Outdoor Movies!

The first Mediterranean Film Festival Split was officially opened in an open-air cinema with The Edge of Heaven, directed by Fatih Akin, winner of the best screenplay award last year in Cannes. The film by this famous German-Turkish director deals with the relationship between East and West. It is a complex story about lives intertwined.

A crowd in front of the open-air cinema Bacvice hasn’t been seen in years and shows that Split has a movie audience and potential; the Mediterranean Film Festival will certainly become one of Split’s attractions. More than 500 people broke the cinema’s record, extra chairs had to be provided and even that wasn’t enough. Festival director Alen Munitić and producer Tanja Prpić Marenić were extremely satisfied and said they were hoping the rest of the festival will be as attended as it was on the opening night. The idea for the festival was born two years ago and last night was a great acknowledgment to see it realized. Director and producer also thanked the City of Split and the sponsors for their support.

The festival started in the morning in Zlatna Vrata open air cinema with the projection of The Edge of Heaven. The first films from the retrospective program, made by Tanja Vrvilo, were shown in the afternoon. The selected films are the works of cult directors from 1960s onwards. These movies are borderline of film art and their genres range from documentary essays and political films to experiments that deal with the issue of film itself and the nature of the film image. Even though they use different approaches they all have one thing in common and that is the Mediterranean culture.

In spite of somewhat more alternative retrospective program and summer heat, the cinema was almost full which promised success even before the official opening. After the films, music took over with Arsen Dedic in the Aquarium on Bacvice. It was a performance to remember. After that Party Tanja and Super Mario, duo La musique fantastique, took the stage and threw a memorable party, ending the first day of the Mediterranean Film festival and making it a part of Croatian cultural life.
We can say the audience got hooked on the festival!

The Mediterranean Film Festival Split is a new cultural event in Croatia that took place for the first time from May 27th – May 31st. The Festival took place in the immediate center of the city of Split, in the 1700 years old historic part of the city.

The visitors were able to see a competition of 15 films from the Mediterranean region in an outdoors open cinema as well as indoors in a closed cinema. Besides that, there was a Mediterranean retrospective that consisted of 10 films.

Also, it offered other events throughout the day and during evenings such as different exhibitions, presentations, lectures, concerts and a round table on a subject of the Mediterranean culture and other interactive programs.

The aim of the Festival is to present the city of Split and Croatia, as well the rich Mediterranean culture and film production in the best way possible and to reach a wider population of audience that doesn’t have an opportunity to see these films in a cinema distribution.

With high-quality films, as well as concerts, exhibitions and round tables, the festival showed the true Mediterranean colors of Split and, hopefully will become an important meeting place for international filmmakers and film industry professionals in this part of Europe and world.

Official Website: http://www.splitmedfilmfest.com/home_eng.html

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