Marija ratković - Hrvatski filmski savez

FIVE YEARS OF FOUR RIVER FILM FESTIVAL
Festival itself!”
Four River Film Festival
Finally, I come to the central
issue – the international segment
of the festival in Karlovac, which
goes by a very fitting and easily
memorized name of the Four River
Film Festival. These four little
words reveal so much! Obviously,
the title is in English and no
Croatian translation is given, and
there is reason for that: FRFF is a
Croatian festival but it is dedicated
strictly to foreign authors. It
(rightly) does not leave room for
Croatian high school film production
because these films already
have a whole autonomous
festival of their own. And the
English language, whether we
like it or not, is a universal and
widespread language throughout
the world! I am sure that among
Croatian high school students attending
this festival, for whatever
reason, there are few of those
who do not understand or speak
it. The same is true for the numerous
festival guests from non-
English-speaking countries.
The already mentioned four
words reveal even more semantic
potential. The four rivers surrounding
or flowing through Karlovac
contain within them the
idea of plurality of voices: these
rivers can be sailed in different
directions, in different vessels,
but also at changing speeds –
sometimes moderately, at other
times taking risks and rowdily.
Unlike Zagreb, which is probably
the only city to flee its river
and take to the hills, Karlovac
literally rushed to the comfortable
arms of its rivers. Therefore,
when it comes to the four rivers
in the festival’s title, they also refer
to life-giving energy and fertility
stemming from them. Generally
speaking – water!
And now, let us put semantic
variations aside for a moment
and observe the exact statistic
indicators!
In the four editions of the
Four River Film Festival, 25 countries
participated with 165 video
works. Leading the field is definitely
the United Kingdom. The
audience has had the pleasure of
seeing as many as 42 films from
the UK – mostly of great quality,
playfulness and relevance.
The second place, surprisingly, is
held by our first neighbour, Slovenia,
with 14 films in competition,
while Germany holds the
third place with 12 films.
They are followed by: Denmark
(9), Ireland (8), Serbia (8),
South Korea (7), Turkey (7), Belgium
(6), Austria (3), China (3),
Moldova (3), Lithuania (3).
And there is also a film or two
from: Bosnia and Herzegovina,
Bangladesh, USA, Romania,
Spain, Finland, Hungary, Italy,
Lebanon, the Czech Republic and
Canada.
It is clear that as many as
three continents still elude Karlovac:
Australia, Africa and South
America.
After Marija Ratković Vidaković’s
recent stay in the USA,
it is probable that a rich and attractive
package of films will arrive
from that part, too!
What is it that, from the organizational
and thematic point of
view, defines the programme of
the Four River Film Festival? High
school students rightly dedicate
equal attention to all types of
films categories: animated, documentary,
fiction, experimental
and commissioned.
Not that we could not notice in
some of the films certain hints of
questioning the nature and limits
of the medium itself, but it is
as if they prefer to creatively mix
the categories. In the more inspired
works, the documentary
component playfully comes together
with animated or live action
interpolations; fictional film
might, on the other hand, reach
for the experimental, and the animated
for the live action or even
documentary categories.
Of course, we should not forget
the much-loved technique of
collage, here applied in a considerable
number of works.
And though a meticulous expert
analysis might encounter
a series of other particularities
from the point of view of the festival’s
programme, in all four of
the previous editions of FRFF, the
thematic still domineers over the
performative. Young authors believe
this is the moment in which
they, too, have to critically point
to a number of problems in the
17
animirani • animation