In focus

A Rotterdam Journal

A review of Rotterdam retrospective of Croatian film.

From October 8 to 18, 1998, a selection of Croatian feature, documentary and animated films, as well as a program of Croatian experimental and student films was shown in four of the auditoriums at Rotterdam’s Lantaren-Venster. The organizer of this promotion, Leo Hannewijk, invested a great amount of effort into the preparations for the, up to now, most complete presentation of Croatian cinema in a foreign country. He was faced with many problems including the procurement of the necessary consent and copies of the films required for screening, and the dissatisfaction of certain authors with the selection or nonselection of their films.

In spite of this, the ten-day screening of Croatian films was an important cultural event and it can now be said with certainty that, as a result of the presentation of Croatian films in Rotterdam, »Croatian Cinema« has, for the first time, truly become a term of common use among Dutch critics, journalists and film-lovers.

A round-table on contemporary Croatian cinema was also held within the framework of the event. Participants included Croatian film-makers, critics and film experts. There was a presentation of Rajko Grlić’s CD-rom, Interactive Film School, as well as an animated film workshop for Dutch children held by famous film pedagogue Edo Lukman.

Rada Šešić