Director of Kino Mediteran and the Mediterranean Film Festival Split and President of the Croatian Independent Cinemas Network 

1. How do you see short film? What does it mean to you? 

For me, short film is a veritable cinematic feast in small packaging. Short film is most commonly associated with young authors, but it truly takes a lot of skill to tell a good story in such a short window of time, while also making sure the film is tehnically up to scratch. And, precisely because it is such a challenging form, nothing makes me happier and more elated than watching an excellent short film.  

2. Why does short film matter? What are its greatest strengths and virtues? 

Short film is important because it is part of the journey of every filmmaker on the road to feature film and offers an opportunity to spot young up-and-coming filmmakers early on. For the authors, on the other hand, the form offers a chance to experiment and push traditional boundaries. I think the greatest advantage of short film is that it forces the author to tell the story in such a way that it immediately draws in the viewers and involves them in the narrative and the characters, precisely because the timeframe does not allow too many digressions.  And, herein lies the challenge! 

3. What is your favorite short film and why?

This is a very difficult question to answer, but if I had to choose one right off the bat, I would say Then I See Tanja (2010) by director Juraj Lerotić. It is a truly warm, life-like story about growing up and falling in love that also opens up several difficult questions. The whole film is constructed almost entirely from still photographs, so it seems straight out of a family album. It simply has that something special that is hard to put to words but moves you. Among the films on your platform, I would also definitely recommend several of the films shot in Split – On Shaky Ground (2014) by Sonja Tarokić, Two All Alone (2015) by Andrija Mardešić and Story About Mare (2013) by Igor Šeregi. Only, at the croatian.film platform there are so many other gems, and I can only thank you for that, because it was high time we had all Croatian shorts in one place.  

4. In your capacity as the President of the Croatian Independent Cinemas Network, can you tell us how independent cinemas are coping with closures due to the COVID-19 situation? How will the current situation affect them? Have you started discussing ways of lending assistance to them? Of course, can you comment on the situation both in your capacity as Director of Kino Mediteran on the island of Brač, which is also closed. 

Once the National Civil Protection Directorate announced the decision to close down all cinemas, within days we collected the data from the Network members and subsequently prepared an analysis of the current state of affairs and an estimate of losses, which we sent to the Ministry of Culture and there are wheels in motion to come up with an aid solution. Cinemas are largely funded from ticket sales and out members are bound to experience a considerable drop in earnings, while the recovery will be long even once this situation is behind us. Many jobs are at risk, especially those of external associates whose services were no longer needed as soon as the cinemas closed. However, the most important thing right now is for everyone to stay at home and I am confident that, once this is over, the audience will return to cinemas.    

5. As the director of the Mediterranean Film Festival Split, which is scheduled to take place in June, can you tell us how the current COVID-19 situation is affecting the process of preparing the festival? Will there be a festival? Do you have a ‘Plan B’ if the ban on public gathering continues?   

The inauguration of the Mediterranean Film Festival Split is scheduled for June 4, and right about now we are completing the film selection process, but we are also working on a ‘Plan B’ in case the situation stretches into the summer. We cannot reveal any details yet, but one thing is certain – there will be nothing unlucky about the 13th MFFS, which will be held as soon as it is possible. 

6. Every year, the festival’s Croatian Short Film Competition program “Ješke” (Bait) attracts a large number of filmmakers who send in their film applications, but the program is an audience favorite as well. Can you tell us more about the program, how it came about, what are some of the plans for it etc.?   

“Ješke” is a program the MFFS team likes a lot and over the years the audience has grown to love it too. Croatian shorts are screened in prime-time slots, as openers for feature films, lending them real visibility. Many authors are anxious about screening their film before an audience of one thousand festivalgoers, which is the capacity of the Bačvice Summer Cinema, but it is a truly special feeling, especially if you are anointed by the finicky Split audience. The competition winner also receives a financial prize in the amount of 13 thousand kunas, which is the biggest financial prize awarded in this category in Croatia. The novelty this year is that we have had to cut down on the number of films in the program so that we could screen all of them at Bačvice Summer Cinema. We have also introduced two new awards, the award for best screenplay and the audience award, each accompanied by a money prize of 5 thousand kunas.

7. The Mediterranean Film Festival Split was among the first to launch its own VoD channel for free viewing in which you offer 22 excellent films screened at the Mediterranean Film Festival Split and we would like to thank you on this generous initiative. How did you come up with this idea? Right now, most platforms, production houses and distributors have decided to share their film catalogues joining in the #StayAtHome movement. Can you comment on this? Do you agree that the existence of online platforms for watching films has proven indispensable for culture at a time like this?        

Kino Mediteran is a unique project which does not offer the possibility to screen the same film too many times. At the same time, we noticed that the audience can easily access commercial films through existing VoD platforms, but it is much harder to come by European, independent films, which are the focus of our cinema programming. This is why for the last year we have been working on developing the Kino Mediteran VoD platform, precisely to allow our audience to catch up on what they missed at the cinema, with a special focus on independent European film. Last Christmas we offered the audience a chance to stream the films they missed at really affordable prices, which is why we had the whole infrastructure ready. The moment we closed down the cinemas due to current regulations, it seemed like a logical step to offer the audience a chance to still watch the films in our distribution. We did not expect for the initiative to go viral, though, which is what happened, because, in the past three weeks, we have had 20 thousand viewers. Generally speaking, the whole #StayAtHome movement has demonstrated that culture is very important at times like these because it offers a comforting respite and a brief but necessary escape from serious news and problems. It is precisely at a time like this that we see the importance of investing in culture and making cultural contents available online, and I hope that the financing institutions will recognize this and in the future open avenues of funding for such initiatives. We are currently using the VIMEO system, but we are working on creating a more suitable platform and, interestingly, just last fall when we applied to several calls for applications for financial support for the project, it was not accepted by any of them. 

8. How important is culture at a time when we are encouraged to stay at home? Do you have any recommendations for our users in terms of free cultural resources available online?   

Culture means a lot to us at a time like this and it has become apparent that even the ones who see culture as a thorn in their side have now turned to free cultural resources available. There are so many resources out there: from the ingenious shorts on your platform, to great documentaries offered by Restart and Factum, all the way to online museums, theater shows and concert performances. There is something for every taste and I am sure the audience will remember all of our efforts during this crisis and start attending cinema, museum and theater programs in even greater numbers once this is over.