VIDEO: Film about Rab island awarded at 76th Venice Film Festival 

Rab

5 September 2019 – A short film about the medieval heritage of the Croatian island of Rab has been awarded at the 76th Venice Film Festival. 

The film by the Primorje-Gorski Kotar County won the award for the best short film in the category of preserving local heritage and identity in a special programme at this year’s Venice International Film Festival which is currently taking place in Venice for the 76th time. The authors of the award-winning video are Josip Lukic and Sebastian Pervan.

The film was shot as part of a project by ArTVision+ with support from partners, the Primorje-Gorski Kotar County, Kvarner Tourist Board, Museum of Fine Arts in Split, Pino Pascali fund, Puglia promotion agency, Ca’ Foscari University of Venice and the Veneta Region. The project was financed by EU funds Interreg Italy – Croatia 2014 – 2020 and is worth around 1 million euros, HAVC reported. 

Rabska fjera (Photo credit: Rab TZ)

The idea of the ArTVision+ project is based on the concept of promoting a joint tourism product, whereby a promotional campaign and a well-designed joint tourism product encourages the use of culture for tourism purposes, and at the same time, the cultural heritage of certain areas is revived and preserved from oblivion.

The video shows the medieval heritage of Rab through scenes from the 18th Rabska Fjera which was held in July. Rapska fjera festival is a is a historical reenactment of the island’s history for tourists. The festival also includes a medieval festival of crafts and customs and a crossbow tournament. The celebrations were first held in 1364 in honour of King Louis the Great who defended Rab from Venice.

Check out the award-winning video below.