Festival activities include an annual contest, a series of travelling exhibitions during the year, organised in cooperation with cultural institutions and galleries, and a festival finale in May in Rovinj.
This all-year-round project is supported by numerous cultural institutions and organisations, as well as several key sponsors. The festival was launched in 2008 by Livingstone Association and Astoria d.o.o.
The eighth edition of Rovinj Photodays will show the works of finalists shortlisted among 450 authors who sent 8,500 photos for this year's competition.
There will be five finalists in each of the seven categories: architecture, fashion, landscape, portraits, nude/body, documentary and artistic concept. They have been chosen by David Bate, this year's head selector, a professor at Westminster University in London who heads the MA course of photography and has authored several books on the theory of photography.
"He judged the work to be exceptional and it was quite challenging to pick the finest 35. It is worth mentioning that amongst them there are 10 photographers from Italy, 5 from Serbia, 4 from Croatia, Bosnia & Herzegovina and Slovenia, 2 from Macedonia and one each from France, Argentina and the USA," according to information on the festival's web site.
"Over 8,500 photographs were sent in for this year's competition which was open until February 1 to all photography practitioners worldwide. 450 photographers applied from 30 countries and, as expected, the majority were from Croatia and the neighbouring countries. Judging was done in two rounds: National selectors and the festival advisers preselected all work that was sent in and then forwarded it to the head selector, David Bate, who chose five finalists for each category."