August 22, 2023 – Over the past years, Vukovar Film Festival has become one of Croatia’s most important and recognizable film festivals. Many of its visitors must still remember the magnificent screenings on the deck of a ship on the Danube, the later screenings on the Waterways rooftop, all the way on Vukovar’s river island, perhaps in the royal setting of the Eltz Manor courtyards…
This year’s 17th edition of the Vukovar Film Festival takes place this weekend, from Thursday, 24, until Sunday, August 27, returning the festival to its traditional late summer schedule just before the new school year begins. However, as Jutarnji writes, this is not the only novelty this year. The company “Design Studio D” has become the new co-organizer of the festival, taking over all the organizational tasks of the festival, from creative to operational duties. They are in cooperation with the Tourist Board of the City of Vukovar, under the auspices of the City of Vukovar and the gold sponsor Pevex.
The team leaders include the filmmaker and Vukovar entrepreneur Darko Puharić, owner of the company “Design Studio D,” who will also be the festival director, and the new artistic director Daniel Rafaelić, a respected film historian and film critic.
Strong Festival Program
As for the program, Vukovar Film Festival returns with a rather strong one, in which the absolute highlight is this year’s Cannes winner, “Anatomy of a Fall,” directed by Justine Triet, which also won the Palme d’Or. With the premiere screening of this year’s Cannes laureate, Vukovar Film Festival will become the first festival in the region and beyond to have a winner of the Palme d’Or as part of its program. This automatically places the festival in the leading position of program attractiveness of festivals from this area.
In addition to the Cannes winner, the 17th Vukovar Film Festival will also premiere the excellent biographical historical drama “Jeanne Du Barry.” This work officially opened this year’s Cannes festival, with the superstar Johnny Depp playing the leading role. After its Cannes premiere, “Jeanne Du Barry” very quickly started showing in cinemas in France, where it became a real box-office sensation and the most-watched film at the opening of Cannes in the last nine years.
“The mentioned two Cannes films are only a small part of the rich and attractive film program that awaits the visitors of this year’s Vukovar Film Festival. The schedule will include many hits and award-winning feature films and documentaries produced in the last year in Danube countries which will traditionally compete for the main awards, to be presented later.
In addition to the film program, festival visitors will enjoy a rich accompanying program. The festival will also focus on film heritage, with a special gathering with screenings organized for the celebration of the 100th anniversary of Disney. Many guests from the films are also coming to check the festival out”, say the organizers.
Festival Locations and Tickets
There are five locations where visitors can enjoy films and the accompanying festival program this year: two are outdoors – the grounds of Eltz Manor and the Vukovar Water Tower, while three are indoors – Eltz Manor, Hrvatski Dom Vukovar, and Ružička’s House. The feature films in the competition will be screened in Hrvatski Dom, and the documentaries in the hall of the Eltz Manor.
Daily tickets can be purchased for €3 and will be valid for all screenings at a specific location on that day. Festival tickets can be bought for €15 and will be valid for all screenings at all locations throughout the festival. Both categories of tickets will be available for purchase at a special festival stand set up in the center of Vukovar.
It will also be possible to purchase tickets via the festival’s website. Online purchase of tickets will be possible only through PayPal or via an invoice (scanning the QR code from the received invoice to your e-mail and paying the amount via personal internet banking). It will not be possible to pay for tickets on the festival’s website with credit or other cards. For the duration of the festival, from Thursday, tickets will also be available for purchase in front of Hrvatski Dom Vukovar and the grounds of Eltz Manor – the only two locations where admission to screenings is charged.
