Pula, Croatia: The Pula Film Festival and Croatia Film Festival Feature Outdoor Movies

One of Europe's oldest film festivals, the Pula Film Festival was inaugurated in 1953 in the Croatian coastal city of Pula. It served as Yugoslavia's premier film event until 1991, welcoming international stars including Orson Welles, Sophia Loren, Richard Burton, and Elizabeth Taylor. Relaunched as an international competition in 2001, it has since attracted John Malkovich, Ralph Fiennes, Ben Kingsley, Jeremy Irons, and producer Branko Lustig.

Its defining feature is the screening venue: Vespasian's Arena -- a Roman amphitheatre dating to the first century AD, seating up to 8,000 -- where films have been projected since the festival's first edition. Watching a film under the open sky inside an ancient arena makes Pula one of the most spectacular outdoor cinema settings in Europe.