On the very day the festival opened, six men died in an exchange of gunfire near the eastern Croatian town, Erdut, several cities were shelled by the federal army, Yugoslav People’s Army troops cut off the electricity supply for the southern Croatian cities, and nationalist extremists blew up shops of local merchants of the Serbian nationality in Osijek and Vinkovci. Conflict in Croatia between the pro-independence government and parts of the Serbian minority had slowly progressed from local skirmishes to a full-scale war. In June, Slovenia, the northernmost Yugoslav federal unit, had proclaimed its independence, and the federal army had responded with a brief, six-day military campaign. Pula looked perfectly normal and calm.īut, circumstances that summer in Yugoslavia were far from normal and calm. As every year in July, the city was plastered with film posters, the press center was already open, the catalogues printed, and the whole city was ready to welcome the most famous of the festival guests: Hollywood actor of Croatian origin, John Malkovich.
The city at the tip of the Istrian Peninsula was ready-as it always was at that time of year-for the annual Yugoslav film festival to begin. In the last week of July 1991, the Croatian coastal city of Pula seemed to be an absolutely peaceful place. From a Cinema of Hatred to a Cinema of Consciousness: Croatian Film after Yugoslavia By Jurica Pavičić
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