Film Restored – Workshop report and screening “Systems and their images”

MISSION: EDUCATION

Workshop report “Systems and their images” with Vjeran Pavlinić (Croatian State Archives – Croatian Cinematheque), Marinela Ndria (Central State Film Archive von Albanien) 

 

In English

 

There are a variety of reasons why public institutions or state-sponsored organizations commission films. They might want to produce propaganda, or take a new look at historical events, or affirm a national identity. The Albanian short ›Përjetësi‹ (Eternity), made in 1973 during the Enver Hoxha era, uses clever montage work to pay homage to the regime’s war dead. In 1933 ‘Jedan dan u turopoljskoj zadruzi’ (A Day in the Life of a Turopolje Peasant Community) was commissioned by the Kingdom of Yugoslavia’s school of public health and resembles a nature documentary more than a film with direct political or educational aspirations. It uses an almost ethnographic approach to depicting day-to-day life in a typical Croatian village. The goal was to capture on film a rural lifestyle and labor practices that were on the verge of disappearing. This presentation looks at how archives deal with the kinds of commissioned films that require contextualization, and what the goals of restoring them are. Examples from Albania’s Central State Film Archive and the Croatian State Archive – Croatian Cinematheque will illuminate those issues. 

 

Screening

‘Jedan dan u turopoljskoj zadruzi’ (‘A Day in the Life of a Turopolje Peasant Community’), Kingdom of Yugoslavia/Croatia, 1933, directed by Drago Chloupek

OV w EN subtitles 

Original format: 35mm, 1:1.33,bw, silent 

Screening print: DCP, 27 min, Croatian State Archives – Croatian Cinematheque 

 

Ethnographic film produced by the Croatian School of Public Health, subtitled ‘A film presentation of the unhealthy living conditions of the late 19th century Croatian peasants.’ Mem- bers of an actual rural community reenact the dawn-to-dusk daily routines of their ancestors from the previous century, which in fact weren’t all that different from their own at the time of filming. The film won the first prize at the Festival dei Popoli in Florence in 1960, 27 years after it was made.

Croatian State Archives – Croatian Cinematheque digitally restored the film in 2020 with the support of the Croatian Audiovisual Centre. The 2K restoration was carried out by Ater and Klik Film studios in Zagreb, using the original nitrate camera negative as the main source element.

Screening

‘Pёrjetёsi’ (‘Eternity’), AL, 1973, directed by Dhimitёr Anagnosti 

OV with EN subtitles 

Original format: 35mm, 1:1.37, color 

Screening Print: DCP, 9 min, Albanian National Film Archive (AQSHF) 

Can heartbeats be “reactionary”? Yes, if they are the only audio element in a montage-heavy documentary about the war dead. This film was made just before Enver Hoxha’s cultural purges in 1974. Anagnosti’s formalist, wonderfully edited affair will be shown in its recently restored version.

Digitization project of the Albanian National Film Archive (AQSHF). Restored in 2K at the Hungarian Filmlab using the original 35mm picture and sound negative.

→ Tickets: 8,50 €