Slovenian Avantgarde Then: Of Zeitgeist and Vertigos

The 1960s and 1970s were a politically turbulent period internationally and also in Yugoslavia, marked by various artistic and social movements. Young independent authors, most of whom created within the framework of kino-clubs, were not immune to these currents. For example, Vinko Rozman responded to the Soviet occupation of Czechoslovakia in 1968 with a film elegy dedicated to Jan Palach, the philosophy student who set himself on fire in protest in Prague. The renowned Karpo Godina, in his distinctive style, shot a propaganda film for the Yugoslav Army, but instead of producing a glorification, he created an anti-war film that ridiculed the absurdity of militarism, and nearly landed in prison because of it. The dark, neo-baroque Vasko Pregelj, in his dreamlike Nokturno, radiates a postwar sentiment of decay and transience. On the other hand, the exploration of the camera’s dizzying kinetic possibilities and the materiality of film itself reached unexpected dimensions in the works of authors such as Davorin Marc or OM production collective.

Slovenian experimental film has a long history, even though until recently it seemed that this aspect of filmmaking was almost entirely forgotten. The reason is that most avant-garde films in the 60s and 70s were produced under the umbrella of the all-Yugoslav network of “kino-clubs”, which provided citizens with access to equipment and film stock. Consequently, this entire body of work was long dismissed as amateur, and no official institution took responsibility for it. Everything changed over a decade ago, when the Slovenian Cinematheque established avant-garde collections, began restoring these films, and started presenting them in an international context. It soon became clear that a rich and vibrant history had been hiding beneath the surface, parallel to contemporary experimental filmmaking which is now gaining momentum year by year.
This programme is presented in collaboration with Slovenian Cinematheque and FeKK – Ljubljana Short Film Festival.

Curator: Matevž Jerman

Screened:
SAT 25/10, 21:00 SLOTTS

Köp biljett

PRAGUE SPRING

A contemplation between Ljubljana and Prague in 1969 and a unique elegy for Jan Palach and the Prague Spring.

Slovenia (Yugoslavia) 1969 / 11:00 /
Director: Vinko Rozman ̇

NOKTURNO

Bare chestnut branches, the play of clouds, images of a dark day collapsing in on itself – all are crafted to strike with the simplicity and immediacy of perceptions of vanishing, dying, and forgetting. Brief, interwoven shots whose connections recall a musical score or a poem in free verse. And this film was made by a seventeen-year-old boy.

Slovenia (Yugoslavia) 1965 / 12:00 / Director: Vasko Pregelj

ON LOVE SKILLS OR FILM WITH 14441 FRAMES

INot far from the village of Saramazalino stands a barracks housing hundreds of soldiers, and right next to it a girls’ boarding school with several hundred young women. The girls and the soldiers never meet.

Serbia (Yugoslavia) 1972 / 10:00 / Director: Karpo Godina

LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT

The play of abstract shapes creates a male figure that comes to life. When a female figure joins him, an interaction of conquest emerges between them. This interaction is not generated through the animation of the figures themselves, but through the animation of lines and borders

Slovenia (Yugoslavia) 1972 / 3:00 / Director: Tone Racki

EVERYTHING IS SPINNING

Using the techniques of scratching, colouring, and drawing repeating patterns onto already exposed film stock, the filmmaker created an animation in which the ecstasy of colour shades and shifting motifs highlights the very physicality of the film medium – both in the image and in the accompanying sound.

Slovenia (Yugoslavia) 1978 / 2:00 / Director: Davorin Marc

BISMILLAH /IN FOUR MOVEMENTS/ DISLOCATED THIRD EYE SERIES

Bismillah is part of the creative opus of OM Production, a mysterious collective that began its artistic journey in 1975. It encompassed 41 remarkable, one-of-a-kind film works and just as many creators. The series, by means of a dislocated “third eye” frees the camera from the author’s gaze and explores the kinetic possibilities of cinematic expression and invites the audience into a hypnotic vertiginous experience.

Slovenia (Yugoslavia) 1984 / 31:00 /
Director: Sulejman Ferencak/OM production