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Presentation
Motovun
Film Festival is the name of both an event and the company behind it. Motovun
Film Festival Ltd is an independent legal entity, which endeavours to present
the main trends and tendencies in the contemporary world cinema and to broaden
creative contacts between international and Croatian filmmakers. The legal frames
of a 'limited company' suit best the activities of Motovun Film Festival,
which include:
- festival organisation
- film production
- film distribution
Reasons
for inclusion in BO Profiles directory:
Since its foundation and through its further rapid development in less than
two years of its existence (the organisation was founded only in September 1998)
Motovun Film Festival Ltd represents an atypical example of a cultural
institution in Croatian context: Despite the unfavourable circumstances due
to a very difficult political and economic period in the country Motovun
Film Festival Ltd managed not only to survive but also to broaden its activities
and consequently impose itself as one of the leading and most successful cultural
institutions in Croatia. The reasons for that lie mainly in three basic factors:
- its program and aims
were exactly matching the cultural needs in the country at a given moment
- alternative forms of
financing
- ingenious, elaborate
and long-term marketing strategy
The festival
Context:
At the time the festival
was launched the Croatian film landscape was characterised by a partial and
biased approach in distribution policy of Croatian distributors, needless to
say in favour of grand commercial productions. To put it briefly, as it is mainly
the case in other countries of Central and Eastern Europe, Hollywood majors
have forced out everything else that the world of motion pictures produces for
the big screen. To turn back, at least seemingly, to the natural course of evolution,
and by doing so to break through our film isolation, we have decided to organise
the international film festival in Croatia, named The Motovun Film Festival.
The importance
of the festivals as popular and privileged places in the promotion and circulation
of films and audio-visual culture has considerably increased in recent years.
With an adequate support, some of them have become a crucial channel for distributing
an alternative circuit of productions, at a time when the film industry is more
than ever threatened by American blockbusters. The socio-economic impact of
some festivals in Europe is therefore significant and an intelligent selection
approach may allow them to raise the public's awareness of still existing motion
pictures diversity.
Motovun
- explanation of choice:
Istria, the Mediterranean
region of Croatia, is a fairyland, rich in ancient towns. Motovun is certainly
one of the most beautiful. It is situated on the top of a hill above the river
Mirna and is surrounded by vineyards, which since the time of ancient Rome have
been the source of the famous wine, Malvazija. Climbing the hillside one reaches
the fortified maze of criss-crossing narrow streets. The beauty and significant
placement (near Slovenian, Italian and Austrian border) of the site gave rise
to the idea of culturally exploiting it.
The Motovun
Film Festival takes place in Motovun's main town square and in its only motion
picture theatre, which for the occasion was reopened after more than 20 years
of inactivity. Hence the Motovun Festival reintroduced cinema to an area where
it had completely disappeared, and to a public it no longer reached, giving
a new dimension to the notion of cultural tourism, harmoniously integrated into
the life of the region.
The festival
is in a way a continuation of another project of the International film school
for Central European film makers which has been established in Croatia for the
last 5 years under the name of Imaginary Academy in the wonderful village of
Istria. The Imaginary Academy was founded by film maker Rajko
Grlić (among others) in order to provide a serious training for producers,
writers and directors from countries where the film infrastructure after the
fall of the Berlin wall has more or less fallen apart. Funded by the Croatian
Soros Foundation the school brings together the best of eastern young film talent
- with the best of western teachers and professors. In the past several years
some Austrian students also attended the school.
As the school
has matured, we have decided to follow another model - that of Sundance Institute
which after having developed its successful lab for independent American film
makers it started the film festival as a showcase and as a way of bringing the
best of talent to the area.
For the
first time, therefore, from August 1999 the Motovun International Film Festival
was launched to run alongside the school.
Pula, the
capital of the region traditionally hosts the festival of national cinematography
while the neighbouring town, Oprtalj nourishes for year its "Film Weekend".
In our opinion, The Motovun Film Festival is the next step in our endeavour
to help the small country like Croatia to regain its cinematographic legs and
to overcome its isolation.
Aims:
Considering all above
stated facts and having in mind its primary goal which is to give back to independent
film the dignity it merits, the aims of the International Motovun Festival could
be structured around several axes which are as follows:
- offer to the Croatian
public (professionals and large audience) a unique possibility to see in the
country an exclusive selection of films, a sort of cinema alternative in comparison
to what is mainly presented in our moving picture theatres. In that way we
hope to widen the horizons of the audience and give them the liberty of selective
choice.
- give to the international
professional viewers a chance to get acquainted with the contemporary Croatian
film production and consequently, try to overcome its marginalisation. For
the young authors it would mean breaking through the limited development path
of their career.
- gather around a punctual
event a number of film professionals, national and international, in order
to make it a privileged moment for a productive discussion, exchange of ideas
and experience which could be beneficial to the further development of film
production and distribution in Croatia.
In the long
run, with the subsequent editions of the Motovun Festival we hope to approach
wider issues and influence phenomena, which are only indirectly connected with
the Festival:
- open policy to encourage
and support the distribution of independent films (mainly European ) in collaboration
with Cultural Institutes of different countries. Already two films presented
at the festival were distributed in Croatian theatres, namely Serbian The
Powder Keg by Goran Paskaljević and German Run Lola Run (the latter
is distributed by the Motovun Film Festival Ltd). The distribution plan for
2000 includes titles as: Drifting Clouds by Aki Kaurismaki (Finland),
Kikujiro by Takeshi Kitano (Japan) and Straight Story by David
Lynch (USA).
- help to bring the international
funds to Croatia, meant to support the new Croatian production, to encourage
co-productions with European partners and collaboration with other South-Eastern
European countries.
- introduce international
professionals to the richness, variety and specificity of Istrian landscape
and gradually transform Istria in a kind of exclusive "film destination" able
to attract international production teams. It would consequently encourage
international co-production and creation.
First Motovun
Film Festival, 1999
Success
of the first Motovun Film Festival established this event as a privileged moment
in Croatia as to the promotion and distribution of independent international
productions (feature and documentary) which, in general, rarely reach our theaters.
In total 38 films were screened coming from about 10 different countries. Great
audience response and enormous media attention from its very beginning (8000
spectators, around one hundred journalists, about 250 articles in national and
international press, festival chronicles on main independent TV stations in
Croatia, report on Dutch TV etc.) proved that there is a great interest for
this kind of films in Croatia and that Motovun Film Festival could develop in
the years to come into a crucial channel as to the circulation of an alternative
circuit of productions in a time when the film industry is dominated more than
ever by commercial productions.
For its
first edition The Motovun Film Festival presented more than 30 films chosen
upon their artistic and production quality and in accordance with the financial
and infrastructure resources, with no specific genre or geographic limitations.
The only condition for the films is to be produced in the last two years and
as for the international selection never before released in Croatia.
In addition
to the main international selection (central program of films awarded at world
festivals) special programs of the first Motovun film festival were dedicated
to: New Dutch Film, documentary film Made in Grožnjan and a selection
of New Croatian Films. The only prize winning selection was the documentary
Made in Grožnjan because it presented films made by students of the above
mentioned Imaginary Academy coming from different parts of south eastern
Europe.
Experience
of filmmakers and producers from other countries, international contacts, productive
discussion and exchange of ideas proved to be a necessity for the development
of independent film in Croatia. For that reason festival hosted a number of
acclaimed names of the international film scene: British producer and Oscar
winner, Jeremy Thomas; Czech director, Juraj Jakubisko; Serbian director living
in Paris, Dušan Makavejev; British producer and editor, Mike Downey; British
Screen director, Simon Perry; French producers, Antoine and Martine de Clermont
Tonnerre; Danish actor, Jesper Asholt; Serbian actor Bogdan Diklić; Bosnian
director Pjer Žalica; Slovenian producer Daniel Hočevar; Dutch documentary director,
Sonia Herman Dolz; Albanian documentary director, Fatmir Koci and many others.
All guests expressed their satisfaction and pleasure with the festival, both
in its qualitative and organisational aspect.
Apart from
film projections, a successful round table discussion was organised around the
topic "Cinema of the 21st century - Europe vs. America".
The town
also hosted two expositions: one of renowned Croatian artist Edo Murtić and
the other presenting two local artists. Festival did not lack different celebrations,
parties and concerts (so that, we are proud to say, the whole city lived with
the festival during the five festive days.
Second Motovun
Film Festival, 2000
The second
festival was successfully brought to an end on August 5, 2000. According to
the response from the audience and the media it was one of the leading cultural
events this year in Croatia. During the 5 festival days around 20 000 spectators
came, more than double of 1999. Mainly it was due to an elaborate marketing
campaign and a high-quality program comprising 70 films coming from more than
15 different countries.
The films
were grouped in several different programs as follows:
Main
international program, consisting of award-winning long feature films, mainly
in independeent world productions. The best film in this selection received
the which ensured the film regular theatrical distribution in Croatian cinemas.
This year by the decision of an international jury the Best Film Award entitled
The Propeller of Motovun went to the British production Billy Elliot
by Stephen Daldry. Since this film already has a Croatian distributor, by unanimous
opinion of the Jury and consent of the awarded author Mr. Stephen Daldry, it
was decided that the Japanese film Kikujiro, by Takeshi Kitano will be
the one to be released in the cinemas.
Retrospective
of New French Cinema, selected by French producers Antoine and Martine de Clermont
Tonnerre, with the support of the French National Film Centre and French Embassy
in Zagreb.
Selection
of Croatian Documentary Film: projections of the best recent documentary films.
Motovun
Online: international Internet festival of short feature film. On a special
location with computers installed, the spectators had a non-stop daily access
to film projections. In addition, through the Web page of the festival, the
films are accessible to Internet film lovers worldwide.
Presentation
of Croatian Film Festivals: projections of winning films from other film festivals
in Croatia.
Festival
Trailers Compilation Film: In collaboration with the film magazine Moving
Pictures we have narrowed down the entries of the best international festivals
intro trailers. (Those who are not familiar with this, should see it.) The compilation
will receive its premier on special projections in Motovun and Moving Pictures
will further sponsor the compilation to travel to a series of renowned festivals
worldwide.
The festival
also hosted about fifty film professionals and film critics from all around
the world including: Swedish actors Bibi Andersson and Erland Josephson; Mike
Downey, editor/producer at Moving Pictures; Simon Perry, director of British
Screen; Fridrik Thor Fridriksson, Icelandic film director; Stephen Daldry, British
film director; British actors Chris Bisson, Ian Aspinall and Jamie Bell; German
director Veit Helmer; Ron Holloway of Screen International; Jerry Payne, distributor
KINOWELT Int.; Ludmila Cvikova, Programmer
of Rotterdam Film Festival; producer Mal Watson and many others.
The festival's
impact:
a.
Benefits in film sector:
- A notable change can
be remarked in the Croatian distribution policy. The percentage of European
and independent productions in Croatian theatres has increased.
- The festival has increased
creative contacts between Croatian and international filmmakers. Ideas and
basic agreements for some independent projects currently in development were
made.
b. Transdisciplinary
project: benefits for other art sectors, cultural tourism
Due to the
festival the old town cinema (which really has the looks and the spirit of the
old Cinema Paradiso) was refurbished and reopened after almost 20 years of inactivity.
The whole year round it will alternatively be used for film screenings (which
have already started once a week), smaller theatre performances, design and
fashion seminars etc.
The festival
also contributed to the revaluation of the natural and historical heritage of
Central Istria. During the festival the visitors far outnumbered the local population
(of only 407 persons) and after the festival an increase in the number of tourists
visiting Motovun has been noted. Moreover, city will be given additional financing
for refurbishing medieval city walls.
Marketing
Strategy:
The marketing
strategy of the festival comprises:
- determining several media
sponsors (press, radio and TV), concluding exclusive contracts with them and
elaborating an adequate marketing campaign in order to assure the media covering
of the overall festival process (preliminary phase, 5 days of the festival
and the follow-up)
- as for the international
promotion the magazine "Moving Pictures" sponsors regular ads announcing the
festival and its activities
- regular updating of the
Web site of the Festival (www.motovunfilmfestival.com)
- printed material related
to the festival: catalogue, posters, daily reports.....
Financing
The limited
company:
The Ltd
company was founded by 5 partners who constitute the core
staff of the festival. The inital capital corresponded to the required minimum
needed for the registration of a limited compnay in Croatia, i.e. 2.600 Euros
in cash and valuables. The average yearly turnover is about 280.000 Euros of
which approx. 57% relates to the festival organisation, 35% to production and
8% to distribution. The three activities stated above are considered as three
financially independent projects (with separate financial construction, with
the exception of administrative and office costs which are shared) under the
same umbrella of Motovun Film Festival Ltd.
The festival:
Regarding
its goals and the impact it had the Motovun Film Festival was undoubtedly a
project of national interest. However, in terms of financing, there was no funding
from the state level (ministry of culture) which obviously is a paradox demanding
further explanation:
- If we analyse the prevailing
system of funding in cultural sector in the countries of central and eastern
Europe we will find out that it is mainly based on the funds coming from the
central state level which due to the difficulties in economies of these countries,
can hardly satisfy the needs of numerous emerging cultural projects. Only
recently analysis and revisions of cultural policies have been undertaken
in order to conceive more adapted systems of funding based mainly on decentralisation
of state power. Croatia in this case is no exception.
- At the time the festival
was founded Croatia was still under the leadership of very centralist nationalist
government and consequently the ministry of culture in a way boycotted the
festival which had an international orientation, and which included in its
program the films coming also from other ex-Yugoslav countries. The festival
was regarded as a threat to the festival of national cinema which also takes
place in Istria (Pula).
Eventually,
the core funding for the festival came from the local authority, namely the
Region of Istria which welcomed the project from its very beginning seeing in
it an opportunity for further exploitation of cultural, historical and tourist
potential of the region. In that way, from the financial point of view, the
project was almost 80% regional investment, not as a consequence of the normal
decentralisation tendencies but as a result of polarisation of interests between
regional and state authorities.
Therefore
the festival can be regarded as a project where cultural actors turned unfavourable
political and economic paradigms to their benefit and demonstrated new ways
of financing which in the future can serve as an example and in that way influence
the legislative changes in cultural sector.
The other
20% of the budget came from minor public contributions: from Soros Foundation
(through Centre for Drama Art and the above mentioned Imaginary Film Academy),
Slovenian and Dutch Embassy in Zagreb and sponsors' donations (mainly services:
hotel "Istarske toplice", DHL, Kodak etc.).
In 2000
the budgetary construction of the festival has undergone some major changes:
- After parliamentary elections
in January 2000 the political situation has considerably changed so that the
project was given support by the ministry of culture, within the limits of
resources available
- Sponsorship as a means
of financing had more prominent role since the success and publicity of the
first festival attracted some major companies to be involved in the project
(Croatian Telecomunications, KLM, Renault).
The figures
are not final. The grand total corresponds to approximately 170 thousand Euros.
The total revenue is 208
thousand Euros. In agreement with the sponsors, the surplus will be used for
further development of the festival.
Distribution:
Great audience
and media response to the first festival confirmed our belief that there is
still an audience for independent film in Croatia. From that moment on our institution
has undergone quite a speedy development and we decided to broaden our activities.
It seemed a good idea to use the name and the label of the festival which had
already high credentials from the audience in order to gradually start a limited
and exclusive distribution of "art films" all year round and try to release
titles which otherwise would have never been released theatrically on our territory.
Theatrical
Distribution:
The first
title in our distribution was the German film Run Lola Run (released
December 9, 1999 and still touring Croatian theatres, 5000 spectators so far
which is a great result given the context we are working in). A film acclaimed
by critics, awarded at numerous festivals and at the same time a "crowd pleaser"
seemed to be the right choice to begin with. Since the film was also screened
at our festival it had already excellent publicity in Croatian media. Due to
our exclusive contracts with leading Croatian papers, magazines, radio and TV
stations the film was given adequate marketing long before it was released.
In order to insure needed infrastructure for covering the Croatian territory
we concluded a business agreement with the Discovery Film & Video Distributors
company with 10 year experience which has a reputation of releasing films in
independent production (e.g. Happiness by Todd Solondz) but also majors
as New Line productions Austin Powers or Rush Hour. The use of
our name and reputation in combination with their infrastructure and know how
in film distribution seemed to be a perfect match for this kind of initiative.
There is
no doubt that box-office success of our films is one of our main goals. However,
given the particularly difficult situation on Croatian market, our primarily
policy in the long run is to educate the audience and to form faithful public
who will know that we are presenting quality film achievements.
Video Releases:
As previously
mentioned, due to hard situation on the market and highly commercial distribution
policy of Croatian distributors a long period of independent and European productions
simply does not exist either on the market or in the memory of our audience.
To make up for this gap we decided to release new video editions, which will
differ in content, packaging and presentation from the usual video editions
available on the market.
- The first video edition
will be released next week. It is called No subtitles since it presents
packages of 3 films made on the territory of Ex-Yugoslavia which due to political
and economic situation cannot be found on the market. The first package presents
three films by Rajko Grlić: That Summer of White Roses, Charuga and You
Love Only Once (Grand Prix at Tokyo Film Festival). Next two packages
will be dedicated to two other eminent authors from these territories: Krvavac
and Makavejev.
- The other three-package
video edition is in planning phase and it is going to present great authors
in film history ( now we are preparing the release of some Kaurismaki's and
Jarmush's titles).
Distribution
marketing strategy:
- concluding contracts
for media sponsorship for each title in our distribution (press conferences,
publicity, press releases, critics reviews, prize-winning games prior to the
actual release of the film
- compilation of the mailing
list ( 7000 - 10 000 addresses) with an aim to build up a direct mailing system
and a regular public for our films which will be personally informed about
our future releases and projects
- unusual packaging and
design of our video titles
- issuing of posters and
flyers to promote the film
- organisation of accompanying
events (expositions, concerts and receptions/parties) for premier screenings
The distribution
branch of Motovun Film festival is conceived to be a self-sustaining activity.
However, since the titles in our distribution are non-commercial films additional
support is given by cultural institutes and Embassies of the countries the films
are coming from, in terms of covering the costs of translation, subtitling and
promotion.
Screening
venues:
One of the
great achievements of the company was refurbishing and equipping of the
small cinema in Motovun which, thanks to the festival, was re-opened after more
than 20 years of inactivity. When one takes into consideration the fact that
we work in the country where there is a constant growing tendency of closing
theatres the importance of this achievement gets its full sense.
We have
in prospect opening of two more venues in Zagreb. One is a small theatre seating
approximately 100 persons owned by Zagreb film, which is in good condition
and could be re-opened after minor interventions.
The other
venue is an open-air cinema in the centre of Zagreb, which has been abandoned
and left to oblivion for a number of years. The negotiations with the City of
Zagreb have already started in order to elaborate a reconstruction plan and
to find partners for funding the project.
Production:
Production
is the last but not the least activity of the Motovun Film Festival Company.
Currently we are producing a documentary film entitled Croatia 2000 (about
the recent elections in Croatia which brought the first shift of authority after
Croatia had gained its independence. (The shooting phase has recently been completed.)
We have two more titles in prospect (one documentary and the other long-feature).
Partners:
Motovun
Film Festival Ltd has been carrying out its projects in collaboration and
with support of a number of private and public partners. These include: Region
of Istria, Open Society Institute, Ohio University, US Information Office /
Croatia, Centre National de la Cinematographie / France, Jan Vrijman Fund (NL)
a number of Embassies and Cultural Institutes of different countries, and several
private sponsors.
From the
year 2000, with the first shift of political authority since Croatia gained
its independence we expect greater support and closer collaboration with the
Croatian ministry of culture.
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Notes:
Rajko
Grlić is one of the most prominent film directors in ex-Yugoslavia, whose works
include "That Summer of White Roses", "Čaruga" and internationally awarded "You
Love Only Once". Currently he is lecturer at the Film Department of Ohio Universsity
(Athens/OH/USA).
Founding
partners and actual proprietors of the company: Boris T. Matić, Festival Director;
Rajko Grlić, Artistic Director (majority holders 35 % each) and Igor Mirković,
Public Relations; Olinka Vištica, Festival Coordinator; Mike Downey, President
of Council of Advisors; as well as the Bruketa & Žinić studio (responsible for
the visual identity of the festival).
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