Festivals/special programs
Intimacy and creation against tradition and imitation
33rd revue of Croatian Film and Video, Daruvar, November 23-25, 2001
The 33rd annual gathering
of the Croatian Film and Video in Daruvar was marked by
the rivalry of the two oldest categories of Croatian non-professional
film — (ethnographic) documentary and experimental film.
Quite unjustly, their conflict overshadowed the animated
film, currently produced in several places — in Čakovec,
Varaždin and Karlovac, FKVK ’Zaprešić’, and the ciné club
’Liburnija’ in Rijeka. Besides the Zaprešić club production,
mostly oriented towards computer animated miniatures, the
most potent animated contributions to the revue were made
by Vjekoslav Žižić, a young animator from Karlovac — author
of the animated film Anomija, characterized by the
repetitive structure, black and white technique and Kafkian
atmosphere; and Petar Vidović from Čakovec — author of
the film Obsession characterized by colouristically
saturated drawing, reduced animation and sleepy rhythm,
articulating the story of the obsession of man with a female
character.
Although there were some interesting experimental
works, the overall impression is that experimenting in
non-professional film is slowly dying out. Traditionally
genre oriented clubs, probably due to the shift of generations,
treat experimentation quite passively and avoid complex
forms. These are nevertheless present in the works of some
of the prominent students of the Academy of Arts in Split.
Jelena Nazor’s video Touch stood
out introducing an intimate subject, confessional mode
of narration and complex media interventions. K 51, experimental
film by Matija Debeljuh offered a suggestive illustration
of a body in convulsions revealing inner anxiety, while PoljiČka
Road 25 by Goran ČaČe was an experimental ’out-of-joint’
document of the urban ambiance.
The documentary selection was mostly oriented
towards tradition and offered a number of rather uninteresting
themes, however, Cuki by
Elvis Lenić diserves special mention for its aesthetical
and easy going approach to a simple subject of pumpkin
picking. The authors of motion pictures mostly relied on
imitative models or ridiculing blockbusters with few notable
exceptions, such as was Zoran Zekanović’s film Leopold.
Zekanović created a suggestive atmosphere and used a combination
of objective/viewing aspects and subjective digressions
to depict the lonely life of a young jeweler.
Interesting
works of the students of the Academy of Dramatic Arts enriched
the motion picture category — Ljubo Lasić’s Forever
Mine, pseudo-crime
story set in Orwellian atmosphere and Tomislav Šango’s Taxi
for friends, a ’lazy’ story about the idleness of
a group of youths from Zagreb.
Once again the revue proved that the interest for one-minute
movies is not diminishing. Furthermore, it showed that
amateur videos are not one bit inferior to those coming
from professional workshops, while at the same time they
contribute to the diversity of the program and help create
a more relaxed atmosphere of this traditional event.
The text is suppelemented by a filmography of films entered
for competition.
Diana Nenadić |
