During the press conference that was held at caffe bar ‘Kinoteka’, feature length program of 12th FMFS was presented , as well as the new festival location, open air cinema in front of the Youth Center (Dom Mladih) where international short films will be screened.During the press conference that was held at caffe bar ‘Kinoteka’, feature length program of 12th FMFS was presented , as well as the new festival location, open air cinema in front of the Youth Center (Dom Mladih) where international short films will be screened.During the press conference that was held at caffe bar ‘Kinoteka’, feature length program of 12th FMFS was presented , as well as the new festival location, open air cinema in front of the Youth Center (Dom Mladih) where international short films will be screened.
This year’s Mediterranean film festival Split starts 13th June in the beautiful ambience of open air cinema ‘Bacvice’ , screening an Italian movie ‘Piranhas’, the winner of Silver Bear for the Best Script at the last Berlinale. It is a book adaptation of ‘Paranza dei bambini’ by Roberto Saviani that has been living for some time under police protection because of his books about the notorious mafia organization – Camorra.
Citizens of Split and their guests will be the first to see the new movies starring two currently most famous French actresses: ‘Who You Think I Am’ starring Juliette Binoche and ‘Golden Youth’ starring Isabelle Huppert. Part of the competition is also the last piece of work of the recently passed icon of European cinematography - Agnes Varda, the winner of 2nd FMFS.
Greek ‘Miracle of the Sargasso Sea’ is an exciting thriller premiered in Berlin and it will be presented at Bacvice by leading actress and scriptwriter Youla Boudali. Syria and Lebanon are included with two outstanding documentary films ‘Still recording’ and ‘The Day I Lost My Shadow' both awarded in Venice, while Spain is being represented by 'The Realm' , exciting political thrilled about corruption that won seven Goya awards.
Italy is offering outstanding pieces this year as well, including a documentary film 'Selfie' that follows growing up in the southern part of the country. Real treat for the audience will be a spectacular ‘Loro’ by an Oscar winner Paolo Sorrentino. Italian-Croatian co-production will be presented by ‘Leoni di Lissa’ , inspired by a battle from 1866, and it will be presented by director Nicolo Bongiorno that has already won series of awards and praises for this film in his native country.
- This year we are focusing on South American cinematography in the accompanying feature film program. The program called 'The Other Side of Mediterranean' has inspired our viewers and this year we offer five films arriving from this continent. I would like to stress Colombian "Birds of Passage", a film that was among 9 candidates for an Oscar nomination, accompanied by thrillers "Rojo" and "The Accused" from Argentina that were awarded at the festivals in San Sebastian and Toronto. We decided to pursue our tradition of FMFS being closed by a Scandinavian movie. This year we decided to dedicate the entire festival day to Sweden, when a synchronized animated film "Gordon and Paddy" will be screened, followed by a treat "Koko-di Koko-yes" and 12th FMFS will be closed by romantic drama "Swoon" signed by authors of the famous miniseries ‘The Bridge’– elaborated festival manager Alen Munitić, saying that the program ‘Jeske’ including 15 Croatian short films competing for a 12,000 kn cash prize, will be announced next week.
The international short film program returns to FMFS, organised in a new location, the atrium in front of Youth Center (Dom Mladih), where the movies will be screened free of charge every night.
- We are partners of the Youth Centre project "Let’s build home together", which has been supported by the European Social Fund, so we are glad to use this program to focus on the location that will thanks to this project, become the indispensable cultural point of our town - said Munitić and stressed certain titles. Spanish-Swiss "Those Who Desire", Spanish "Watermelon Juice" that premiered in Berlin and the outstanding Greek "Patision Avenue" featured on more than 20 festivals including Toronto, Sundance and Venice. Worth watching is also Greek "Hector Malot", the best film of the week by the jury in Cannes. From BiH comes "The Breath", the winner of "Heart of Sarajevo" for the best short film, and the Portuguese "Casa de Vidro“ the winner of Rotterdam Film Festival.
The audience will also have a chance to watch the selection of short films from South America and Sweden, featuring the Chilean "Summer of Electric Lion", the Cannes winner and the Peruvian "Debris" winner of the largest short film festival in Clermont Ferrand.
One of the appointments was also booked for "Kino Circus", in collaboration with partners from ROOM100 that bring "Circus Post" a series of short films directed by Deborah May, which contextualises the development of contemporary circus over the past 40 years.
Author of the visual identity of the Festival of Mediterranean Film Split is designer Karlo Kazinoti.
Every person has experienced at least once the irresistible urge for stone skipping while walking by the sea. That liberating activity sometimes grows into a competition or it's just a test of one's strength, as in who will be better at it. Similar excitement takes over a person that finds himself among bunch of films, trying to choose the best one that will skip the farthest – as Kazinoti elaborated this year’s idea.
The work of the association behind the organization of the festival is institutionally supported by the National Foundation for Civil Society Development and the Foundation for Culture Nova, the Croatian Audiovisual Centre, the City of Split, Association of Croatian Film Directors and Addiko Bank, partner of 12th FMFS.
Festival tickets, connecting FMFs and Cinema Mediterranean, are for sale and single tickets are for sale starting Monday, June 3rd. The price is still the same as for previous years, 25 kn for films at Bačvice open air cinema, and 20 kn for screenings at "Zlatna Vrata" cinema.
