Pula Film Festival

The Pula Film Festival (Pulski filmski festival) is the longest-running film festival in Croatia. Its main venue is an ancient Roman amphitheater known as the Pula Arena located in the city of Pula. The Pula Arena is the only remaining Roman amphitheater to have four side towers and with all three Roman architectural orders entirely preserved.

The Pula Film Festival was established in 1954 as the Festival of Yugoslav Film. However, the first film review held in the Pula Arena took place in 1938, when Pula was administered by Fascist Italy. Pula’s film festival quickly became the most important national film festival in the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. Over the following decades it also gained considerable recognition internationally.

The organizers had to cancel the festival in 1991 because of the outbreak of the Croatian War of Independence. However, the next year it was revived under a new name, the Pula Film Festival (Filmski festival u Puli). The festival originally screened only Croatian films. In 1995 it was even renamed the Croatian Film Festival (Festival hrvatskog filma) to emphasize its exclusively national character. However, the Croatian film industry wasn’t very productive because of financial and other hardships, and the festival’s popularity began to decline.

To solve this problem, the festival began to screen foreign films in 2001. It was renamed the Croatian and European Film Festival (Festival hrvatskog i europskog filma) and at some point after that received its current name.

The present-day Pula Film Festival screens a fine selection of Croatian and international films in several programs: Croatian Program, International Program, Short Film Program, Student Program, Retrospective, Cinematheque, and more. Alongside film screenings, its program includes industry events, concerts, exhibitions, award ceremonies, and more. The Arena remains the main venue but many screenings and other events are held at cinemas and cultural centers throughout the city.

The Pula Film Festival hosts a national film competition. The festival’s Grand Prix is the Grand Golden Arena Award. It is presented to the best Croatian film. The jury also presents the Golden Arena Awards in a number of categories such as Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Actress, Best Actor, Best DOP, Best Supporting Actress, Best Supporting Actor, Best Editing, Best Music, Best Scenography, Best Costume Design, Best Makeup, Best Sound Design, Best Special Effects, and Best Visual Effects.

The festival also presents special awards such as the Golden Gate of Pula (Arena Audience Award), the Octavian Award presented by the Croatian Society of Film Critics, and other prizes granted by various societies, organizations and sponsors.