---
title: "Croatian Debut 'Petty Thieves' Set for Karlovy Vary Premiere"
description: "Mate Ugrin's debut feature 'Petty Thieves,' a dark comedy about two hotel workers scraping by in a tourist town, is heading to the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival — a small story about solidarity among people with little power."
category: "Entertainment"
category_url: https://herald.la/category/entertainment
author: "Valeria Ortiz"
published: 2026-07-02T06:07:10.000Z
updated: 2026-07-02T06:07:10.000Z
canonical: https://herald.la/article/croatian-debut-petty-thieves-set-for-karlovy-vary-premiere
tags: ["film", "Karlovy Vary", "Croatian cinema", "Mate Ugrin", "festivals", "entertainment"]
---
# Croatian Debut 'Petty Thieves' Set for Karlovy Vary Premiere

Mate Ugrin's debut feature 'Petty Thieves,' a dark comedy about two hotel workers scraping by in a tourist town, is heading to the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival — a small story about solidarity among people with little power.

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](https://havc.hr/eng/info-centre/news/mate-ugrin-s-petty-thieves-world-premiere-at-60th-karlovy-vary-iff) and [Screen Daily](https://www.screendaily.com/news/karlovy-vary-film-festival-unveils-2026-official-selection/5217316.article).

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](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/karlovy-vary-film-trailer-petty-thieves-tourism-croatia-1236634833/), 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.

## Sources

- ['Petty Thieves' trailer: gestures of solidarity and tourism in Croatia](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/karlovy-vary-film-trailer-petty-thieves-tourism-croatia-1236634833/)
- [Karlovy Vary Film Festival unveils 2026 official selection](https://www.screendaily.com/news/karlovy-vary-film-festival-unveils-2026-official-selection/5217316.article)
- [Mate Ugrin's 'Petty Thieves' world premiere at 60th Karlovy Vary IFF](https://havc.hr/eng/info-centre/news/mate-ugrin-s-petty-thieves-world-premiere-at-60th-karlovy-vary-iff)