Mediteranian Film Festival in Split, Croatia moves as planned

The Split Mediterranean Film Festival will be one of the first European events to go forward under the COVID-19 recommendations. Held from 2.7.-11.7. the festival program will start with Mater (Matriarch), a Croatian premiere of Jure Pavlović film - the director's short Picnic won the European Film Academy Award in 2015.

In Mater, Jasna - a Croatian expat - returns to her hometown to take care of her dying mother. From the moment of her arrival, past dynamics resurface and Jasna becomes consumed by resentment and guilt she at one time ran away from. The film was a Croatian/French/BiH/Serbian coproduction and at the 48. International Film Festival Belgrade won the award for the best regional film.

Each of the 10 features screened at the festival will be Croatian premieres. These include the Tunisian/French drama A Son, by Mehdi M. Barsaoui. A son hat its premiere at the Venice Film Festival, where Sami Bouajila received the Best Actor award. Another interesting title is Yalda, A Night of Forgiveness – a French/German co-production directed by Massoud Bakhshi. The story follows a 22-year-old Iranian woman who has been sentenced to death for murdering her husband and her only chance of pardon is to appear on a popular live TV show where her fate will be decided in front of the viewers. Based on an existing show in Iran, the film won the main Jury prize at Sundance Film Festival. The program will end with The Heist of the Century – Ariel Winograd. The film that inspired the popular TV series Money Heist is an action thriller with elements of comedy and it has had one of the most successful openings in the history of Argentina.

The Croatian Short Films part of the program will start with The Rudeness of a German Lady, by Silva Ćapin, which was developed at the festival workshop in 2018. The mid-length program will feature Croatian directors Višnja Skorin, Goran Dević, and Renata Lučić, while Nimic, a new film by Lobster's Yorgos Lanthimos, will open the Short Films program. 

This year's festival is supposed to operate on a smaller scale and without traditional post-screening parties, to respect health and safety requirements. The Split Mediterranean Film Festival will be followed by Pula Film Festival, running from July 18 - 26.