A modest, character-driven film from a first-time director is among the titles carrying the festival hopes of Croatian cinema to Central Europe this month.
The film
"Petty Thieves," the debut feature written and directed by Mate Ugrin, is set to have its world premiere in the Proxima competition — the strand devoted to emerging filmmakers — at the 60th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, which runs July 3–11 in the Czech spa town, according to the Croatian Audiovisual Centre and Screen Daily.
The story follows a reserved young man working seasonal jobs on the Istrian coast, who is drawn into petty theft, and a fellow hotel worker who discovers what he is up to and proposes they team up to target wealthy tourists. What begins as a transaction, The Hollywood Reporter reports, grows into something closer to companionship — the film's real subject, its makers say, being the "gestures of solidarity" among people with little economic power in an economy built around visitors rather than residents.
The people behind it
The film is a co-production spanning Croatia, Germany, France and Serbia, and features a cast that includes Croatian and regional actors. Ugrin, making the leap to features, works in a vein familiar from recent European art cinema: small in scale, attentive to class and place, and set against the specific backdrop of a tourism-dependent Adriatic town.
Why Karlovy Vary matters
Karlovy Vary is one of Central and Eastern Europe's most established festivals, a launching pad for films from the region seeking international sales and critical attention. Its Proxima competition, in particular, is aimed at newer voices, making it a natural showcase for a debut like "Petty Thieves." For Croatian cinema — periodically buoyed by breakout festival titles — the selection is another chance to put a homegrown story in front of an international audience.
