The section Eastern Selection presents “the best of Central and Eastern Europe productions” featuring eight titles. One of these is the minority co-production Wake Me of director Marko Šantić and screenwriters Goran Vojnović, Marko Šantić and Sara Hribar. The Croatian co-producer is Jure Bušić (Jaka produkcija). The feature had its world premiere at the Black Nights Festival in Tallinn, and has since had a rich festival life. Wake Me recently scooped up five awards at the Festival of Slovenian Film.

The same section also includes the Eastern Focus on Croatia, highlighting the following titles: Bosnian Pot by Pavo Marinković, Andrej Korovljev’s Hotel Pula and Jasna Nanut’s Seventh Heaven. Bosnian pot is currently in theatrical distribution in Austria. It had its world premiere at the Sarajevo Film Festival, followed by a screening at the Rabat International Author Film Festival (Morocco). Together with Bosnian pot, Hotel Pula recently screened at the prestigious PÖFF in Tallinn, as part of a focus programme dedicated to films from Serbia and neighbouring countries. Seventh Heaven has been screening in cinemas across Croatia since 9th November, and just this week inaugurated the Zagreb Film Festival.

Last year, ArrasDays, the industry section of the Arras Film Festival, introduced a focus on individual countries in order to highlight the creative dynamics of national productions. This year, the country in the spotlight is Croatia, while the programme has been created in cooperation with the Croatian Audiovisual Centre.

This way, five Croatian projects will be presented to key figures from the film industries of various countries.

“This year, the focus is on a new European centre of dynamism, Croatia. The festival presents five projects, from screenplay stage to WIP, whose makers will come to talk about their ideas and explain their needs for these films, be they in the making or near completion. During those two days, professionals who wish to do so will be able to meet project leaders during individual meetings,” says the programme description.

Presented in the focus section Projects in Development are:

• Black Swan, Hrvoje Hribar
• Mom, Dad and I, Vanja Juranić
• Honey Bunny, Igor Jelinović

Presented in the focus section Work in Progress are:

• Between Us, Laura Pascu
• Celebration, Bruno Anković

Croatian projects will be presented in the focus programme at the ArrasDays platform on Sunday, 12th November.

The pitching of European projects in the running for two awards will be held the day before, on 11th November. Croatian producer and artistic director of the Pula Film Festival, Danijel Pek will sit on the three-member jury who will decide on the festival awards. Among these seven projects is The Center of the World directed by Marko Šantić (Jaka produkcija).

Details on the ArrasDays industry platform and all the presented projects may be found in the programme booklet on this link.

The Arras Film Festival is held until 12th November. It offers a large selection of European films that have not yet screened in France, along with a few international premieres. Arras FF supports learning more about the history of film through various retrospectives, while the focus programmes are a vital part of the festival as well. Find all other details about Arras Film Festival at the festival’s official website.