Split, in Croatia, is a city of white stone on the edge of a turquoise sea. Branko Karabatic invited me to the festival to show some work and also to receive an award ("for outstanding contribution to the artistic development of the moving image") which of course was very flattering.
The festival programme, it turns out, is brave and interesting. Films from Armenia, Israel, and Korea, amongst other countries -- a well chosen glimpse of a world torn apart by conflict - are offered to a city that itself still exists in the shadow of the war of the 90s. You can feel the wound in the air, even though the city of Split itself suffered relatively little direct destruction. A gentle question about relations between Serbs, Croats and Bosnians easily provokes a stream of stories, saturated with feeling.
It transpires that Branko has persevered with this festival for 14 years: a labour of love in the face of increasing domination in the local cinemas by the usual commercial fare, mostly from Hollywood.
In such circumstances I am reminded of both the fragility and resilience of ways of working that do not conform to the formulas that easily sell. There is a heartwarming solidarity between the disparate individuals who are motivated to make the journey to a festival which offers little in terms of publicity and glitter, but opens the heart and mind to the efforts of the others and somehow illuminates the grand project which -- when you add all the individual struggles together - is in fact a global movement to reach for what matters.
Cinema - whether on the big screen or morphing into cell-phone sized moments - can reflect back our deeper knowledge of who we are in all our glorious diversity. Bravo to Branko for keeping the flame alive in Split.
COMMENTS HERE
Comments
It's only too bad that the publicity for the Festival is so poor. Attendance is very low and the accompanying guide that explains the films was only available days after it began.
Worse, the program has not a single liner note explaining even what the genre of the film is. Living here and working with the Tourist Board on some projects it's odd that so little has appeared to lure locals and visitors alike to experience this Fesitval. I've spoken to a number of people about it and they agree. They feel that very little money and energy is spent on PR because the producers are too focused on content--hardly a sin, but surely mounting a Festival that seems invisible and so few come to see after fourteen years needs to be addressed. So my first task next week is to speak with the tourist board and find out why they dont get more involved. And one more thing, while it is wonderful that there is NO admittance charge for the Festival, which is the first film Festival I have ever been to that is free, surely if a nominal fee was charged, maybe it could be used to buy some advertising?!
Thank you so much for writing with your views about the film festival in Split, especially as they are from a resident's point of view. My experience of the festival, however, differs from yours. At the screenings of my two films, at least, the cinema was full (as far as I could see from the front when I was introducing them) so word must have got out somehow. The atmosphere was one of lively and enthusiastic expectation; itself a testament to the festival. And I received a programme before the opening ceremony which I thought was clear and well produced.
However I do agree that publicity - absolutely necessary to inform and attract an audience -is a very specific discipline, requiring dedicated time and energy which, in turn costs money. In an underfunded festival it may the element that gets left out. Your idea about speaking to the tourist board sounds excellent to me...especially if you can encourage them to see the festival as a unique and wonderful local asset.
I myself asked the question about whether charging a small entrance fee of some kind, or as payment for a pass for the festival, might also generate a feeling of value. Sometimes people seem to feel, sadly, that if something is free it cant be too interesting. But then, on reflection, I thought that having free entrance is so unusual and generous that it should be celebrated.