Vukovar Film Festival – Danube Region Film Festival

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Overall objective is to develop a suitable film culture in the region, especially amongst young people and to increase economic, cultural and educational contribution that Vukovar Film Festival brings to the region and tourism in Vukovar through its activities. VFF also offers an opportunity for community involvement and cohesion. As one of the region’s most important cultural events, we consistently strive to set the standard for excellence in film programming. Films are selected on the basis of quality and originality and the preference is given to premieres. What differentiates VFF from other festivals is the fact that it is held in a city that literally has no cinemas, which were destroyed during 1991 Croatian War for Independence. In this respect one of the biggest challenges for us (the organisers) is that each year we have to ‘build’ cinemas that will last during the festival and present quality films of national and international film directors and other talents to the audience. The first ever cinema location of VFF has initiated the creativity of the organisers who came up with a unique location - a converted river barge (normally used for cargo transport) that would serve as an open air cinema on the river Danube. To our knowledge there is no other festival, which operates in this manner and until this day the River Barge remains to be the trademark of VFF and the main screening location. What else makes the festival unique is that it is the only film festival presenting the films in competitions exclusively from the Danube region countries: Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Germany, Hungary, Moldova, Romania, Slovakia, Serbia and Ukraine. (Incl. countries close to Danube region: Czech Republic, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and Slovenia). Impact for the Danube region: Economic impact: Revitalising local economies by: • Increasing visitor length of stay in the region/town; Audience expenditure is dominated by staying visitors, as they spend more, stay for longer, etc • Bring thousands of artists and audiences, giving a valuable boost to the local economy • Improving destination awareness. VFF helps to capture attention and promote attractions and infrastructures • Providing routes to employment & skills. Volunteers and temporary staff who are engaged in VFF have developed on a personal level through the experience. Volunteers are expressing willingness to try new things. Temporary staff are more likely to be motivated by professional skills enhancement, and to develop employability skills during the course of their involvement with VFF. Social impact: • Cultural diversity and community cohesion • Providing opportunities for people to meet people from, and share messages about, different cultures • More than 200 local people are directly involved in realisation of the festival Environmental impact: • Development of the sustainable, tourism along the Danube region without negatively influencing the natural environment. One of the VFF programes „Palnet Partner – The Earth“ is dedicated to raising awareness on environmental concerns, issues and natural resources Cultural impact: • Providing enriching, world class cultural experiences • Audiences are able to engage more deeply with many art forms. Vukovar Film Festival gives them an opportunity to access work of the film makers that they are not otherwise able to see • Exploring the rich cultural heritage of the region

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