A Stranger Wins at 60th Pula Film Festival
The film A Stranger, directed by Bobo Jelčić, won seven Golden Arenas, including the Grand Golden Arena for best film, director, screenplay, actor and actress. Hush, directed by Lukas Nola, won five Golden Arenas and Breza Award, and Cowboys by Tomislav Mršić won Pula Golden Gate Audience Award.
The National Programme of the 60th edition of Pula Film Festival screened the record-breaking 24 film titles. The main selection screened 14 feature-length films, while the minority co-production category featured another 10. The awards were decided at the discretion of the jury consisting of: writer and director Petar Krelja, producer Stanislav Babić, actress Gordana Gadžić, director of photography Slobodan Trninić and editor Damir Čučić.
A Stranger won seven Golden Arenas. Producer Zdenka Gold from Spiritus Movens production company won the Grand Golden Arena for best film, and director Bobo Jelčić won Golden Arenas for best director and best screenplay. Leading actors in the film – Bogdan Diklić and Nada Đurevska won Golden Arenas for best actor and best actress, respectively. The film also earned Golden Arenas to director of photography Erol Zubčević and set designer Mario Ivezić. A Stranger also won the OKTAVIJAN Awards given by the Croatian Film Critics’ Association and FEDEORA – Federation of Film Critics of Europe and the Mediterranean Award.
Hush by Lukas Nola (Kinorama production company) earned Golden Areas to Lana Barić for best supporting actress, Jura Ferina and Pavle Miholjević for music, and Slaven Zečević for editing. Special Golden Arenas went to Julijana Vušković for make-up and Dubravka Premar for sound. The leading actress Tihana Lazović won the Breza Award for best debut.
Nikša Butijer won the Golden Arena for his supporting role in The Priest’s Children, and Emina Kušan for costume design in The Mysterious Boy.
In the minority co-production category, the absolute triumph was the film Circles, the Serbian-German-French-Slovenian-Croatian co-production, directed by Srdan Golubović and co-produced by Propeler Film from Croatia. The film earned Golden Arenas for best minority co-production to producer Jelena Mitrović, best director to Srdan Golubović and best actor to Leon Lučev.
The Pula Golden Gate Audience Award went to Cowboys, directed by Tomislav Mršić (Kabinet production company), while the young cinephile jury awarded a diploma to Vis-à-Vis by Nevio Marasović (Antitalent and Copycat production companies).
The full list of award-winners and explanations is available on the official festival website.