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    • New Talents Open Call
      Eastern Neighbours Film Festival (ENFF) began in The Netherlands in 2008 with the idea to offer Dutch and international audiences a unique glimpse into the cinema of their neighbors from Eastern and Southern Europe. This annual event presents the most recent, exciting, and thought‐provoking films, from countries with small, but often powerful film industries, that… Read more: New Talents Open Call
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      Unable To attend the festival in person? No problem! From November 27th to December 3rd, we’re thrilled to bring you a curated selection of this year’s films available for online viewing! Catch our captivating Opening Film Ivan’s Land, or the touching Closing Film Seventh Heaven. Or explore a collection of shorts from the New Talents Competition! Follow along… Read more: ENFF 2023 On Demand!
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      Every year, ENFF brings special musical guests who bring beauty to the program and further represent the rich cultures of their countries to a Dutch audience.
    • Film Marathon
      Join us for the Film Marathon, a new concept in which we merge two components, Short Films, Big Stories, and New Talents Competition into a whole-day screening of short films!

Hotel Pula

dir. ANDREJ KOROVLJEV 

DUTCH PREMIERE

The opening film of the 70th Pula Film Festival simultaneously shows the audience a postcard of a widely-known festival and working town, as well as a collision of worlds in an impossible utopian love story.

Mahir (38) has been living in the Hotel Pula, which has been turned into a refugee centre, for years. His days are the same, empty and monotonous, and the future is uncertain. One night he will meet a young local girl, Una, who will shake his world. Hope emerges, but is it enough for this seemingly impossible love story to survive the trials when Mahir’s history surfaces? The partial adaptation of the novel “Pula” by Vladimir Stojsavljevic, by the talented scriptwriter Ivan Turkovic Krnjak, is a touching drama about the clash of worlds, social exclusion, and charged emotions. Renowned Bosnian actor Ermin Bravo gave a remarkable performance in this memorable debut by A. Korovljev.

SHOWTIMES | Special Guest: screenwriter Ivan Turkovic Krnjak

Friday, 24 November – 18:50


Saturday, 25 November – 17:00

Buy Tickets Here!

HOTEL PULA | 2023 | 95 min | Croatia

PRODUCTIONDijana Cetina Mladenovic – Kinematograf; Mike Downey
CASTErmin Bravo, Nika Grbelja, Nika Ivancic, Petra B. Blaskovic
SCREENPLAYIvan Turkovic Krnjak (based on the novel “Pula” by Vladimir Stojsavljevic)
CINEMATOGRAPHYStanko Herceg 
EDITINGIvana Fumic
LANGUAGECroatian
SUBTITLESEnglish

FESTIVALS & AWARDS (SELECTION) 

Brac Film Festival, 2023 – Audience Award for the Best Feature Film | Pula Film Festival, 2023 – Opening Film | Sarajevo Film Festival, 2023

DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT

I am thrilled to make the film, there was immeasurable positive energy on the set, we had a dream team, and divine actors, and all this would not have happened if producer Dijana Mladenovic, also from Pula, had not given the last creative and organizational atom of strength to our project! We have been developing it together for over three years and it is somehow unusual and strange for both of us that we realized it so easily and happily. 

DIRECTOR’S BIO 

Andrej Korovljev (1970) studied mechanical engineering in Zagreb and film directing at Westminster University in London. After his studies, he returned to Croatia and began his professional work in directing. He has directed hundreds of Croatian commercials, as well as commercials for numerous international clients. His artistic work includes short films, music videos, and documentary films. Best known are “Tusta” and “The Years of Rust” for which he won the Award for Best Documentary Film, the Jelena Rajkovic Award for Best Young Director, and the Award for Best Editing at the Croatian Film Days in 2000. Korovljev is a member of the Croatian Film Directors’ Guild.