ZAGREB: Five months after the closure due to the coronavirus pandemic, the Blitz-CineStar multiplex cinemas will reopen its halls on 20 August 2020. As the largest exhibitor in Croatia with over 70% of market share, Blitz-CineStar was severely affected by the lockdown: estimated losses in the five-month pandemic period for the mainstream cinemas in the country amounted to 8.5 m EUR / 336.5 m HRK.

ZAGREB: A relatively low number of confirmed COVID-19 patients has allowed Croatia to encourage the return of international filmmakers. The Croatian Institute of Public Health issued new, updated guidelines for the production and filming of audiovisual and music material during the COVID-19 pandemic.

ZAGREB: In support of the resumption of international and national audiovisual production in Croatia, the Mayor of Zagreb approved the request by the Zagreb Film Office to abolish or reduce the rental prices of public spaces in the city of Zagreb.

ZAGREB: The Croatian Audiovisual Centre distributed 3.6 m EUR /27.7 m HRK for the production of 33 short and feature films. This is the first round of grants for the local filmmakers in 2020. Many of them have been left jobless since the COVID-19 lockdown earlier this year.

PULA: The Pula Film Festival, which would have been one of the first major film events to take place since the start of the COVID pandemic, has announced that the event has been called off a few days before it was due to start on 18 July.

PULA: The Croatian Programme of the 67th Pula Film Festival, which will be held from 18 to 26 July 2020, will see 16 films competing for Golden Arenas. Five films will compete in the Croatian Film Programme and 11 films in the Minority Co-Productions Programme. The festival is one of the first festivals in EUrope to be able to go ahead since Europe has started to open up again after the COVID pandemic has declined.

ZAGREB: Independent drive-in projects in the Croatian cities of Varaždin, Zagreb and Rijeka are attracting hundreds of spectators, while exhibitors wait for the reopening of cinemas.

ZAGREB: The newly established VOD platform Croatian.film has attracted 68,000 unique users, who have visited the website 400,000 times. The highest number of visits to the website have come from Croatia, Serbia, the USA, Germany and Bosnia and Herzegovina.

ZAGREB: One year after being forced to close, Kina Europa’s Zagreb Film Festival team launch the Kino Europa Online platform.

ZAGREB: The COVID-19 pandemic affects the Croatian film industry strongly. All filming has been canceled or postponed, including the production of the new feature films by Goran Dukić, Juraj Lerotić and Leon Lučev, as well as TV series by Vinko Brešan, Goran Kulenović and Igor Mirković.