The 5C project ciné-caravan stopped in Split for a three day event, from 10 to 12 June 2016. The diverse program included feature and short film screenings, Q&A sessions with renowned film directors and workshops by leading experts for our international guests and local audiences. Some of the highlights of the program were: the screening of Greek feature film Diorthosi/ The Correction, and Q&A with the director Thanos Anastopoulos, and the screening of Poslijepodne (Puška) on 35mm in the presence of Yugoslav Black Wave director Lordan Zafranović. Local film amateurs had the opportunity to participate in two workshops: one on film sound by the director of the Greek Film Centre, Elektra Venaki, and one on the “Split Film School” led by film scholar and critic Diana Nenadić.
City Soundscapes
On the first day, the expert Elektra Venaki presented an alternative perspective on the use of sound in Balkan cinema, and participants learned about off-screen sounds through several examples taken from the films of Corneliu Porumboiu and Nuri Bilge Ceylan. The discussion also focused on the dialogue between recent European auteurs, such as the Dardenne brothers, and contemporary Balkan filmmakers. In the examples used, the image serves as an illustration to the sound, rather than the opposite, which Elektra Venaki considers to be a specific characteristic inherent to Balkan cinema. Besides, we explored how sound can shape the film’s narrative in contemporary urban environments.
Balkan Shorts
Balkan Shorts represented a curated program and selection from the recent regional short films in competition at altcineAction! 2016 Film Festival. The audience had the opportunity to watch the Balkan Shorts program at the historical Kino Tesla Terrace, which was reopened specifically for short film screenings during the Mediterranean Film Festival after being in disuse for two decades. The selection brought together some of the most exciting, emerging talents from the Balkan region and showcased their recent work, ranging from Bulgarian animation to Slovenian fiction film. After the screening, the 5C project ambassadors, Mariana Hristova (Bulgaria), Andrei Sendrea (Romania), Galina Maksimović (Serbia), Özge Özdüzen (Turkey) and Rhiannon Wain (UK) shared with the audience their views on the condition of cinema in the Balkans and talked about their favourite short film in the selection.
The City as a Film Set
On the second day of activities, local filmmaker Boris Poljak led the 5C ambassadors on a walk through the historical city centre, in order to visit historical film locations around Split. The ambassadors had an opportunity to see how urban spaces can be transformed onto the silver screen, and in particular they explored the real locations from the Croatian film Ta divna Splitska noć/ A Wonderful Night in Split which they saw on the first caravan stop in Athens.
Poslijepodne (Puška) screening and lecture by Lordan Zafranović
A special screening of Lordan Zafranović’s early film Poslijepodne (Puška) on 35 mm, took place at Kinoteka Zlatna vrata, a medieval building situated within the walls of Diocletian’s palace. Afterwards, the renowned Yugoslav Black Wave film director talked about the context surrounding the production of the short film and the group of filmmakers working at Kino klub Split in the 1960s. He also shared some stories from his personal journey to becoming a filmmaker, and his opinion on the differences between working on analogue and digital film.
Screening of Diorthosi/ Correction and Q&A with Thanos Anastopoulos
Local audiences and participants in the 5C project participants had the privilege of watching the Greek film Diorthosi/ Correction, directed by Thanos Anastopoulos, who arrived in Split after attending Cannes Film Festival with his latest documentary L’ultima spiaggia/ The Last Resort. The post-screening Q&A was animated by the audience’s interventions and the filmmaker’s inspiration behind making the film as well as by his explanation on why the story was set in contemporary Athens.
“The Split Film School”
On the last day, the local scholar Diana Nenadić delivered a seminar on the history and context of the “Split Film School”, a local avant-garde filmmaking movement which emerged in the 1960s, in its birthplace, Kino klub Split. The presentation was interspersed with screenings of selected “Split Film School” shorts on 16mm, each followed by a brief explanation on the author and the film. Among the selection, there were films by Ivan Martinac, Lordan Zafranović and Ante Verzotti, the best known representatives of this movement and auteurs with a strong individuality who resisted the “mainstream” filmmaking style. Besides the focus on the first generation of filmmakers, Diana Nenadić showed how the visually-meditative characteristic of the “Split School” is still present in the works of later generations, such as Boris Poljak. This was demonstrated by the screening of Poljak’s film Splitski Akvarel.
In between the activities, there was plenty of time for participants and international guests to take leisurely promenades on the riva and get lost in the narrow winding streets of the old city centre, as well as enjoy delicacies from local cuisine, such as pašticada, crni rižoto and octopus peka, accompanied by a glass or two of red wine and vibrant conversations on Balkan cinema.
The three-day event turned out a success thanks to the generous support of Creative Media Europe, HAVC, Splitsko-dalmatinska županija and our cooperative local partners Kino klub Split and Festival mediteranskog filma.
Finally, we would like to express our thanks to the workshop leaders, the filmmakers, the 5C project partners and ambassadors, local partners and supporters, our audiences and participants who joined us on this cinematic journey in Split.
See you at the next 5C project stop in Cetate, Romania!
