The waiting is over - the complete programme of the 16th FMFS is in front of you. In the smorgasbord of 78 films that come from 26 countries, we offer you curiosities that could give you the answer to the eternal question: ''What to watch?''
In the main competition programme “The Mediterranean”, all the screenings will show Croatian premieres, and this year there are two domestic films among them, the humorous drama “Pelican” by Filip Heraković, and the world premiere of the documentary film ”El Shatt – A Blueprint for Utopia” by Ivan Ramljak.
We have already announced that the 16th edition of the festival will also mark the great return of the Spanish films to FMFS , but Italy also has strong contenders among feature films this year. The film that will open the 16th FMFS at the Bačvice Open-Air Cinema is the film “Margins”, winner of the audience award of the Critic's Week programme at the Venice film festival, which will be presented in Split by the main actors Matteo Creatini and Emanuele Linfatti.
“The Last Night of Amore” directed by Andrea Di Stefano, the most watched Italian film of the year, is also coming to us, a crime thriller starring Pierfrancesco Flavino, the first acting choice of a number of Italian directors in recent years. We also received two excellent documentaries from our neighbours. “The Last Playboy” claims to have slept with more than a thousand women. His name is Maurizio Candidi, and despite the fact that he is septuagenarian, he is still in excellent physical shape, exercising and approaching women by offering gigolo services. The documentary “Kristos, the Last Child” is an Italian-Greek co-production about a ten-year-old boy who remains the only student in his school on a small island, and was premiered in the Giornate degli autori program at the Venice film festival.
The French are represented by female directors with female topics. After the films “Avenir” and “Eden” screened at the previous editions of FMFS, Mia Hansen-Løve returns with her latest film, “One Fine Morning”, in Cannes crowned with the Label Europa Cinemas award given by the of Europa Cinemas Association. An additional recommendation for this film is the great Léa Seydoux in the lead role. Another French title is the court thriller “And Yet We Were All Blind”, directed by Béatrice Pollet, which deals with the intriguing topic of a pregnancy in denial, as a result of which a pregnant woman does not even experience physical changes in her body.
The 16th FMFS will also show an action spectacle: “Kira & El Gin”, a film about the Egyptian revolution based on a true event, and the most expensive Egyptian film production of all time. It breaks viewing records not only at home, but also in all former British colonies, and it is interesting that part of the film was also shot in Croatia. Another feature coming from the Middle East is the Moroccan-French film “The Damned Don't Cry”, a dynamic family drama about the complex relationship between a mother and son facing the pressures of the society in which they live, premiered at the Venice Film Festival.
Parangal and The Other Side of the Mediterranean
The competition programme “Parangal”, showing films produced outside the Mediterranean area, received great reviews last year. On the second day of the 16th FMFS, the “Parangal” programme begins at Gripe Fortress with the Finnish humorous drama about polyamory, “Four Little Adults”, which will be personally presented by director Selma Vilhunen.
Because of the Croatian premiere, the crew of the film “Vera”, directors Tizza Covi and Rainer Frimmel, as well as the main actress Vera Gemma, will also arrive in Split. Shown at the Venice Film Festival in the Orizzonti program, it received the best director and the best actress awards.
Romanian director Mihai Mincan made an extremely tense drama with elements of a thriller, “To the North”, inspired by true events and set in a cargo ship on the high seas, where a stowaway appears.
“Sick of Myself” is a satirical dark comedy by the Norwegian director Kristoffer Borgli, premiered as part of the Un Certain Regard program in Cannes, in which we follow a narcissistic couple in a competitive and unhealthy relationship, where anything goes if you want to attract attention.
Winner of the European Academy Award for Best Actress for her role in Alabama Monroe, Veerle Baetens makes her directorial debut in the provocative Belgian drama “When it Melts”.
Slovak director Juraj Lehotsky takes us into the world of classical music with “Plastic Symphony”, and the main role is played by Polish actor Bartosz Bielenia, known from the movie Corpus Christi, which had its Croatian premiere at FMFS.
The audience favorite at the Rotterdam Film Festival was the debut film “Love According to Dalva”, in which director Emmanuelle Nicot explored the consequences of domestic abuse in a moving and powerful way, showing a path to recovery filled with hope.
“Sparta” comes from Austria, it’s the new feature film of the diptych that began with the film “Rimini”by the controversial director Ulrich Seidl, who now follows brother Ritchie Bravo. It premiered at the San Sebastian Film Festival.
“The Other Side of the Mediterranean” programme focuses on the cinematography of South American countries, and for the first time we will screen a film from Puerto Rico – “The Fishbowl” is coming to us from Sundance, it is set on an exotic island landscape, with the charismatic actress Isel Rodríguez.
Colombian “The Kings of the World” is a film you shouldn't miss, it’s a visually impressive San Sebastian winner with a great teenage cast. This year we are also showing two Brazilian films: “Charcoal”, which follows the story of a family that barely makes ends meet, until one day they receive an offer to temporarily house a drug lord who urgently needs a hiding place, for a large sum of money, and the thriller “Property” by director Daniel Bandeira, which depicts a collision of two opposite worlds and extreme differences between social classes in Brazil.
To bid farewell to this year's festival, “Goodbye Stranger”, a warm Dutch humorous drama with excellent music, will be presented personally by director Aaron Rookus at the Bačvice Open-Air Cinema.
ALL FILMS, DIVIDED INTO SEVEN PROGRAMMES, CAN BE FOUND AT THE FOLLOWING LINK
