important to us. We really want the entire city to live film during the Festival. The evenings are left for music, which naturally marries with film, so we try to create a link between these two and bring bands or authors who have made film music or have worked on older film accomplishments. Of course, there are also the inevitable film after-parties…
How many volunteers come to Pula Film Festival? They come from all over the region, don’t they?
This year we have 49 volunteers, a record number. I can honestly say that we have selected volunteer from the entire region. Personally, I am happy that volunteers have recognised Pula Film Festival as the one they wish to come to volunteer and gain experience. I started as a volunteer myself, which was key for my later career. Many of our previous volunteers have stayed working at our Festival, as well as other festivals. Volunteering is a wonderful experience indeed, and I recommend it to everybody.
Popular Pula brings global hits and Croatian premieres. What is in store for us?
Film festivals usually have programmes screening films that are not as common in cinemas, independent productions, and films that might never go into distribution. Our festival is no different, but we still like to spice it up with several popular global hits. This year we will have three such films: Spider-Man: Homecoming, directed by Jon Watts, the latest instalment of the Spider-Man series; for the youngest ones, on Saturday, when the Festival closes, we will screen the third instalment of the adventures of Gru and the Minions: Despicable Me 3, directed by Pierre Coffin and Kyle Balda; and the culmination at the very end, right after its US premiere, the Croatian premiere of Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, directed by the famous Luc Besson, who we all know for his hits The Fifth Element and Lucy.
Pula PROfessional is once again presenting a rich programme. Which part would you emphasise?
Pula PROfessional is once again presenting a programme filled with lectures, panel discussions, book promotions and meetings of professionals of the audiovisual industry, as well as those who are yet to become professionals. There is also the Young Cinephiles Programme, gathering nine film enthusiasts who will follow the programmes of the Festival, write film reviews under the mentorship of esteemed film critic Tomislav Kurelec, and will also present the Young Cinephiles Award. The topic of this year’s Pula PROfessional Programme is Promotion and Distribution of Croatian and European film. In a series of lectures, conversations and round tables, we will be discussing about trends and we will open discussions about topical issues in this field. The selector for Pula PROfessional 2017 is Mario Gigović. It is difficult to emphasise any part of the programme, as it is very diverse - lectures, panel discussions, round tables, and book promotions, as well as talks about Czech cinema, work in progress films, and student film screenings. Also, the participants of the first residential workshop within the Puentes Programme of the 64th Pula Film Festival will be joined by filmmakers from the RE-ACT initiative countries with their work in progress films.
Each edition of the Festival introduces some novelties. This year you have a new screening venue, a new mobile app, and a record number of films. Can you tell us more about these novelties?
Yes, each edition of the Festival has its novelties, and we all try to freshen it up with as many novelties in the programme and the venues. This year we decided to move the youth programme to the seaside, to the famous Ambrela beach. The new venue also presents a new challenge, but we believe it will prove to be a success. All you have to do is sit back in your beach chair and enjoy the film evenings with the smell of sea and true summer. The film programme will be screened over five evenings (17 to 21 July), and includes the latest European and global films, all very diverse in the sense of genre, so visitors will be able to enjoy five feature films, including comedies, musicals, thrillers, and drama.
The mobile app is a novelty of this year’s Festival, and enables easy navigation among Festival venues and programme categories, depending on the time of a certain programme. It is a useful and practical option to put the programmes you are interested in into a calendar or creating a reminder on a mobile phone. One of the most significant functionalities of the app is that, from this year, it enables watching films from the Croatian Programme screened in the Arena competing for the Arena Audience Award Golden Gate of Pula. Everybody who votes will have a chance to take part in a prize draw. All you have to do is go to the App Store or Google Play, download the App, and discover all of the great features it offers.
The 64th Pula Film Festival does have a record number of films. We are especially pleased by as many as 88 premieres, across all film programmes. The very record number of films and screenings faces all of the visitors with a complex task of planning their visit and create their own schedule even before the Festival kicks off. The Festival’s film programme brings films for all generations, which is extremely important to us, because we want the entire city and all of its guests to live and dream film in these eight days.
