Running from 12 to 16 September, the programme will also welcome several filmmakers, giving audiences the chance to meet them and share their impressions during screenings. In addition to the two familiar venues: Kino Karaman and Kinoteka Zlatna Vrata, which will host the short and feature film competitions, the STFF will also screen films at the Kvart Gallery at Trstenik and Academia Club Ghetto, with a special screening planned at the Farm House. This year’s visual identity is the work of designer Segor Garber, while the new festival award has been designed by sculptor Boris Šitum.
The 30th edition of STFF will open with the Japanese feature film Numakage Public Pool from the competition programme, introduced at Kino Karaman via a video message from director Shingo Ota. The competition will close with the multi-award-winning Punku by Peruvian filmmaker J.D. Fernández Molera, which had its world premiere at this year’s Berlinale. My Friend Miles by Pieter Solt, a festival favourite recognised for its numerous awards, is also part of the competition. This cinematic portrait explores philosophical themes while paying formal homage to the art of filmmaking. In the feature competition, audiences will also be able to see the animated film Memory Hotel, set in wartime 1945 – a project its creator, Heinrich Sabl, has been working on since 1999. Kino Karaman will host two world premieres. The first, Alma Blu, marks the feature debut of young director Alice Palchetti – an intimate yet universal story of identity, heritage, and the search for one’s place in the world. The second, Beautiful and Neat Room, examines the experience of sharing a living space and will be presented live by director Maria Petschnig, described by New York Magazine as “the film world’s Franz Kafka” for her distinctive cinematic voice. Also premiering in Split is the genre-blurring horror Exit Medea, a poetic collage of language, genres, and visuals, introduced by its creator Tony Paraskeva.
The short film competition presents 18 titles, mostly experimental works, with a notable number of filmmakers born after 2000. Zlatna Vrata will screen 16 Croatian premieres, including highlights such as José Magro’s Ultraviolet, a quirky tale of aliens and abandoned football stadiums, and Impivaara – New World, an experimental adaptation of the novel Seven Brothers, by Finnish filmmaker Patrik Soderlund, which represented Finland at the Venice Biennale. Zuko Garagić’s Anatomy of Lost Sound deserves special mention, described as “essential viewing on remilitarisation of child-rearing in the 21st century.” A Croatian entry, Heat by Goran Nježić and Matija Tomić, follows three young friends and their small, seemingly insignificant acts of rebellion against monotony, as the relentless anxiety of the city’s desolation presses down on them.
Other venues will host the festival’s side programmes. At Academia Club Ghetto, the Focus programme will present films exploring social issues. “Dunja’s Nights” is a new festival celebrating feminist film pioneer Tatjana Dunja Ivanišević from Split, organised in collaboration with the association Mavena – 36 Miracles of Her. The programme includes video installations, video poetry, and experimental short and feature films, all inspired by the avant-garde, experimental, and feminist spirit that Žemsko embodied in 1968. A side programme of Croatian short films will be shown in the courtyard of the Kvart Gallery, located away from the urban centre in Split 3, the city’s most populous district. The Forum programme presents feature-length films screened out of competition, while the new Spotlight programme highlights the work of a single selected filmmaker. The Rural programme offers a unique experience for residents of Brštanovo and the surrounding area, with screenings on hay bales at the Farm House. Throughout the festival, the video and new media programmes will be on display at the Kvart Gallery and the Zlatna Vrata Loggia.
In celebration of the festival’s anniversary, all film screenings will be free, though early arrival is advised.
Full programme details will be available on social media and the official website.
The Split Film Festival is supported by the Croatian Audiovisual Centre and the City of Split, with additional support from HULU Split, MKC Split, the Museum of Fine Arts, the Farm House, the KVART Association for Contemporary Art, and Academia Club Ghetto.
