Releases

12. MOTOVUN FILM FESTIVAL

 The 12th Motovun Film Festival Opens in the Rain of Blue Envelopes!

Motovun, 26 July - Under the rain of blue envelopes (traditionally used for bribe money in these parts), the opening ceremony of the 12th Motovun Film Festival took place today. The ceremony started with the welcoming speeches of Motovun Mayor Slobodan Vugrinec and Istrian County Prefect Ivan Jakovčić. Igor Mirković presented the festival in numbers - 94 films will be shown, including 58 feature-length films, from 34 countries on 6 continents. If put together, all the screenings would last 93 hours. 

Complete press release here.

Bambi Molesters and Katalena Performing on Motovun Film Hill!

Zagreb, 21 July - We are hereby presenting this year's music program, which is every bit as good as our film program: the local scene is represented by the brilliant Bambi Molesters who have lately achieved extraordinary success with their latest album in Europe and beyond, and with Elvis Penava Quartet. Slovenia will be represented by the post-folk rock band Katalena, three DJs in a joint ex-Yu project Tetkine radosti, and the non-conventional theatre-music project Škrip orkestra! As for classical music, same as last year, we present you the renowned pianist Branka Parlić, who specializes in contemporary classical music.

Complete press release here.

 Terry Jones, Julien Temple and Razvan Radulescu to Lead Gathering of Numerous Filmmakers on Motovun Film Hill!

 Zagreb, 19 July - The 12th Motovun Film Festival will be taking place from 26-30 July in the heart of Istria, in Motovun! As many as 94 films from 34 countries and six continents will be shown during five festival days. There will be 27 films in the main program and 17 will be competing for the festival's main prize - the Propeller of Motovun.

 Complete press release  here.

Blacks, Kenjac and Technotise - Edit and I Reach the Finals In the Race for Bauer Award!

Zagreb, 14 July - This year, Motovun Film Festival introduces a new award - Bauer Award for the best film in the region. Jointly and equally represented, the film professionals from seven cinematographies - Bosnia-Herzegovina, Montenegro, Croatia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Slovenia and Serbia - will select the best film from the above mentioned countries.

Complete press release here.

12th Motovun Film Festival Program Released!

Zagreb, 2 July - This year's 12th edition of Motovun Film Festival will be held from 26 to 30 July in the picturesque little town of Motovun, 277 meters above sea level.

The traditional four Motovun theaters will host as many as 75 screenings! The main program includes 27 feature-length movies which are an overview of the best movies from the world and the region, combining multiple award-winning ones with less known titles.

Complete press release here. 

BAUER AWARD: The Names of Jury Members Released!

Zagreb, 30 June - The first decision on the best regional film of the year will be made by a representative jury composed of the most acclaimed filmmakers of the regional cinematografies. This year, Motovun Film Festival launches Bauer Award for the best film made in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Montenegro, Croatia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Slovenia and Serbia.

Complete press release here.  

MOTOVUN FILM FESTIVAL PRESENTING BAUER AWARD- FOR BEST FILM IN THE REGION

Ten Films Competing for Best Regional Film of the Year

Zagreb, 21 June - In order to contribute to the opening of national boundaries and cinema markets in the region, Motovu Film Festival will present Bauer Award - Film of the Year to the best film in the region. In previous years, Motovun Film Festival's regional award was known as From A to A.

 Complete press release here.

 

Motovun Warm-up!

Zagreb, 14 June - As an overture to the upcoming Motovun Film Festival, from 27th June to 3rd July, Movieplex is hosting a program called Motovun Warm-up! The screening of seven fantastic titles is a unique opportunity to refresh our memory of the program that has dominated Motovun over the last two years.

Complete press release find here. 

11. MOTOVUN FIM FESTIVAL

The 11th Motovun Film Festival Has Started!

Zagreb, 27 July - Motovun Film Festival has entered its second decade: this year's eleventh edition started with the screening of a "greedy" story - the 1924 classic of Erich von Stroheim. With over 65 screenings and a series of side events, the Motovun hill will once again provide you with an exceptional film experience. The main program includes 21 films, some of which have won acclaim on reputable world festivals while others are less known films that would otherwise hardly find the way to our audience. This year we have Finland as a guest. In addition to an insight into recent Finnish cinema we will have a chance to have through the New Finnish Film program, two concerts will also present us Finnish musical scene.

Complete press release  here. 


Mika Kaurismäki Is Coming to Motovun Film Festival!

Zagreb, 13 July - Mika Kaurismäki, a renowned Finnish film director and a member of the famous Kaurismäki family of filmmakers, is coming to Motovun Film Festival! Mika Kaurismäki is also the older brother of the world famous Finnish filmmaker Aki. In the first decade of their work, the Kaurismäki brothers marked the new era of Finnish cinema with their joint projects. Their joint works accounted for almost one third of Finnish film production of the time!

Complete press release  here.  

Motovun - "Recession Style!"

Zagreb, 1 July - Twenty five days before the opening, Motovun Film Festival has presented this year's program. Our audience will have a chance to enjoy a new treat of independent films from 27-31 July on the lovely Motovun hill in the heart of Istria.

Motovun will once again be a challenge for the toughest ones - 65 screenings in five days is not an easy task. I think we have a balanced offer of films that have already gained success on prominent festivals worldwide as well as those that few people have heard about and getting hold of which has required lots of efforts. In addition, there will be five concerts, two exhibitions and a whole array of side events connecting the audience and festival guests, said Festival Director Igor Mirković.

Complete press release  here.

A REVIEW OF ‘SHORT' WINNERS IN EUROPA THEATRE!

Zagreb, 19 June - Last year we celebrated the anniversary of the festival and this year we are marking the anniversary of Motovun Online - a program of short films of up to 15 minutes of running time. This is an opportunity to announce an all-evening pre-festival screening: a review of all past winners of this program that will take place on 2 July at 9 p.m. in Europa Theatre. This selection of the best short films will be an overture to the main festival event in the late July. We will show nine internationally acclaimed films that received numerous awards on European and world film festivals before or after Motovun.

Complete press release  here.


50 Days Remaining till Motovun!

Zagreb, 8 June - Having successfully completed its first decade, Motovun Film Festival will be offering you film treats for the 11th time, from 27 to 31 July, on the beautiful Motovun Hill in the heart of Istria. Our program will again include a selection of the best films made in independent productions and by less known cinematographies.

This year's partner-country comes from Europe's north, offering us an insight into the Finnish part of the Scandinavian cinematography. Since Juha, a film by famous Finnish director Aki Kaurismaki was the first film ever to be shown at Motovun Film Festival, it is only logical that we enter the second decade of the Festival with a program presenting the new Finnish film.

Complete press release  here.

JUBILEE 10th EDITION OF MOTOVUN HAS BEGUN

Motovun, July, 28 - The jubilee 10th edition of Motovun Film Festival began this morning with the first screenings in Cinema Bauer. Numerous guests and visitors of the festival have started gathering on the ‘Film Hill' and the preparations for tonight's opening ceremony are almost completed. More than 100 films will be shown in the next five days - 28 in the main program and 18 in ‘100 Years of Russian Film' program. This year, the town will not only turn into one big, charming film theater and a place of entertainment for numerous guests, but will also turn into an exhibition area - you will be bale to see the works of modern Croatian art in the alleys and premises of Motovun. Writers will also leave their trace - Robert Perišić, Drago Glamuzina, Nina Mimica and Pavle Levi will present their books. There will be concerts every night - Gustafi, Festival Band and Russendisko will entertain the audience, TBF will perform in Vip Garden and, we are proud to announce, the first real classical concert on the festival will take place - the "Siberian violin miracle", young Virtuosos from Yakutiya! 

Read complete press release.

KEN RUSSELL IS COMING TO MOTOVUN!

Zagreb, 20th of July - The biggest news of this year's festival is The Motovun Maverick Award, dedicated to the authors who have placed the film history in their debt by breaking taboos, discarding conventional norms and expanding the limits of film as an art form. The winner of the first Motovun Maverick is the untamable Ken Russell! This wild Messiah of British film belongs to the generation of revolutionaries who were expanding freedom of film art with their works in the ‘60s and ‘70s. Although spectacular and magnificent, many of his films are too provocative even for today.

Read press release.

MUSICAL PROGRAM OF THE 10th MOTOVUN - FROM CLASSICAL MUSIC TO THE GUSTAFI AND BACK

Zagreb, 17th of July - The 10th Motovun Film Festival, the 10th edition of which begins in only 11 days, boasts not only a strong film program with more than 100 latest independent film productions from all over the world, but also a rich and diverse musical program: a concert of classical music, a DJ attraction from Berlin, even a band made up of directors of international film festivals.

Not everything is imported, though: The Gustafi and TBF will be defending the ‘national honor'. Radio 101 has prepared a special party for the closing day: Eddy meets Yannah are coming!

Read press release.

MOTOVUN CELEBRATES!

Zagreb, 3 July, 2008 - For its tenth, jubilee-edition, Motovun Film Festival has prepared the most ambitious program so far. From 28 July to 1 August, the tenth anniversary of the festival and the 100th anniversary of Russian film will be celebrated in this small Istrian town on top of a hill. Screening of more than 100 films will heat projectors up until they turn red. Numerous guests will have a chance to have fun on concerts and on the opening of the new cinema and make a toast with vodka for at least this many birthdays more!

Read press release.

RUSSIAN FILM WEEK IN ZAGREB (5-11 July / ZKM) AND RUSSIA - PARTNER COUNTRY IN MOTOVUN(28 July - 1 August, 2008)

The Motovun Film Festival is combining its Tenth Jubilee with an important anniversary of some of the best cinematography in the world- the one hundredth birthday of the first Russian film. The celebrations of this double birthday start in Zagreb during Russian Film Week in the Zagreb Youth Theatre (ZKM) from the 5 - 11 July, and continue in Motovun with the Russia - partner country project.
Read press release.

Japanese horror at Motovun

Zagreb, July 10. 2007. – 13 days until kick-off

We're getting closer and closer to this year's Motovun Film Festival, which will host a retrospective of the new wave of the Japanese horror movies. This widely famous wave splashed upon the movie industry, soaking everything from the movie theaters to video-store shelves. As opposed to the tragic faith of the characters in the movies, it revived the genre.

The retrospective of the Japanese horror movies will be focusing on the modern gendai-geki theme, and will host five movies, of which we definitely emphasize the film A page of madness dating from 1926. Teinosuke Kinugase will be presented featuring a silent film narrator benshi Ichiro Kataoka, one of the members of the Matsuda Film Production organization, which is known for archiving and showing Japanese silent films, and also featuring Gerhard Gruber, a pianist and a silent film music composer.

Users are welcome to check out our informal journal of the preparations of the Festival on the festival blog at mff.blog.hr

Brdo blogera (Blogger hill) on the Motovun Film Festival
- bloggers in Motovun for free

Zagreb, 14. 6. 2007
- instant release

A space for bloggers will be opened on the new official Motovun Film Festival pages tommorow. During the period 15.06. – 15.07. Motovun Film Fetival will be monitoring the work of the bloggers in order to, on 15.07., select the five to be the guests of the Festival. Motovun Film Festival will cover the expenses of accomodation, cinema seats, worm meals and good fun. The only obligation of the chosen ones will be to do the thing they are already good at – to blog on the Motovun official web site during the entire festival.

The bloggers not selected in the magnificent five are also invited to write, as Chipoteka will be giving away a valuable prize to the best blogger at the end of the festival.

According to the firm rules of the competition it is strictly forbidden to publish any threathening, pornographic or commercial materials. It is also recommended for any blogger that wants to be among The Five to type her fingers off untill July 15. The bloggers are not tematicaly restrained, although it is desireable that the subject is Motovun, Motovun experiances and the movies. The final decision on the bloggers to be the special gusests of Motovun Film Festival will be influenced the most by the quality of the written material, but also, to some extent, the quantity.

Brdo blogera is made in cooperation with Blog.hr service.

MOTOVUN ONLINE

Zagreb – 33 days to go

The Motovun Online short movies program (15 minutes tops) has begun. This year´s Motovun Online is going to show an entirely new, much more playful face, and will last for fifty days instead of five, which was the case in the previous years. Along with our own selecters, this time the visitors of our web site also get to vote for the best movie. The enlisted movies will be presented on our web site from 15.06. until 23.07., and the best will be shown on the Motovun Film Festival. In the period before the Festival, the film program will be periodicaly renewed (new films will be added on 25.06., 2.07.,9.07. and 16.07.), so we recommend that you visit our web site frequently.

The final selection of the best movies, according to the audience and our selectors will be available on the web during the Festival – 23. – 27.07.

The best movie of the final program will be declared by a three-member jury of young movie professionals. The prize money of 1000 Euro is provided by the Festival´s general sponsor VIPnet.

This year´s Motovun Online jury seats are occupied by three young directors which have made an impact in recent years. Alen Drljevic from Sarajevo, won the last year´s Motovun Online with his short movie Prva plata. Marko Šantic from Ljubljana was competing for the European Movie Academy award with the film Sretan put, Nedime. Matija Klukovic from Zagreb was in the program of the prestigieous film festival in Rotterdam wit his first-born Ajde, dan prodi. Besides choosing the winner in this category, they will also give a lecture named How to start – Sarajevo, Ljubljana, Zagreb, talking about the experience of young directors fighting for their place in the cinematography.