FESTIVAL
Artistic vision
The Festival is open to all new, creative, innovative, personal, radical, subversive etc. work (film, video, new media), of all lengths and genres, preferably from outside the mainstream, whether it’s involving traditional film techniques, or the latest technology of digital image.
“The energy and the artist’s personal vision we may feel in some of the works presented at the Festival might alter a little our conscience, lower our self-importance, thus helping us to break the chains that bind us to our everyday habits and hopefully let us endure and even find a delight in this horrible, yet the most beautiful world.”
1996 Festival Catalogue
History
The International Festival of New Film / Split Film Festival is the oldest international film / media manifestation of the Republic of Croatia. Ever since it was instituted in Split in 1996, the Festival promotes new, creative, personal, experimental, radical and subversive works, of all lengths, styles and genres, generally produced outside the mainstream, all the while keeping its primary focus on excellence and outstanding achievements.The Festival programme comprises a selection of titles from recent world film production, films screened and awarded on many well-known (Rotterdam, Berlinale, Cannes) and lesser-known festivals around the world. In addition, these are generally all Croatian premieres, which is why the Festival’s programme is hailed as one of the most significant film festivals in Croatia.The International Competitions for Features and Shorts make for the core of the programme. Particular attention is paid to authors who do not hesitate to explore the aesthetic potential of film as medium, testing the boundaries of the visual language and thereby refining the taste of the audience. Two international juries bestow the Grand Prix upon the best features and shorts from the competitive sections.Aside from the competitions, the programme comprises – or has been known so far to comprise – the following sections: New Media (from the very beginnings supporting a more creative concept of moving pictures – for a few years, this was also a competitive programme juried by a number of world-renowned names), together with Forum 3, Gender, Reflections, Frame extended and Special Programme.As part of its aim to endorse the dialogue between the national and the local cinemas on the one said, and their dialogue with the international film scene on the other, the Festival has realised a number of retrospectives, workshops, lectures and presentations of leading experts from the film art scene. To name but a few of the world-wide import, the retrospectives dedicated to Béla Tarr and Lars von Trier in 2001, as well as the retrospective of the Brazilian Cinema Novo and lesser-known works of Orson Welles. Also, the Festival has presented Croatian shorts in Rome and Paris.Furthermore, the Split Film Festival has realised many cultural projects of considerable significance over the particular editions. Some of the most famous examples are the 2011 international film workshop conducted by Béla Tarr, famous Hungarian director, the 2009 retrospective of Nam June Paik, one of the greatest contemporary artist and the father of video art, first drive-in cinema, 2013 Monument Film Retrospective with a lecture delivered by Peter Kubelka, the father of film avant-garde, as well as the multi-media Midnight Moment project that was realised the same year, in collaboration with the New York Streaming Museum.STFF is also known for its visual identity developed over the years, designs of (among others) Gorki Žuvela, Boris Ljubičić, Viktor Popović, Peter Bilak (the Netherlands) and Duje Škaričić. The Festival is well known for its specific style, posters and catalogues, not only across the country, but also worldwide.
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The International Competitions for Features and Shorts make for the core of the Festival programme since 2004 Until then, the Grand Prix Awards were being presented in three categories, Film, Video and New Media, where works of various lengths and genres would compete side by side. Particular attention is paid to authors who do not hesitate to explore the aesthetic potential of film as medium, testing the boundaries of the visual language and thereby refining the taste of the audience. Two international juries bestow the Grand Prix upon the best features and shorts from the competitive sections. Members of the two juries are all eminent professionals (directors, producers, critics), two of which are foreign and one of which is Croatian.The award is the Tail sculpture, work of painter Gorki Žuvela.
2018COMPETITION FEATURES
The Competition Features jury: Andrés Goteira, Joško Jerončić and Maja Kranjc has decided to reward two films.
GRAND PRIX
Grand Prix goes to Roman Bondarchuk’s VOLCANO, UA/DE, 2018, a multi-layered fairy tale that at the same time depicts a bitter reality with an ease.
HONORABLE MENTION
Special mention (Honorable Mention) goes to Sonja Prosenc’s HISTORY OF LOVE SI 201: with great amount of sensibility and unique aesthetics the film deals with a traumatic experience.
COMPETITION SHORTS
In the Competition Shorts category, the jury, consisting of Marina Gumzi, Toni Meštrović and Jan Soldat, has decided to reward the following films:
GRAND PRIX
FLAME, Sami van Ingen, FI 2018.
A celebration of a fortunate accident – discovery of a nitrate reel of a supposedly lost Finish film from the 1930s. But it is not only that: it is also a whole new show! Digital intervention is used to heal damaged continuity and to re-create the narration with new accents. Combination of filmmaking techniques from different eras creates a delightful cinematic experience, complexly built but light in its flow, and fresh despite the fact that it is grounded on an old and damaged source.TWO HONORABLE MENTIONS:
SCIPIO’S ELEPHANTS, David Pantaleon / Pilar Aldea, ES, 2018.
A curious miniature that offers a short yet enigmatic plunge into the unidentified southern land inhabited by men, dogs, harvesting machines and the guardian of fire. The film draws its charms from the powerful cinematography and compact editing, as well as from the semiotic openness through which the audience can assign own meaning to the narration.END CYCLE, Vladislav Knežević, HR, 2017.
The captivating use of the continuous circular flow of the camera and the visceral quality of sounds of cracking of the skin of performer’s slow transformation provide an experience of a both futuristic and historical scope. By translating a humanistic stance into a coherent filmic entity, END CYCLE offers a forceful meditation on destruction, suffering and the resistance of the body.2017COMPETITION FEATURES
The Competition Features jury: Caroline Chomienne (France), Hrvoje Hribar (Croatia) and Matthew Noel-Todd (United Kingdom) has decided to award:
GRAND PRIX
Andres Goteira
DHOGS
SpainHONOURABLE MENTION
Jun Geng
FREE AND EASY
Hong KongIgor Bezinovic
SHORT EXCURSION
CroatiaCOMPETITION SHORTS
The Competition Shorts jury: Dusko Dimitrovski (Austria), Merel Mirage (Netherlands) and Ivan Vidic (Croatia) has decided to award:
GRAND PRIX
Michael Miroshnik
DUST AND DELIGHTS
IsraelHONOURABLE MENTION
Irena Jukic Pranjic
GAMER GIRL
CroatiaStefanie Kolk
CLAN
NetherlandsMax Porter & Ru Kuwahata
NEGATIVE SPACE
FranceIVAN MARTINAC AWARD
Igor Bezinovic
SHORT EXCURSION
Croatia2016COMPETITION FEATURES
GRAND PRIX
Felipe Guerrero, Colombia
OSCURO ANIMALHONORABLE MENTION / SPECIAL AWARDS
Sergei Loznitsa, Ukraine
SOBYTIE / THE EVENTCOMPETITION SHORTS
GRAND PRIX
Ashim Ahluwalia, India
EVENTS IN A CLOUD CHAMBERHONORABLE MENTION / SPECIAL AWARDS
Masahiro Tsutani, Japan
MOVEMENTS ARISING FROM DIFFERENT RELATIONSHIPS / BETWEEN REGULARITY AND IRREGULARITY IIJela Hasler, Switzerland
THE MEADOWSPECIAL FESTIVAL AWARD
For the outstanding contribution to the art of the moving image
Albert Serra
Spain2015COMPETITION FEATURES
GRAND PRIX
Juan Daniel F. Molero
VIDEOFILIA (Y OTROS SÍNDROMES VIRALES) / VIDEOPHILIA (AND OTHER VIRAL SYNDROMES)
PeruSPECIAL AWARDS
Ingo Haeb
DAS ZIMMERMÄDCHEN LYNN / THE CHAMBERMAID LYNN
GermanyDamir Čučić
RAKIJAŠKI DNEVNIK / THE SPIRITS DIARY
CroatiaCOMPETITION SHORTS
GRAND PRIX
Maryam Tafakory
I WAS FIVE WHEN I BECAME A WOMAN
United KingdomSPECIAL AWARDS
Daria Yurkevich
MAMIE, VANYA ET LA CHÈVRE / GRANNY, VANYA AND THE GOAT
France, BelarusIzumi Yoshida
KINKI
Poland2014Competition Features
George Ovashvili
SIMINDIS KUNDZULI / CORN ISLANDSpecial Mention
Antoine d’Agata
ATLASYorgos Tsemberopoulos
O EHTHROS MOV / THE ENEMY WITHINCompetition Shorts
Guido Hendrikx
ESCORTSpecial Mention
Karimah Ashadu
LAGOS SAND MERCHANTSShatha al-Haddad / Diaa al-Haddad / Abdelkarim al-Haddad / Yoav Gross / Ehab Tarabieh
IM TEKHAYEKH, HA’OLAM YEKHAYEKH ELEKHA / Smile, and the World Will Smile Back2013Competition Features
José Luis Valle
WORKERSSpecial Mention
Mira Fornay
MÔJ PES KILLER / MY DOG KILLERJ. P. Sniadecki/ Xu Ruotao/ Huang Xiang
YUMENCompetition Shorts
Myroslav Slaboshpytskiy
YADERNI WYDHODY / NUCLEAR WASTE2012Competition Features
Matias Meyer
LOS ÚLTIMOS CRISTEROS / THE LAST CRISTEROSSpecial Mention
Alessandra Comodin
L’ESTATE DI GIACOMO / SUMMER OF GIACOMOCompetition Shorts
Jan van Ijken
FACING ANIMALSSpecial Mention
Vedran Šamanović / Sanja Šamanović
TERASA
Johan Rijpma TAPE GENERATION2011Competition Features
Bakur Bakuradze
THE HUNTERSpecial Mention
Nikolaus Geyrhalter
ABENDLANDChristopher Murray / Pablo Carrera
MANUEL DE RIBERACompetition Shorts
Igor Chojna
SEANS W KINIE TATRY / SCREENING AT THE TATRY CINEMASpecial Mention
Milja Viita
MONSTER ATTACKPascal Fendrich / Bernd Härpfer
STARGATE2010Competition Features
Charlotte Lim Lay Kuen / Malazija
LI FA DIAN DE NU ER / MY DAUGHTERSpecial Mention
Johan Grimonprez
DOUBLE TAKECompetition Shorts
Vuk Jevremović
PATIENCE OF THE MEMORYSpecial Mention
Salh Diab i Yoni Gueta
LOOM2009Competition Features
Kevin Feng Ke
LETTERS FROM DEATH ROWCompetition Shorts
Bif – DIXSpecial Mention
Blu – MUTO
Christine Webster – BLINDFIELD2008Competition Features
Albert Serra
EL CANT DELS OCCELSCompetition Shorts
Anssi Kasitonni TUTKIJAT / THE INVESTIGATORSSpecial Mention
Rezaei Muradi Batol
LAILA2007Competition Features
Maria Saakyan
MAJAKSpecial Mention
Albert Serra HONOR DE CAVALERIACompetition Shorts
John Smith, PYRAMIDS / SKUNK (HOTEL DIARIES 5/6)Special Mention
Yoni Bentovim / Emily Harris, THREE TOWERSDamir Čučić, LA PETITE MORTBrian Dugan Block, FAST, FASTER, FASTEST (AMERICAN ATTRITION)2006Competition Features
Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu
BABELSpecial Mention
Zhang Lu
GRAIN IN EARLech Kowalski EAST OF PARADISECompetition Shorts
Edouard Salier / FLASHSpecial Mention
Juanto Gimenez / MAXIMA PENAEmily Rochardson PETROLIANew Media
Edwin van der Heide
SOUND MODULATED LIGHTSpecial Mention
Christophe Auger & Laure Sainte Rose IMPRO N*62005Competition Features
Jon Jost
HOMECOMINGSpecial Mention
Martijn Veldhoen,
(why do I keep going) FORWARDCompetition Shorts
Dariusz Krzeczek
LUUKKAANKANGAS UPDATED, REVISTEDPim Zwier
ROOSJE’S ATHLEET 351332004Competition Features
Mohammad Schirvani
NAHFCompetition Shorts
Johann Lurf, (UNTITLED)Special Mention
Marija Prusina
UTERUSOle Bendtzen, VENTER PA JOENew Media
Gubo Gas
SHIMMY SHIMMY GRASSSpecial Mention
Rosa Barba PIRATE SPACESThe Labyrinth Project,
BLEEDING THROUGH LAYERS OF LOS ANGELES 1920 – 19862003Competition Features
Elissa Maree DownCompetition Video
George BarberSpecial Mention
Oliver Pietsch
Chris SheperdCompetition New Media
Robert Arnold2002Competition Features
Marat MagambetowSpecial Mention
Nicole Hewitt
Gabriele NeudeckerCompetition Video
Sandra KogutSpecial Mention
Tim Etchells
Carmelo Bene
Donigan CummingCompetition New Media
Michelle Glaser, Andrew Hutchinson, Marie Louise XavierSpecial Mention
Hung Keung
Mark Amerika
G. H. Hovagimyan & Peter Sinclair2001Competition Features
Audrius StonysCompetition Video
James LeechSpecial Mention
Fabio Fiandrini / Ennio Ruffolo
Junko WadaCompetition New Media
MouchetteSpecial Mention
Christopher CsikszentmihalyCesare Davolio2000Competition Features
Ben van Lieshout
Peter TscherkasskySpecial Mention
Jean Luc Godard
Matt HulseCompetition Video
Andreas GedinSpecial Mention
Dan Geesin / Esther Rots
Selina Trepp
Herwig WeiserCompetition New Media
Andreja KuluncicSpecial Mention
Calin Dan
Giles Rollestone
Andrej Velikanov & Julia1999Competition Features
Ana TorfsSpecial Mention
Avi Mograbi
Nicole HewittCompetition Video
Valerie PaviaSpecial Mention
David Larcher
Laurel Swenson
Chantal AkermanCompetition New Media
Elsa Stansfield / Madelon HooykaasSpecial Mention
Roza El Hasan
Dan Oki1998Competition Features
Alyson BellSpecial Mention
Rada Sesic
M. & P. de NooijerCompetition Video
Andrej ZdravičSpecial Mention
Mounir Fatmi
Sandra Kogut Detkina Tania1997Competition Features
Jacob ThoesenSpecial Mention
Malcolm Crowe
Thomas KeipCompetition Video
Vladislav KnezevićSpecial Mention
Jesper Bernt & Kare V.PolusenCompetition New Media
Jutta Kirchgeorg -
Special Festival Award is given each year to artists for their outstanding contribution to the art of motion pictures. The winners include many eminent persons from the film art world.
2020 Carlos Reygadas / Mexico
2016 Albert Serra / Spain
2015 —
2014 Michelangelo Frammartino / Italy
2013 Peter Kubelka / Austria
2012 Pedro Costa / Portugal
2011 —
2010 Miklós Jancsó Hungary
2009 Sally Potter / UK
2008 Harun Farocki / Czech
2007 Lars von Trier / Denmark
2006 Bela Tarr / Hungary
2005 Claire Denis / France
2004 Stan Brakhage / USA
2003 Jean-Marie Straub & Daniele Huillet / France
2002 Jonas Mekas / Lithuania
2001 Chris Marker / France
2000 Tomislav Gotovac / Sixpack Films / Croatia
1999 Ivan Martinac / Croatia