Majcen's inheritance
Croatian Nonprofessional Film (1928-1998)
Late member of the editorial
board of the Croatian Cinema Chronicle and a notable
historian of Croatian film, Vjekoslav Majcen, has written
a survey of a history of Croatian amateur film movement
that was published in festival catalogue only. The paper
is republished here to be of wider accessibility.
Film amateur movement in Croatia started within a photographers’
club, which was established in 1892 (ZagrebaČki klub amatera
fotografa / Zagreb Club of Amateur Photographers, later
renamed Fotoklub Zagreb / Photo Club Zagreb). The
first photo amateur to turn to film camera and film shooting
was a dentist Maksimilian Paspa in 1926. In 1928 he established
a Film Section (Kinosekcija) within the Photo Club
Zagreb and in the course of the following years quite a
number of photographers became involved in the activity
of the new Film Section. At the time there were amateur
cinematographers in other Croatian towns too (Rijeka, Split,
Karlovac, Virovitica), and some of them shot films outside
the Club. Members of the Film Section participated at various
international film competitions and some of them won awards
(Oktavijan Miletić at Photokino-Verlag G. M. b. H. in Berlin
in 1931; M. Paspa at the 2nd International Festival of
Amateur Film in Amsterdam 1932). They organized several
film competitions in Zagreb (in 1934 it was a local competition;
in 1935 an international competition). A representative
of Film Section was present at the inaugural convention
of UNICA in Barcelona, in 1935.
That same year, 1935, Maksimilian
Paspa initiated the establishment of an independent Cine
Club (Klub kinoamatera Zagreb / Film-Amateur Club Zagreb,
later renamed Kinoklub Zagreb / Cine Club Zagreb), and
this club (except for a short pause after the World War
II) survived up to this day. Cine Club Zagreb’s most prominent
filmmakers were Oktavijan Miletić with witty short features
(who later became one of the best professional cinematographers
and was the author of the first sound feature film, Vatroslav
Lisinski, in 1944) and Maksimilian Paspa, with valuable
documentary shorts. In 1936, another informal club was
initiated (Romanija), with 60 members, some of
whom became prominent professional filmmakers and actors
(Krešo Golik, Nikola Tanhofer and others). All clubs
were active till the end of World War II when radical
socialist ideology introduced changes in all facets of
life, amateur film included.
After World War II, when the socialist state established
itself, it started to give support to amateur movements
in various artistic fields, and film clubs in different
cities were initiated (first in Split, in 1952; in 1954
the activity of the Cine Club Zagreb was renewed; and in
1959 a Film club in Rijeka was initiated, etc.).
At the
beginning of the 1960s there was an influx of mostly young
university students who initiated a new artistic approach
in the Cine Club Zagreb and Cine Club Split, mostly with
modernist (avant-garde) inclinations. Mihovil Pansini started
several talks on the theme of ’anti film’ in Cine Club
Zagreb, and in 1963 he established a biannual festival
of experimental film (GEFF — Genre Film Festival; ’genre’
was UNICAs term for non-conventional forms). It lasted
till 1970 (when the last, fourth festival was held). A
number of significant avant-garde filmmakers became prominent
in that period (Pansini, Vladimir Petek, Tomislav Gotovac,
and some others in Zagreb, Ivan Martinac, along with some
authors from Split). At the time, all the important output
of experimental film was exclusively limited to these two
film clubs (Split and Zagreb). However, later on they were
joined by the film clubs in Rijeka and Osijek. Split Film
Club produced two generations of notable filmmakers (in
the ’60s and the ’80s).
In 1955, the first children film club was
initiated in Zagreb, but the children film-club movement
spread quickly with the peak in the 1980s (190 children
clubs). Most prominent clubs were those in PitomaČa (Slavica,
established in 1957), Čakovec (where in 1975 a School of
Animated Film was established, under the guidance of Edo
Lukman), and Varaždin (Vanima). Today, the children film
movement is strong, represented by 120 film clubs and has
its own annual festival.
In 1963, a film-club association was formed
(Kino savez Hrvatske / Croatian Film Association, after
1990 renamed Hrvatski filmski savez / Croatian Film Clubs’
Association). Its first tasks were the organization of
amateur film festivals, for adults and children alike.
Gradually its activities expanded, and today they include
the storing of amateur film and video material, technological
support for individual non professional filmmakers, publishing,
organization of educational courses, etc.
In the seventies, a group of video artists
emerged, mostly bound to video and TV workshops, and to
art gallery milieu, outlining a number of important artists
(Sanja Iveković, Dalibor Martinis, Goran Trbuljak, Ivan
Ladislav Galeta, Breda Beban and Hrvoje Horvatić).
The transition from the 1980s to 1990s was
marked by a global shift from the cinematographic technique
to electronic, video technique. This was an impetus to
production and the rise of new youth and adult film clubs,
as well as a number of independent non-professional filmmakers.
The film-club scene was enlarged by a growing number of
individual video artists. Still regularly held festivals
of non-professional films (Revija neprofesijskog filmskog
i video stvaralaštva / Revue of Non-Professional Film-and
Video-making) are witnessing an increasing number of works
entering the competition (from 80-100).
ANALITICAL CONTENTS:
Introduction; The inauguration
of Film Section in Photo Club Zagreb; Affirmation
of amateur filmmaking; Participation in the international
film amateur movement; Competition for the best amateur
films; All-Slavic amateur film competition; The
inauguration of the Film Club Zagreb and the widening of
amateur filmmaking; The renewal of amateur film movement
in the fifties; Childrens filmmaking; Explorations
of film language; Non professional film-and video-making
in the nineties; Notes
Vjekoslav Majcen |
