The International Student Film Festival – STIFF has a new artistic director!

Entering a new decade, the International Student Film Festival – STIFF, welcomes a fresh team. Maša Drndić, after initiating and leading the first international student film festival in Croatia for the past decade, passes on the role of artistic director to Katarina Kožul, a long-time collaborator with STIFF. Maša Drndić remains part of the team as the program selector, alongside Marta Ban.

Katarina Kožul was born in 1998 in Novi Sad. She graduated from the Sculpture Department at the Academy of Applied Arts in Rijeka. Her work explores the possibilities of visual arts with a focus on community work and art education. As a recipient of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs scholarship in Japan, she completed the MIRAI educational program for art students in Tokyo. During her studies, she worked at the SKC Gallery and the Association for Non-formal Cultural and Artistic Education VMB. She has participated in projects such as VG Academy, Lungomare Art (Rijeka EPK 2020), Biennale of Stage Design (Novi Sad EPK 2022), International Student Film Festival (STIFF), SKC Activist, and others. She has exhibited in several group exhibitions in Croatia (LA.MSU Lastovo; With Collection / Workshop online, MMSU Rijeka, Everything is Sculpture, Knifer Gallery; Svjetlarna, Laurus Gallery; Platform for Experiment 1.3, VN Gallery; Poetry is a Rabbit from a Hat, SKC Gallery) and participated in workshops and residencies in Belgium, Serbia, and the Netherlands. She lives and works in Rijeka.
The International Student Film Festival / Student International Film Festival (STIFF) is the first Croatian international festival dedicated exclusively to student and debut films. It was launched in production by the Student Cultural Center of the University of Rijeka and the association Filmaktiv, with the aim of presenting the best world student film production.
Over the past ten years, the festival has screened over 500 fiction, documentary, animated, and experimental films from around the world. By providing insight into the works of fellow filmmakers, the goal is to encourage the exchange of ideas and cross-border cooperation in the field of film, video, and animation.

Admission to screenings is free, aiming to introduce a wider audience to exceptionally high-quality student films from around the world.

STIFF is co-financed by the Croatian Audiovisual Center, the City of Rijeka, Primorje-Gorski Kotar County, the Ministry of Culture and Media of the Republic of Croatia, and the Goethe Institute from Zagreb. The festival will be held in November at Art-kino Croatia.