This year, the third Film Festival Ponta Lopud was held. It is said that such a special festival could only be created out of pure love: for the film and for Lopud.
For 4 days, this small island lives and breathes the film along with its participants. Locals joke that they are already used to the Oscar winners passing by their house and having a morning coffee with them. Lopud is an island of art. It is no coincidence that in Lopud one of the biggest art collectors, Francesca von Habsburg, and her T-B A21 foundation participated in many contemporary art projects, including the Art Pavilion Your black horizon by Olafur Eliasson and David Adjaye.
Francesca is also known for the Lopud 1483. She renovated the former Franciscan monastery that had been abandoned for almost 200 years. She magically turned the monastery into an elegant boutique hotel, museum and spiritual refuge of the 21st century.
Lopud has always attracted artists. In the first short walk along the coast, you will see the incredible architectural projects of Nikola Dobrović and above all else the Grand Hotel. In front of the first hotel in Europe made of concrete, there are the tallest palm trees across Europe!
In the past, concerts were held on the terrace in front of the hotel, locals mingled with foreigners, love was amidst, writing the pages of Lopud’s history.
The film starts, the lights go out, we lie on the beach and look at the starry sky. Beside us is Edward Norton, inviting us for a special screening of the film he chose for this evening “Painted Veil”. The production of this movie lasted a full 10 years.
I like it even more now.
The festival was created due to the need for young film artists, directors, actors and cinematographers to gather and exchange experiences, knowledge and ideas with mentors, established figures in the film industry. Idols. People who know the secrets of the film industry.
Those who inspire us and thanks to whom we remember frames, dialogues or entire opus of actors or directors. Conversations about film as a collective experience. “The most beautiful thing about making a movie is precisely that shared experience involving hundreds of people,” Edward Norton.
There is no competition here. The only goal is exchange. Dialogue. Norton himself says that he does not know if he is ready to be a mentor, because he himself is still looking for mentors for himself. He wants to talk, listen to questions and try to answer them.
While the actors listened to Edward Norton and Ruben Ostlund’s masterclass, I went on a tour of the island with Ružica, a local guide recommended by the Ponta Lopud Festival.
Like everything else on the island, this encounter was different.
Of course, everything started from Lopud. We talked about its secrets, places and people who made an impact here. It is interesting that we got to the very end of the promenade, to the pavilion from where you can see the horizon and there we went silent. In that magical place, Ružica told me about her Mindfulness tours of the island with people who want more than tourism. She talked about the people who are similar to us, who connect with nature in order to reach their internal being. She surprised me in a way that left me thinking how in Lopud nothing is by chance and everything has it’s own special dimension.
So, when you go to Lopud, just let yourself go. It is certain that locals will meet you on bicycles (because there are no cars), and the best thing is to forget your phone on the boat… Write down in a diary what happened to you on the island, because the magic can disappear if you don’t record it or write it down.
Ps. A lot can be written and imagined about Lopud. The story about the architect Nikola Dobrović will soon follow, and next year I will come to Ponta Lopud Festival and write a diary every day that I will share with you.
Thank you @pontalopud.hr for the special experience and my future guru Ružica @lopudguide
