Traditionally, the third day of Motovun Film Festival is dedicated to the people who have lived and survived fifty years in the world of film. After the last year's laureate Rajko Grlić, this time 50 Years Award went to the father of Croatian documentary film, the great director, producer and mentor Nenad Puhovski.
His numerous auteur documentaries, particularly Lora – Testimonies and Pavilion 22, pushed the envelope of documentariy filmmaking because they tackled the open wounds of Croatian society, often triggering public reactions and making waves. His love for the genre that, in his words, „brings together two great passions – film and social commitment“, Puhovski turned into ZagrebDox, the region's most important documentary film festival. He is the festival's founder and director.
The award „intended for those who have endured 50 years in Croatian cinema“ were presented to Puhovski by his long-time collaborators and friends Vjeran Zuppa, Rajko Grlić and Mike Downey.
Thursday saw the usual festival dynamics in the film program and discussion and performance side programs. In The Garden, Srećko Horvat held a lecture in front of a packed audience. His „The Beginners' Guide through Disintegration of Europe“ included a review of the most important developments in Europe in the past year. Horvat compared it with 1913, arguing that, like then, a war lurks behind the corner.
Thursday's film program was also very interesting. The acclaimed Slovenian filmmaker Damjan Kozole presented his latest film Nightlife; the controversial Rusian film The Student tackled yet another extremism; and Argentine thriller The Clan, one of the top-grossing South American films oft he past years, had its Croatian premiere.
