International Film Festival – Oh, that FEST…

The first FEST took place in 1971 under the slogan “Brave New World” at the Dom Sindikata Hall. The festival opened with Robert Altman’s film “MAS*H,” and its main patron was Josip Broz Tito.

The grand opening of the first festival in 1971 saw enormous crowds at the ticket booths, the excitement of future spectators, and the reception of famous guests: Vanessa Redgrave, Ingmar Bergman, Liv Ullmann, and more. Actor Gary Lockwood even went to great lengths to avoid the airplane he despised, traveling from Los Angeles to New York by train, then by ship to Rijeka, and finally, by train again to Belgrade to respond to the invitation from Yugoslav audiences and organizers.

During the first festival, a total of 73 films were screened across five programs, attracting around 105,000 viewers.

Over the course of more than five decades, this festival has showcased the finest global films, hosted the biggest movie stars, and drawn hundreds of thousands of spectators. FEST achieved its record attendance in 1977, with 252,332 viewers.