Split, Croatia: the First Mediterranean Film Festival in Split, Croatia Was a Huge Success

The first Mediterranean Film Festival Split opened at the open-air cinema Bačvice with The Edge of Heaven, directed by Fatih Akin -- winner of the best screenplay award at Cannes the previous year. More than 500 people attended the opening night, breaking the cinema's record and requiring extra chairs that still weren't enough. Festival director Alen Munitić and producer Tanja Prpić Marenić said the turnout confirmed what they had always believed: Split has a movie audience and the festival will become one of the city's attractions.

The retrospective programme, curated by Tanja Vrvilo, featured cult directors from the 1960s onward -- documentary essays, political films, and formal experiments unified by their relationship to Mediterranean culture. Even the more alternative screenings at the morning Zlatna Vrata outdoor cinema drew near-capacity crowds. After the films, Arsen Dedić performed live at the Aquarium on Bačvice in a set described as unforgettable.