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EWA at the 63 Pula Film Festival

EWA Network Research Study presented at the 63 Pula Film Festival

The  EWA report was presented at a panel held on 10 July during the 63rd Pula Film Festival, the oldest national film festival in Croatia, in presence of a number of Croatian film professionals, including among others Danilo Šerbedžija, the president of Croatian Directors’ Guild, Maja Vukić, the president of Croatian Filmworkers’ Association, Hrvoje Hribar, the chief executive of the national film agency- the Croatian Audiovisual Centre, as well as Croatian female director Snjezana Tribuson whose film “All The Best” opened the Pula Film Festival a day before.

The EWA report was presented by Holly Aylett, the head of EWA research team and Sanja Ravlić from Croatian Audiovisual Centre and national researcher for Croatia.  Croatian producer Ankica Juric Tilic also took part in the panel, while the moderator was a Croatian journalist, Bosko Picula.

During the Q&As questions were raised about the effectiveness of “quotas” as some in the audience felt them to be “a mechanical way” to achieve gender parity, about necessity to monitor and include data about other forms such as short and experimental films as well as animation shorts in oder to get a more complete picture about the gender parity situation in the Croatian audiovisual sector. There was also a recognition of the work done thus so far to reach 16% of directors being women since Croatian Audiovisual Centre was set up in 2008, as compared to 4% in the period from 1991-2007.

It was also suggested that a bigger panel could be organised later this year, hopefully during the Zagreb Film Festival in November, in the capital Zagreb where most of the Croatian audiovisual professionals and stakeholders in the sector are based in order to achieve a greater visibility and attendance. Also, it is worth noting that there was an idea put forward by Croatian film director Snjezana Tribuson that the Croatian Directors’ Guild (DHFR) could organise an international congress of female directors some time in spring of 2017.