Matulji Summer Evenings conclude with open-air cinema: award-winning film "Koke" comes to the Matulji Amphitheatre
Matulji Summer Evenings - "The Tramontana Will Refresh You!" will conclude this year's programme with a film screening under the open sky. The Matulji Municipality Tourist Board announced that on Sunday, 30 August 2026, starting at 9 p.m., the feature film "Koke", the directorial and screenwriting debut of Igor Jelinović, will be screened at the Matulji Amphitheatre. The screening is organised in cooperation with Rijeka's Art-kino, and admission is free. In the event of rain or other adverse weather conditions, according to the organisers' official announcement for Matulji Summer Evenings, the programme will be moved to the school sports hall in Matulji.
The closing evening thus brings together two important features of Matulji's summer programme: the open-air setting of the Amphitheatre and recent Croatian film production. After the previous edition of the film programme in Matulji brought audiences the documentary "Fiume o Morte!" by director Igor Bezinović, the organisers selected for the conclusion of the 2026 programme a title that attracted considerable attention from festival and cinema audiences during the summer. In July, "Koke" won four Golden Arenas at the 73rd Pula Film Festival, including the Grand Golden Arena for Best Film. The screening in Matulji therefore comes at a time when the film already has strong festival recognition and continues its journey before audiences at various summer cinema locations.
Free screening on 30 August at 9 p.m.
According to the announcement by the Matulji Municipality Tourist Board, the Matulji Amphitheatre will become an open-air cinema on Sunday, 30 August, with the screening scheduled to begin at 9 p.m. The event is the final part of the Matulji Summer Evenings - "The Tramontana Will Refresh You!" programme, a festival that brings together concerts, theatre performances, folklore and other cultural programmes throughout the summer. The organisers emphasise that all events within the programme are free of charge, which also applies to the closing film evening. Visitors coming to Matulji from other places may also find accommodation offers in Matulji and the surrounding area useful, especially if they combine the film evening with a longer stay in the Opatija Riviera area.
The alternative location is an important part of the organisation because the screening is planned outdoors. In the official festival programme, the Matulji Municipality Tourist Board states that in the event of rain or bad weather, events will be moved to the school sports hall. This means that the closing evening does not depend entirely on weather conditions, although the screening at the Amphitheatre, if the weather is favourable, will retain the character of a classic summer cinema. Visitors are therefore advised to check any last-minute announcements from the organisers before arriving, particularly if the weather forecast is changeable.
"Koke" tells a story about sisters, family and inheritance
"Koke" is Igor Jelinović's feature-film debut, for which he is both director and screenwriter. The Croatian Audiovisual Centre states that it is a Croatian-Serbian production from 2026 with a running time of 97 minutes. At the centre of the story is Tonina, a caring, determined and highly organised woman who runs an accounting company together with her husband and daughter while at the same time caring for her mother, who has dementia and is immobile. Her younger sister Tajana and her family live at a considerably more relaxed pace, and the differences between the two sisters become increasingly pronounced when the issue of family property arises.
According to the official synopsis by the Croatian Audiovisual Centre, the turning point comes when Tonina secretly buys a share of the family house on the island from their cousin Željka, even though the sisters had previously agreed that they would buy that share together. A year later, Tonina and Tajana try to repair their relationship on the occasion of their mother's birthday, but suppressed resentments resurface. The film does not build the family conflict solely around the formal issue of ownership, but also around different views of responsibility, ambition, caring for parents and the distribution of burdens within the family. Art-kino describes the film as a dramedy that uses sharp humour to dissect complex family relationships and the sisters' conflict over an inheritance on Hvar.
Tonina is played by Snježana Sinovčić-Šiškov, while Aleksandra Janković plays Tajana. The cast also includes Šimun Šitum, Stojan Matavulj, Ana Marija Veselčić, Leon Lučev, Dara Vukić and Mare Rodin. The Croatian Audiovisual Centre states that the film was produced by Zagreb-based production company Eclectica in co-production with the Serbian company Baš Čelik. The director of photography is Marko Jerbić, editing is by Tomislav Stojanović, production design by Veronika Radman, while Miro Manojlović and Ana Kovačić are among the composers of the original music.
Four Golden Arenas and the top award at the Pula Film Festival
The film received its most important festival recognition at the 73rd Pula Film Festival. According to the festival's official announcement, "Koke" won the Grand Golden Arena for Best Film in the Croatian Programme. The jury explained the award by highlighting the convincing portrayal of the Mediterranean setting, the powerful family drama, the humour and the acting performances that give the film its emotional strength. Igor Jelinović also won the Golden Arena for Best Screenplay, Snježana Sinovčić-Šiškov received the Golden Arena for Best Actress in a Leading Role, while Aleksandra Janković won the Golden Arena for Best Actress in a Supporting Role.
The Croatian Audiovisual Centre also states that the film received the Kino Network Award for Best Croatian Film in Upcoming Distribution. This series of recognitions is particularly significant for a debut feature film, because after its international festival launch, "Koke" very quickly received strong recognition from the Croatian festival scene as well. According to HAVC data published on 13 August, from the beginning of its regular theatrical distribution on 23 July until that point, the film had been seen by 10,520 viewers in Croatian cinemas. This figure shows that the festival awards did not remain isolated within professional film circles, but were accompanied by noticeable interest from cinema audiences.
Producer Rea Rajčić stated in a HAVC release that viewers recognise experiences close to their own in the film's characters, old resentments and family disputes over what is considered "ours". Such a response from audiences helps explain why a story firmly rooted in one Mediterranean setting can also work beyond its immediate geographical context. Conflicts over inheritance, family obligations, caregiving and differing expectations among family members are universal themes, while the local setting gives the film a distinctive identity instead of confining it to a narrowly regional story.
From Rotterdam and Pula to Sarajevo and summer cinemas
The festival journey of "Koke" began before its summer theatrical distribution. The Croatian Audiovisual Centre states that the film had its world premiere in the Bright Future programme of the International Film Festival Rotterdam and was subsequently presented to Croatian audiences at the Mediterranean Film Festival Split. Following its success in Pula, the film entered regular theatrical distribution, with screenings in cinemas on the coast, on islands and in inland cities, as well as appearances by members of the creative team and cast.
In August, "Koke" also received a regional festival presentation in Sarajevo. The Sarajevo Film Festival announced the film in its Open Air Premieres programme, and the screening took place on 17 August at the Stari Grad open-air cinema. In this way, the film continued to build its audience in precisely the format that closely resembles the Matulji finale - on a large screen under the open sky. For viewers in Matulji, the screening on 30 August is not only an opportunity to see an award-winning title, but also part of the film's wider summer cinema life, as it is shown throughout the season at various outdoor and independent cinema locations.
This type of distribution is particularly well suited to a film that has already attracted audiences at festivals and in regular cinemas with its Mediterranean setting, family relationships and combination of drama and humour. The summer screening at the Amphitheatre gives it additional context because the audience watches the film in a shared space outside a standard enclosed cinema auditorium. It is precisely this combination of cultural programming, an open-air setting and free admission that is one of the reasons why the closing evening of Matulji Summer Evenings may also attract audiences who otherwise attend festival or art-house cinema screenings less frequently.
The Amphitheatre as the centre of Matulji's summer programmes
The Matulji Municipality Tourist Board states that the "Matulji Summer Evenings - The Tramontana Will Refresh You!" festival has been held since 1995. Before the Amphitheatre was built in 2016, programmes were held at several locations in Matulji, including the square in front of the municipal building, the upper sports ground and the area in front of the Hangar. The Amphitheatre subsequently became the central stage for summer cultural events, ranging from concerts and performances to film screenings. The name of the festival refers to the tramontana, a wind that can bring refreshment to this part of Kvarner during summer evenings.
According to data from the Tourist Board, the jubilee 30th edition of the festival recorded around 25,000 visitors across approximately twenty events and various locations throughout the municipality. The 2026 programme continued to combine music, theatre, folklore, programmes by local associations and film, with the screening of "Koke" marking the conclusion of this year's cycle. Such a programme structure shows that Matulji Summer Evenings is not tied to a single genre but functions as a multi-month local cultural platform offering different content for a broad range of audiences.
For the finale itself, cooperation with Art-kino, a Rijeka institution focused on film programming and film culture, is particularly important. Art-kino screened "Koke" in its summer programme in July, while director Igor Jelinović, actresses Snježana Sinovčić-Šiškov and Aleksandra Janković, actor Leon Lučev and producer Rea Rajčić were announced for the Rijeka premiere. The cooperation with Matulji thus takes the film from an institutional cinema programme into a public open-air space and enables an additional screening for audiences outside the centre of Rijeka.
What visitors need to know before the screening
The most important practical information is simple: the screening of "Koke" takes place on Sunday, 30 August 2026, at the Matulji Amphitheatre, beginning at 9 p.m. Admission is free. The organiser states in the Matulji Summer Evenings programme that in the event of rain or bad weather, the event will be held in the school sports hall. Since this is the closing evening of the festival and a film that attracted increased audience interest during its summer distribution, arriving somewhat earlier may be practical for anyone who wants to secure a place in good time.
The film runs for 97 minutes, so without any additional programme the screening should end before 11 p.m., although any introductory announcements may affect the actual finishing time. Art-kino classifies it as a drama or dramedy, so audiences can expect a film that addresses serious family themes through pronounced humour, tension and conflicts between the characters. Spectacular events are not at the centre of the story; instead, the focus is on family decisions and the consequences of long-standing resentments, which is why much of the film's strength comes from the relationships between the actors and the dialogue.
The closing screening of Matulji Summer Evenings therefore brings together in one place a local festival and a Croatian feature film that won four Golden Arenas in 2026. For Matulji, it marks the conclusion of a multi-month summer cultural programme, while for "Koke" it is another stop in a series of screenings following Rotterdam, Split, Pula, regular theatrical distribution and its regional presentation in Sarajevo. If weather conditions permit, the final evening of the festival will take place precisely in the setting for which it was intended - at the Amphitheatre, under the open sky.
Sources:
- Matulji Municipality Tourist Board - official announcement of the screening of "Koke" on 30 August 2026 at the Matulji Amphitheatre (link)
- Matulji Municipality Tourist Board - official Matulji Summer Evenings programme, information on free admission and the alternative location in the event of bad weather (link)
- Matulji Municipality Tourist Board - history of the festival, the role of the Amphitheatre and attendance figures for the jubilee 30th edition (link)
- Art-kino Croatia - information about "Koke", synopsis, running time, creative team and cast, and festival awards (link)
- Pula Film Festival - official announcement of the winners of the 73rd Pula Film Festival (link)
- Croatian Audiovisual Centre - "Koke" film catalogue with production information and the official synopsis (link)
- Croatian Audiovisual Centre - information on theatrical distribution, audience figures, festival journey and production of the film (link)
- Sarajevo Film Festival - official announcement of the regional Open Air screening of "Koke" in Sarajevo (link)