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| Location | Motovun, Croatia |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1999 |
| Language | International |
| Website | http://www.motovunfilmfestival.com |
The Motovun Film Festival is an annual film festival established in 1999 and held in the small town of Motovun, Croatia until 2023, when it moved to a new location, Petehovac in Gorski Kotar.[1] It usually takes place over five or six days in late July or early August.
Motovun Film Festival is entirely dedicated to films made in small studios and independent film productions. Founded by film director Rajko Grlić and producer Boris T. Matić, it was first organized in the late 1990s to fill the gap in cinema repertoire as there were almost no non-Hollywood films in wide distribution in Croatia at the time. Every year, the festival program consists of around 70 titles from all over the world, from documentaries to feature films, short and feature-length films, from guerrilla-made films to co-productions.
Over time the festival has become widely popular, especially among young people both locally and abroad. Every year during the festival, a camp for visitors is organized next to the festival site. The festivalgoers' camp has become one of the hallmarks of the festival. In January 2007, the British newspaper The Guardian described the festival as "a cross between Glastonbury and Sundance."[2] It is often referred to as "a Woodstock of film festivals".[3]
The festival also grew in status on the festival circuit. From an event that was once considered a "backpacker's film festival," by 2007 it was recognized as one of the two most important film festivals held on the territory of the former Yugoslavia, along with the Sarajevo Film Festival.[4]
The 2011 festival, which was supposed to be its 13th edition, was re-numbered by organizers as the 14th, in order to skip the unlucky number 13.[5] The skipped year was maintained in all later festival editions, so the 2022 festival, the last one held exclusively in Motovun (the 24th edition) was officially designated as the "25th Motovun Film Festival".
In 2023 it was announced that the festival would move to Petehovac in Gorski Kotar. That year the festival was held in both locations.[1]
The main award at the festival is called Propeler Motovuna (English: The Propeller of Motovun, inspired by the prominent wind turbines located near Motovun).
Other awards at the festival are the Motovun Online award for best short film, the odAdoA (From 'A' to 'A') award for best film in the regional competition (the name of the award is short for From Austria to Albania, roughly describing the region covered), and the film critics' FIPRESCI Award.
In 2008, the Motovun Maverick Award was introduced, given to notable filmmakers for lifetime achievement. Its first recipient was Ken Russell. In 2013, Mohsen Makhmalbaf and The Gardener were given the award.
People who visited the festival include:
