Rijeka's Fourth Festival of Menstruation Opens with Workshops, Film and Performances

The fourth Festival of Menstruation was inaugurated on Thursday, 9 July 2026, on the terrace of the FinoVino bar in Rijeka. Organized by the association Pariter together with local partners—including the City Library, Botel Marina and the Gallery SKC—the four‑day event runs until Sunday, 12 July, offering free workshops, talks and artistic performances aimed at destigmatising menstruation and promoting reproductive‑health solidarity.

Highlights include a opening drumming performance by the group FTF, a screening of the horror‑infused documentary short *The Cramps: A Period Piece* about endometriosis, and a concert by the all‑girl punk band Katarza. The programme also features sessions on menstrual care, menopause, post‑partum depression and sexual health, as well as video interviews with women who gave birth in the 1990s. The festival builds on Pariter’s 2020 research on menstrual poverty, which helped trigger a 2022 reduction of VAT on menstrual products in Croatia from 25 % to 13 %, and is supported by donors such as Solidarna and the Primorsko‑Goranska County.