On Wednesday evening, at the Istrian National Theatre in Pula, the longest-running Croatian film gathering, the Pula Film Festival, gave out its awards. The gala ceremony for the 72nd edition was followed by a screening of the closing film, the documentary The Lost Dream Team, directed by Jure Pavlović.

Documentary and hybrid films dominated this year’s competition, at least according to the jury, consisting of scriptwriter Jelena Paljan, actors Tihana Lazović and Janko Popović Volarić, editor Tomislav Pavlic, and cinematographer and filmmaker Silvestar Kolbas. The Grand Golden Arena for Best Film went to Ivan Ramljak for his doc Peacemaker [+lire aussi :
critique
fiche film], which premiered earlier this year at ZagrebDox. Peacemaker scooped one more Golden Arena when Damir Čučić was rewarded for his editing.

However, the top movie in terms of the sheer number of wins was Igor Bezinović’s docu-fiction Fiume o morte! [+lire aussi :
critique
bande-annonce
fiche film], which has kept racking up awards since its premiere and the Tiger Award it won at IFFR last winter. Its tally at Pula was six Golden Arenas: Bezinović got one for directing, producers Vanja Jambrović and Tibor Keser did likewise for production, and Sara Jakupec for casting, while the film also dominated in the make-up, production design and costume design departments.

Both Golden Arenas for lead actors went to Good Children [+lire aussi :
critique
bande-annonce
fiche film] (Nina Violić and Filip Šovagović), while Filip Peruzović’s debut feature was also honoured for Best Screenwriting (Peruzović and Nikolina Bogdanović) and Best Cinematography (Tomislav Sutlar). Sandbag Dam [+lire aussi :
critique
bande-annonce
interview : Čejen Černić Čanak
fiche film] also did well in the acting categories, as Andrija Žunec bagged a gong for Best Supporting Actor and Lav Novosel got the Breza Award for Best Debutant. The movie also got some love in the audio department: Domas Strupinskas won for Best Music and Julij Zornik for Best Sound Design. The list of Croatian films that picked up multiple Golden Arenas ends with Dražen: Zrinka Cvitešić was crowned as Best Supporting Actress, while Marino Vuletić and post-production company Poster were rewarded for Best Visual Effects.

The competition for minority co-productions was dominated by Nikola Ležaić’s KVIFF title How Come It’s All Green Out Here? [+lire aussi :
critique
fiche film], which won the Golden Arenas for Best Leading Actor (Filip Đurić) and Best Cinematography (Aleksandar Pavlović) on top of the one for Best Film. Vuk Ršumović’s Dwelling Among the Gods [+lire aussi :
critique
interview : Vuk Ršumović et Fereshteh …
fiche film] scooped two Arenas, both for its thesps – Fereshteh Hosseini got Best Leading Actress, and Nikola Ristanovski scooped Best Supporting Actor. In the same category, Vladimir Gojun got the Arena for Best Editor for his work on Urška Djukić’s Little Trouble Girls [+lire aussi :
critique
bande-annonce
fiche film].

This year’s novelty were the Golden Arenas for regional films with no Croatian participation, as well as those for student films. In the former category, Emilija Gašić’s 78 Days [+lire aussi :
critique
interview : Emilija Gašić
fiche film] was crowned as the champion, while Marko Đorđević’s Enough for Now [+lire aussi :
critique
fiche film] got a Special Mention. In the latter, Jan Krevatin’s Greek Apricots (see the interview) won the award, while Sara Alavanić’s Spot secured a Special Mention.

The Pula Pro industry and Croatian Independent Cinemas Network awards were presented at a separate ceremony before the gala event. The recipient of the Audience Award and the critics’ scores are yet to be announced.

Here is the full list of award winners:

Croatian Competition

Grand Golden Arena for Best Film
Peacemaker [+lire aussi :
critique
fiche film] – Ivan Ramljak (Croatia)

Golden Arena for Best Director
Igor Bezinović – Fiume o morte! [+lire aussi :
critique
bande-annonce
fiche film] (Croatia/Slovenia/Italy)

Golden Arena for Best Screenplay
Nikolina Bogdanović, Filip Peruzović – Good Children [+lire aussi :
critique
bande-annonce
fiche film] (Croatia/France)

Golden Arena for Best Production
Vanja Jambrović, Tibor Keser – Fiume o morte!

Golden Arena for Extraordinary Directorial Approach
Goran Dević – Pavilion 6 [+lire aussi :
critique
interview : Goran Dević
fiche film] (Croatia)

Golden Arena for Best Actress in a Leading Role
Nina Violić – Good Children

Golden Arena for Best Actor in a Leading Role
Filip Šovagović – Good Children

Breza Award for Best Actor in a Debut Role
Lav Novosel – Sandbag Dam [+lire aussi :
critique
bande-annonce
interview : Čejen Černić Čanak
fiche film] (Croatia/Slovenia/Lithuania)

Golden Arena for Best Actress in a Supporting Role
Zrinka Cvitešić – Dražen (Croatia/Serbia/Slovenia)

Golden Arena for Best Actor in a Supporting Role
Andrija Žunec – Sandbag Dam

Golden Arena for Best Casting
Sara Jakupec – Fiume o morte!

Golden Arena for Best Cinematography
Tomislav Sutlar – Good Children

Golden Arena for Best Editor
Damir Čučić – Peacemaker

Golden Arena for Best Music
Domas Strupinskas – Sandbag Dam

Golden Arena for Best Production Design
Anton Spazzapan – Fiume o morte!

Golden Arena for Best Costume Design
Tajči Čekada, Manuela Paladin – Fiume o morte!

Golden Arena for Best Make-up
Ivana Pralija – Fiume o morte!

Golden Arena for Best Sound Design
Julij Zornik – Sandbag Dam

Golden Arena for Best Visual Effects
Marino Vuletić, post-production company Poster – Dražen

Minority Co-production Competition

Golden Arena for Best Film
How Come It’s All Green Out Here? [+lire aussi :
critique
fiche film] – Nikola Ležaić (Serbia/Croatia/Bulgaria)

Golden Arena for Best Leading Actress
Fereshteh Hosseini – Dwelling Among the Gods [+lire aussi :
critique
interview : Vuk Ršumović et Fereshteh …
fiche film] (Serbia/Croatia/Italy)

Golden Arena for Best Leading Actor
Filip Đurić – How Come It’s All Green Out Here?

Golden Arena for Best Supporting Actor
Nikola Ristanovski – Dwelling Among the Gods

Golden Arena for Best Cinematography
Aleksandar Pavlović – How Come It’s All Green Out Here?

Golden Arena for Best Editing
Vladimir Gojun – Little Trouble Girls [+lire aussi :
critique
bande-annonce
fiche film] (Slovenia/Croatia/Italy/Serbia)

Regional Competition

Golden Arena
78 Days [+lire aussi :
critique
interview : Emilija Gašić
fiche film] – Emilija Gašić (Serbia)
Special Mention
Enough for Now [+lire aussi :
critique
fiche film] – Marko Đorđević (Serbia)

Student Competition

Golden Arena
Greek Apricots – Jan Krevatin (Croatia/Slovenia) (short film)
Special Mention
Spot – Sara Alavanić (Croatia) (short film)

Croatian Independent Cinemas Network Award

Best Croatian Film
South Wind [+lire aussi :
critique
fiche film] – Ante Marin (Croatia)

Best Film in the Greater Adria Programme
Sirât [+lire aussi :
critique
bande-annonce
interview : Óliver Laxe
fiche film] – Oliver Laxe (Spain/France)

Pula Pro Awards

Works in Progress Pitching Awards

Sleepwalker €5,000 In Services Award
Yugo Goes to America – Filip Grujić, Aleksa Borković (Serbia/Croatia)

Filmlab AI $10,000 In Services Award
New Life – Goran Dević (Croatia)

Brijuni Riviera €6,000 Cash Award
Mom’s Alive Today – Josip Lukić (Croatia/Serbia/Kosovo)

Script Your Hit

Croatian Audiovisual Centre and Blitz Distribution €10,000 Cash Award
Wild Card – Nikola Kuprešanin (Croatia)

Make the Scene – Comedy Edition

United Media €5,000 Cash Award
Representative – Ivan Veljača (Croatia)

Vladimir Tagić and Goran Stanković Mentorship Award
Unhinged – Lora Džolić, Jana Bjelica (Serbia)