Abstract
This chapter offers an analysis of the change in programming practices at the Yugoslav Documentary and Short Film Festival, at the time of the major political and ideological transition of the late 1980s/early 1990s in Yugoslavia. The chapter charts the festival’s history from its creation in 1954, until its internationalization in 2004, showing the event’s transition from one that contributed to the creation of the Yugoslav supranational identity, to one that turned instead to the reinforcement of Serbian national identity. In order to demonstrate this development, the analysis focuses on the changes in the approach to World War II (WWII), as the historical event that set the basis of both the creation and the destruction of the supranational socialist Yugoslav myth.
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Notes
- 1.
The chapter provides some of the findings of my Ph.D. thesis, conducted with the University Paris Saclay/Versailles Saint-Quentin en Yvelines under the title: “Cultural and Political History of the Yugoslav Documentary and Short Film Festival, 1954–2004: From Yugoslav Socialism to Serbian Nationalism” (2017). I would like to thank to David Archibald and Vjeran Pavlaković who provided invaluable insights on a draft version of this chapter.
- 2.
- 3.
For a more general overview of the programming practices of Yugoslav Documentary and Short Film Festival in the two periods, see Jelenković (2016).
- 4.
For the case of school manuscripts in post-socialist Yugoslavia, see Stojanović (2010).
- 5.
“‘Prepisana’ stvarnost” [A “copy” of reality], Bogdan Kalafatović, NIN, March 19, 1978.
- 6.
“Stvarnost ‘kao takva’” [The reality “as it is”], Aco Štaka, Oslobodjenje, March 30, 1987.
- 7.
“Istina iznad svega” [The truth above all], M. K, Novosti, March 28, 1989.
- 8.
“Istinite priče” [True stories], Milan Mitić, Novosti, March 29, 1987.
- 9.
“Stvarnost ukratko” [The reality in short], V. L, Politika Ekspres, March 26, 1998.
- 10.
Founded on 29 November 1943 as the Democratic Federal Yugoslavia, renamed in 1945 into Federal People’s Republic of Yugoslavia, and in 1963 into the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY), and finally disintegrated as a result of wars in the 1990s. The republics that stayed together after the disintegration, Serbia and Montenegro, continued to use the name Yugoslavia—the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY) was established in 1992, and renamed into State Union of Serbia and Montenegro in 2003.
- 11.
The first five recognized constitutive nations were Serbs, Croats, Slovenes, Montenegrins, and Macedonians, recognized as such being numerically most dominant South Slavic national group in each respective republic. As of 1961 the Islamized Slavs from Bosnia and Herzegovina could declare themselves as Muslims in the population census. They were recognized as the sixth constitutive nation in 1971. Yugoslavia was a specific case where the word “Muslim” if written with a capital letter signified a national/ethnic and not religious category.
- 12.
Renamed League of Communists of Yugoslavia (LCY) in 1952, in order to mark the distance from the Eastern Bloc after the break with Stalin in 1948.
- 13.
The leading Serbian politicians were for a centralized state run from Belgrade, while the leading Croatian politicians were anticentralists.
- 14.
Statement given to Anatoly Lunacharsky, the commissar of education of the Soviet Union in February 1922. Sovtskoe Kino, 1933, No. 1–2.
- 15.
The idea of Greater Serbia means gathering all the Serbs into one state, which would consist of Serbia and all the other Balkan territories where Serbs live in greater numbers.
- 16.
The festival took place in Belgrade for the first time from March 4 to 9, 1960, as the First Yugoslav Documentary and Short Film Festival. In 1961, the event resumed continuity, which had commenced in Pula under the official name The Eighth Yugoslav Documentary and Short Film Festival. The year 1954 is taken as the official year of its creation.
- 17.
Mostly from the budget of the city of Belgrade, but notable funding has also been received from the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Serbia. In a smaller extent different companies also sponsored the festival occasionally (Cf. festival catalogues 1954–2004).
- 18.
The change of the name is related to the fact that in 2003 the country also abandoned its Yugoslav name, changing it into the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro.
- 19.
To mention but a few: Draža Marković, top-rank Communist Party officer, served among other as President of the Presidency of the SFRY, President of the Presidency of Communist Party of Yugoslavia, and so on (jury member in 1961), Đuro Kladarin, Vice-president of the Socialist Alliance of Working People of Croatia, one of the Presidents of the Chamber of Education and Culture of the Federal Assembly of Yugoslavia (President of Managing Board of YFF 1963–1965), Olga Kreačić, Deputy Secretary for Information at the Federal Executive Council (jury member 1958–1962), and so on.
- 20.
Other themes included the life of youth, social relations in our socialist reality, material development of the country, revolutionary past of Yugoslav people, culture and art, educational and instructional films, information-propaganda-economy genre.
- 21.
Utility films (namenski filmovi) were commissioned documentaries that usually presented the development of the Yugoslav industry.
- 22.
This was the case, for example, in 1961 when there were 25 documentaries about WWII. Twenty approached the theme from a historical perspective, and five indirectly, through the stories on the jubilees, such as 15 years since the liberation of Sarajevo (Spring in my Town, Žika Ristić, 1961), 20 years since the uprising in Macedonia (11th October 1941 … 1961, Trajče Popov, 1961), and so on. As in 1961 90 films were screened in total, representing 22%, or almost one fourth, of the entire program. In addition, films that celebrated the socialist revolution were also screened.
- 23.
Tito did not make an appearance, but he did send an envoy (Report on the 25th Festival [1978], Catalogue 1979, 106).
- 24.
The cover of the Catalog also reminded audiences of the Liberation of Belgrade, with a photo of devastated streets of the capital and the caption “1944–1984.” The country was liberated in May 1945.
- 25.
All the cited films were produced in Yugoslavia (socialist and post-socialist), unless stated otherwise. The years stated represent the years of the films’ participation in the festival. The year of production is the same of one year before, unless stated otherwise.
- 26.
Film narration. The italics are mine.
- 27.
The names of Želimir Žilnik, Živojin Pavlović, Aleksandar Petrović, Lazar Stojanović, Dušan Makavejev, and others are associated with the Black Wave. They achieved great results at the festivals abroad, but were facing constant troubles in their own country. Although only one film, The City (1963), by Marko Babac, Kokan Rakonjac, and Živojin Pavlović, was officially banned, dozens of films were prevented from having public screenings. See documentary about the Black Wave, Censored without Censorship, Dinko Tucaković and Milan Nikodijević, Art&Popcorn, SRB, 2007.
- 28.
President of Serbia (1990–1997); President of Yugoslavia (1997–2000).
- 29.
COMPENDIUM of Cultural Policies and Trends in Europe, Country Profile: Serbia. Prepared and updated by: Dragićević Šešić, Milena, Mikić, Hristina. Last profile update: January 2013. Accessed: April 7, 2014, www.culturalpolicies.net.
- 30.
The idea of historical correctness of the Serbian nation was an important element in the process of ideologization of the past for political purposes (Stojanović 2010, 106).
- 31.
For more about the theories regarding an alleged ancient hatred between the Serbs and the Croats, see Jović (2009).
- 32.
“Ići ili ne ići u Beograd” [To go or not to go to Belgrade], Branka Sömen, Vjesnik, March 7, 1991.
- 33.
In Serbo-Croatian original: “Ja Jovanka Radoja, iz jame, poručujem svima, Srbovima, sa Hrvatima jedite i pijte, ali nikad ne vjerujte. Nikad im ne vjerujte.”
- 34.
Branko Gapo (president), Božidar Zečević, Miša Grčar, Nikola Stojanović, Nikola Majdak.
- 35.
“Počeo 38 festival JDKF, Dokumentarci i TV estetika” [The 38th YDSFF has Started. Documentaries and TV Aesthetic], M. Midžović, Politika Ekspres, March 29, 1991.
- 36.
Ibid.
- 37.
See the interview given by Branko Vučićević in the documentary Censored Without Censorship.
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Jelenković, D. (2020). The Film Festival as a Vehicle for Memory Officialization: The Afterlife of WWII in the Yugoslav Documentary and Short Film Festival, 1954–2004. In: Vallejo, A., Winton, E. (eds) Documentary Film Festivals Vol. 1. Framing Film Festivals. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-17320-3_8
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