Activities of the film fund on the hundredth anniversary of Slovenian film

07. April 2005

The beginning of the festivities on the occasion of one hundred years of Slovenian film was 18 February 2005, when the documentary film Rudi Omota: The Overlooked Chapter of Slovenian Cinematography (2004) by the director Dražen Štader was shown in the Kinodvor cinema.

Rudi Omota with his exploration in the field of sound made important contributions to the development of recording sound with the film and is, as one of the last living veterans of Slovenian film, the right person to open the celebrations of this important anniversary.
On the occasion of the hundredth anniversary of Slovenian film and the celebration of the creation of our first moving pictures, made by the pioneer Karol Grossman in Ljutomer, the film critics of various generations chose Dance in the Rain (1961) by Boštjan Hladnik as the best Slovenian film.

Thus Dance in the Rain won the first place in the DVD release in honour of this important anniversary, based on the original idea of the Film Fund of the Republic of Slovenia. Dance in the Rain is the first Slovenian film whose picture and sound were corrected, which reduced the evidence of the passage of time on the film copy and brought the film closer to the demands for "spotlessness", which is, besides the multimedia nature, one more characteristic of the DVD medium.

The original version of the film, which was only shown publicly a few times, was chosen for the DVD release, because the film negative of this copy does not exist and is thus a true rarity. A discussion with Boštjan Hladnik was filmed especially for this edition. The director also participated in the choice of other materials: film trailers, excerpts from Enfant Terrible (1993) - the documentary portrait of Boštjan Hladnik directed by Damjan Kozole, excerpts from the television show Povečava ("Magnification", 1991) directed by Franci Slak, and excerpts from the documentary portrait of the actor Miha Baloh (1998) directed by Slavko Hren.

The viewers are able to see the film with subtitles in six languages, and they can also choose Slovenian subtitles.

The formal projection of the original version of the film is going to take place on 7 April in the Kinodvor cinema, and the DVD is going to be available in stores from 11 April.

This year Blossoms in Autumn (1973) by Matjaž Klopčič and The Raft of Medusa (1980) by Karpo Godina, which qualified among ten best films, are also going to be released.

In the summer months a travelling cinema, partly also supported by the municipalities, is going to tour the Slovenian cities. The Film Fund suggested ten best films to the municipalities, but the program can also differ and depends on the preferences of individual cities.

The best films:

Dance in the Rain (Boštjan Hladnik)
On Wings of Paper (Matjaž Klopčič)
The Raft of Medusa (Karpo Godina)
That Beautiful Day (France Štiglic)
Bread And Milk (Jan Cvitkovič)
Vesna (František Èap)
Farewell until the Next War (Živojin Pavloviæ)
Red Wheat (Živojin Pavloviæ)
Blossoms in Autumn (Matjaž Klopčič)
Red Boogie (Karpo Godina)

The events on the hundredth anniversary of Slovenian film are organised by the Film Fund of the Republic of Slovenia – the Public Fund, the Slovenian Cinematheque and the Archive of the Republic of Slovenia. The main anniversary is also accompanied by a smaller anniversary, which is nevertheless important for the Film Fund and the whole film production of the last few years – ten years of the Film Fund of the Republic of Slovenia.

The Slovenian Cinematheque and the Archive of the Republic of Slovenia are partners at the preparation of the FIAF congress (International Federation of Film Archives), and the Film Fund is a link between the organisers and the other film institutions in Slovenia.