Page 151 - Darko Štrajn, From Walter Benjamin to the End of Cinema: Identities, Illusion and Signification. Ljubljana: Educational Research Institute, 2017. Digital Library, Dissertationes, 29.
P. 151
cinematic road to a redefinition of the balkans
ics of such cinema cannot be so transparently formulated as it could have
been in times when it made use of visual and verbal metaphors and “hid-
den” messages to point to existential problems or to expose a spectrum of
repression within political and cultural systems of the Balkans. Small cin-
ematographies of the Balkans now, nevertheless, enter the world cinema as
rather “readable” to global audiences and especially to those, who attend
many film festivals. It would require a lot of systematic research to under-
pin such generalization with facts and analysis. In the framework of this
book, I cannot fully tackle such a formidable task. Therefore, what I have
found through the analysis of the Porumboiu’s film will now be further
only superficially illustrated by a few examples and hints about contexts of
cinema in some Balkan countries.
Some Examples
Slovenia
Double periphery status (European and Balkan) often causes that in many
compendium-like presentations of Balkan cinema, Slovenia is left out. On
the other hand, this new country, which stems from the federal socialist
Yugoslavia, is much more connected to Balkan issues, both culturally and
politically than local national narcissism would like to admit. This could be
illustrated by the influence that Filip Robar Dorin and another filmmak-
er Karpo Ačimović Godina, who worked as professors at the Theatre and
Film School at the University of Ljubljana, had in this respect on younger
generations.6 It should be stressed that Slovenia entered the currents in the
direction of world cinema a few years earlier than most other former Yu-
goslav countries thanks to its lucky escape from Yugoslavia without an all-
out war. Damjan Kozole and Boris Jurjaševič were the first representatives
of a new generation of filmmakers, who made their debuts in 1980s already.
Others (like Andrej Košak, Janez Burger, Sašo Podgoršek, Maja Weiss and
Jan Cvitković… to name just a few) followed already in the 1990s in the
“world after”, the world of post-socialism or even simply the world of world cinema.
Of course, similar cases, which are made inherently readable in a different register in
the view of political signifiers, are to be found all over the Balkans.
6 Robar Dorin with Karpo Aćimović on camera namely directed a prophetic film in
1985 Rams and Mammoths, which showed a devastating role of ethnic intolerance
in Slovenia, then a part of Yugoslavia. A detailed analysis of the film and the context
can be found in: Štrajn, Darko (2011) Robar-Dorin‘s mirror: Rams and Mammoths
in the context of Yugoslav history. New Review of Film and Television Studies. Vol. 9,
No. 4, December 2011, 455–472
149
ics of such cinema cannot be so transparently formulated as it could have
been in times when it made use of visual and verbal metaphors and “hid-
den” messages to point to existential problems or to expose a spectrum of
repression within political and cultural systems of the Balkans. Small cin-
ematographies of the Balkans now, nevertheless, enter the world cinema as
rather “readable” to global audiences and especially to those, who attend
many film festivals. It would require a lot of systematic research to under-
pin such generalization with facts and analysis. In the framework of this
book, I cannot fully tackle such a formidable task. Therefore, what I have
found through the analysis of the Porumboiu’s film will now be further
only superficially illustrated by a few examples and hints about contexts of
cinema in some Balkan countries.
Some Examples
Slovenia
Double periphery status (European and Balkan) often causes that in many
compendium-like presentations of Balkan cinema, Slovenia is left out. On
the other hand, this new country, which stems from the federal socialist
Yugoslavia, is much more connected to Balkan issues, both culturally and
politically than local national narcissism would like to admit. This could be
illustrated by the influence that Filip Robar Dorin and another filmmak-
er Karpo Ačimović Godina, who worked as professors at the Theatre and
Film School at the University of Ljubljana, had in this respect on younger
generations.6 It should be stressed that Slovenia entered the currents in the
direction of world cinema a few years earlier than most other former Yu-
goslav countries thanks to its lucky escape from Yugoslavia without an all-
out war. Damjan Kozole and Boris Jurjaševič were the first representatives
of a new generation of filmmakers, who made their debuts in 1980s already.
Others (like Andrej Košak, Janez Burger, Sašo Podgoršek, Maja Weiss and
Jan Cvitković… to name just a few) followed already in the 1990s in the
“world after”, the world of post-socialism or even simply the world of world cinema.
Of course, similar cases, which are made inherently readable in a different register in
the view of political signifiers, are to be found all over the Balkans.
6 Robar Dorin with Karpo Aćimović on camera namely directed a prophetic film in
1985 Rams and Mammoths, which showed a devastating role of ethnic intolerance
in Slovenia, then a part of Yugoslavia. A detailed analysis of the film and the context
can be found in: Štrajn, Darko (2011) Robar-Dorin‘s mirror: Rams and Mammoths
in the context of Yugoslav history. New Review of Film and Television Studies. Vol. 9,
No. 4, December 2011, 455–472
149
