3rd Subversive Film Festival in Zagreb

Pavle Levi of Stanford University delivered a lecture entitled “Machines and Machinations: Towards a Politics of the Kino-Apparatus” on the final night of the theoretical component of the festival.  He dealt with the political underpinnings of certain obscure cinematic relics as well as the political content of new video documentaries produced in the context of youth workshops.  Complex and interesting, hopefully this presentation will be organized into a written study of some sorts.

This presentation gave way to the third in the three-part roundtable “Yugoslav Film Affair,” this one moderated by Miki Stojanovic of Film Center Serbia and again including Italian critic Sergio Grmek Germani, the filmmakers Lazar Stojanovic, Veljko Bulajic, Slobodan Sijan, Djordje Kadijevic, Krsto Papic and professors Pavle Levi and Hrvoje Turkovic.  The discussion continued on Yugoslav “Black Wave” films and again the conversation was passionate and provocative.

3rd Subversive Film Festival in Zagreb

Dilizansa snova/The Stagecoach of Dreams (1960) by Sofija-Soja Jovanovic, the first female feature film director in Yugoslavia, was screened at the beautiful Kino Tuskanac.  This was a period piece with a comedic tone about a poet/philosopher (Slobodan Perovic) who falls in love with a woman and pursues his object of desire passionately.  The narrative of the film was a bit off and oftentimes it was difficult enough to sit through.  It seemed to be a rather disjointed attempt that was lacking in comedy or even interesting characters.  Though Jovanovic holds an important place in the history of Yugoslav cinema, one would hope that her reputation rests on a better film than this one.

The next film that screened, Suncani krik/Sunny Whirlpool (1968) by Bostjan Hladnik, proved to be a treat.  Another comedy, this one mildly surreal in its formal approach, Hladnik crafts a whimsical story about an irresistible boy (Bojan Mark) who gets a job as a photographer working in an all-girl’s design school.  Soon enough the girl-crazy boy is pursued by hundreds of boy-crazy girls who wear him down, each one taking their turn to win his affections.  Crossed with this plot is a sub-plot about a pair of bungling robbers who are looking for hidden money in one of the model refrigerators, and who think the boy is guilty of stealing their hard-earned stolen goods.

3rd Subversive Film Festival in Zagreb

The 3rd Subversive Film Festival in Zagreb (Croatia) was held throughout the entire month of May 2010.  Each year the festival selects an organizing theme–this year’s was socialism.  Socialism, its representations and theoretical musings, was explored on film through a Glauber Rocha retrospective, a retrospective of the Zagreb School of animation from1951-90 and the centerpiece of the festival: a retrospective of Yugoslav film from 1955-90.  A series of roundtable discussions, lectures and book promotions was also presented.

Overall, this festival was extremely well-produced.  The immense amount of rare films screened in outstanding prints was impressive, as was the festival program booklet, which was a brilliant work of editing and presentation in its own right.  It seems, judging from the previous festival booklets that were given out to attendees, that this is a film festival that gathers a wonderful amount of creativity, and is clearly something not to be missed in the future.

Three films took home awards at the 38th Belgrade International Film Festival (Fest); two from Israel, demonstrating the overall strength and versatility of Israeli cinema as represented at the festival.  The film Levanon/Lebanon by writer/director Samuel Maoz won the FIPRESCI prize.  Well-deserved for an already accomplished film, whose tale of the horrors of war and the humanitarian costs certainly hit home in Serbia.

The Belgrade Film Journalists and Critics Association bestowed their “Nebojsa Djukelic” Award on the film Einaym Pekukhot/Eyes Wide Open by director Haim Tabakman.  Yet another fine Israeli film, to go along with writer/director Keren Yedaya’s Kalat Hayam/Jaffa, which certainly looks the part of a powerful masterpiece.  Both films examine transgressive sexual relationships; the former a homosexual affair, the latter one that crosses religious and national boundaries.  Both films end ambiguously, casting an uncertain light on the opinions of the directors as to the viability of these relationships.  In Eyes Wide Open one of the partners is forced to leave town, the other seen submerging himself underwater in the film’s final mysterious shot.  In Jaffa the final image is a high angle wide-shot of the Palestinian father on one edge of the frame, the Israeli mother on the other and their mixed-heritage daughter walking carefully along a wall in the middle – before the camera zooms in to a medium shot of the daughter, ultimately concluding in a freeze frame on her.  The silent expressiveness of this shot speaks volumes, its mise-en-scene a masterful construction.

Vjerujem u andele/I Believe in Angels by the Croatian director Niksa Svilicic is a lighthearted romantic comedy examining a small island community and its inhabitants.  Local postman Sime (Vedran Mlikota) falls for the mysterious dark-haired new girl in town, Dea (Dolores Lambasa).  After an awkward attempt to court her, notwithstanding the attention from all the other single men in town, he finally wins her hand and the two ultimately get married and have a baby.

Thought the plot is rather mundane the film survives off of the appeal of the cast and the characterizations and the easy-going tone.  Svilicic demonstrates a capable hand with the material and offers a simple, entertaining film.  Croatia has delivered a proficient showing at this festival, the quality of their cinema made evident and lending proof that there are some bright futures ahead of their talented directors.

Kalat Hayam/Jaffa by Keren Yedaya is a revelation.  When Hitchcock said the screen rectangle must be charged with emotion he had films like this in mind.  Jaffa tells the tale of a family dissolution in Israel that involves a love affair between a young Israeli woman named Mali (Dana Ivgy) and a Palestinian man named Toufik (Mahmud Shalaby).  When Toufik accidentally kills Mali’s brother during a fight (and impregnates her as well), it initiates the beginning of her ruinous path filled with deceit, heartache and disaster.

Jaffa is a film in which not only every frame is charged with emotion but also one can feel the emotion behind every creeping use of the slow zoom, in every glance of the actors, with every appearance of the sparse score.  This searing drama is handled with complete mastery by Yedaya, not a single note of the film ringing false.  Yedaya has certainly delivered on the promise of her debut film, Or, which won a multitude of awards at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival including the Camera d’Or, the award given to the best first feature.  There can be no doubt that a major talent has emerged in Israeli cinema – her name is Keren Yedaya.

Centar za pranje filmova/Film-Washing Center by Srdan Knezevic is a crusading work of documentary journalism that takes aim at Film Center Serbia.  Knezevic reveals the layers of duplicity and corruption at the heart of the government-funded center, which he claims has often operated as a place for backroom and sweetheart deals, among other more nefarious deeds.

This is what many would label a “talking head” documentary, in which a majority of it is simply people sitting in front of a camera and giving a lengthy testimony.  No doubt the subject of the film is of importance – but it is not rendered cinematically, which is its chief offense.  As such the director undercuts the effectiveness of his own argument and reveals that his approach and his material, ironically enough, are probably best suited to another medium.