Journal of Film Preservation - FIAF

to E-motion Films during this period) failed in its attempts to set up its
own art cinema, it nevertheless succeeded in stimulating a great deal of
a/a production, such as Damjan Kozole’s first feature, Usodni Telefon (The
Fatal Telephone; 16/35mm, b/w, 70 min.), and the 1982 film by Zvonko
Coh and Milan Eric, Poskusaj migati dvakrat (Try Moving Twice; S8mm
b/w, 45m.; second version: 1986; 16mm b/w, 28 m.). These young filmmakers
are striking and unconventional; Kozole’s film is a “film about
film”, while the Eric/Coh animation explores pictorial dimensions of
“omnipotent” animation. Although firmly within the a/a tradition, both
of these films offer new aesthetic perspectives for Slovenian cinema.
Finally in the 90s, E-motion Film has moved into other developments,
most notably, the 1991 feature Srcna dama (The Queen of Hearts; 35mm
color, 98min.). Directed by Boris Jurjasevic, this film seems to be in the
classic/traditional mode, and if it cannot be said to represent the a/a aesthetic,
it may in fact signal the confluence of different forms of Slovenian
production today.
Amateur Film as Historical Record -
A Democratic History?
Peter MacNamara
The English expression ‘Chalk and Cheese’ indicates a difference in
nature despite a superficial resemblance. However, the idea can be taken
further than comparison in appearance and nature to a comparison in
value. It is one thing to say that there is a fundamental difference
between two people or objects, but it is an entirely different matter to
then go on and state that one of the two is of greater value. Which is
better, chalk or cheese? The answer, very obviously, depends on whether
you want to write on a wall or to eat! The idea that value is a matter of
purpose, not something implicit in the material, could be useful in
developing a healthy respect for the work of the amateur or private film
maker. If amateur film is seen as a pale shadow or imitation of real film,
then there is little of interest in it, but if it is something of a different
kind or order, then we may begin to see that it is not profitable to compare
amateur and professional film. If the makers of films have similar
purposes, then comparisons and consequent ranking of their merits are
entirely legitimate, but if their purposes are different, comparison is
meaningless.
If film is approached from the field of art criticism, then amateur will
indicate inferior, although not at all worthless, in film as in the other
arts. However, the claim that amateur film is an inferior form in all
respects to professional or commercial film is frankly puzzling for the
historian who uses film as a source for understanding change over time
in human affairs. The general value of amateur work in creating records
41 Journal of Film Preservation / 53 / 1996