HANNA STEIN 2017
Outside the (Kino)Box. Or Why film culture in-between professional and amateur cinema is important.
Hanna Stein
After four weeks discovering the film culture and especially the activities of film amateurs in Film in Video Klub Maribor, I was inspired to make my first own short amateur film - an experimental documentary about film culture in Maribor. The film with its title „MB Film“ is dedicated to all the film enthusiasts in Maribor who make sure that the city has a rich cinematic sphere even though it currently lacks an independent cinema. The documentary gathers voices from people about cinema in the city today and in the past, reflecting on good cinematic moments and the need of political organization. Moreover, „MB Film“ is a reflection of my research about film amateurism in the region of former Yugoslavia, which I could expand during my stay in Maribor. The title of the film is the same as the signature on the driving plate of Franc Kopic - a longtime member of Film in Video Klub Maribor - whom I met during my research and who presented some of his films from the 1970s and 1980s to a wider public in Galerija K18. By using his driving plate as a title, my film shall also be understood as a call for an extended understanding of film culture between professional and amateur modes as well as for the recognition of the long history and role of amateur film makers.
Film culture doesn't merely describe the existence of art cinema(s) and centers of film production. It is an intersection of discourse (in the sense of knowledge of film theory, history, aesthetics...), distribution, screenings and production. In fact, those components are known to most of us from professional (albeit sometimes noncommercial) cinematography and our own consumerist or productive role within the world of films. Yet, there is another mode within that world, which lacks attention in many ways even though it historically was and currently is an – as I want to argue – important element for the further development of a so-called film culture. This holds true for Maribor but also many other places and regions.
The mode I am referring to is the amateur mode. The term amateur evokes probably immediately negative associations (like dilettantism, not-skilled, stuporous) as it is not ahistorical and has changed its meaning in the course of time and especially in the course of economic development. If time is money and money is the value that counts, an amateur cannot be more than someone who is simply not good enough to make money out of his/her activity, thus wasting time. Of course, latter assumption could be true, but it is not the ‚whole truth‘ because we might rethink the category professional film rather than exclude the amateur film from considerations. To explore the importance of film amateurs for film culture, a twofold explanation is crucial.
Firstly, the designation amateur film offers a wide range of definitions and interpretations. It could describe a film made with love and devotion, a private practice, a certain kind of aesthetics, a lack of commercial interest or financial resources, a travel document, an imitation, an experimentation... The only common denominator of the diverse possible amateur practices seems to be the economic parameter, which refers to the amateur film as any kind of film documents, made by a person dedicated to the medium without primarily financial interest. Hence, amateurism as a mode of doing something out of love and with a high degree of devotion somehow moves beyond the logic of the market.
Secondly, film amateurism doesn’t necessarily describe individuals making films with their cameras or mobile phones which they would then upload on YouTube or store it on a hard disc filled with sweet family memories. Indeed, the amateur film is a practice as old as the medium itself and since Pathé brought film amateur equipment to market in 1920, amateur filmmaking flourished, started to be organized in local ciné clubs and on an international level. The fact that the amateurs started to build up communities of like-minded created an ambiguous position between private and public, thus offering certain kinds of freedom. The organized manner of film amateurism shall be referred to as the community mode (Shand 2008), which finds its expression in the film productions, artistic regimes, discourses, wider audiences of film screenings and most important, turns film amateurism in a social practice.
Throughout the history of Yugoslavia, the activities and impact of film amateurs developed likewise (and sometimes even faster) than the professional film industry. In socialist Yugoslavia, film amateurism (as well as other amateur activities) was developed as a political program for peoples education. For that purpose, ciné clubs (kino clubs) were established all over the republics. They became meeting points, production centers, sometimes subversive cells and starting points of a (back then) unloved Avantgarde, since they were relatively independent, “remained free from dogmatic ideological intervention and continued to function as an open space for filmic expression and experimentation” (DeCuir 2011, S. 42). This was also the case in Slovenia, were some well-known directors (for example Karpo Godina) started their careers in kino clubs and art groups (Grupa OHO) used the chances to experiment with the film medium.
In Maribor, this kind of club was found in 1970 as a section of Foto Kino Klub Maribor and later became independent in 1974. As it is the destiny for most of the clubs and amateur filmmakers, the history and oeuvre of the club in Maribor is not widely known. Jurij Meden and Bojan Piskur aptly describe the fate of experimental and amateur filmmakers in Slovenia as an either-or situation. „Either they soon exchanged amateur filmmaking for professional work in the cinema and never looked back […], or they went down in (or out of) history as film amateurs (which was the fate that befell most of the others in Slovenia)“ (Meden/Piškur 2010, 25). That statement well describes a feeling that overcame me when I visited the Film in Video Klub (former Kinoklub Maribor). A rich film history is hidden in the premises of the club, which are located in the basement of a housing complex in Goriška ulica. Since almost forty years, film enthusiasts gather once a week, discuss organizational issues, present their films to each other, and socialize in their rooms, surrounded by a history that hardly means something to anyone and is rarely recognized outside the club. One wall is full of diplomas and documents, telling stories about the activities of the club in Yugoslav times. Another shelf full of awards from amateur film festivals and one from the UNICA (Union Internationale de cinema d’amateurs) for the best ciné club 1979 expresses the rich and far reaching networks and successes of the amateur film makers.
I want to argue that it is of importance to have an eye on those hidden stories because they aren’t only testimonies of past times but evidence of cinematic spheres which we mostly ignore due to economic conditioning. We do not consider film amateurism as important because the films do not serve our ‚professionally conditioned view‘. It is true, that the films I saw in Film in Video Klub Maribor weren’t the most impressive and developed film documents I have ever seen. They were family films, holiday films, short documentarians of events all around Maribor… But more important than the films, I experienced the continuous enthusiasm and a welcoming interaction with the members, who would acknowledge each other's films and recognize the personal efforts and ambitions. And it is this experience which made me think about the importance of filmmaking (and loving) as a social practice.
The above-mentioned community mode of film amateurs implies three aspects that I want to point out. Firstly, the common practice and enjoyment of films turn filmmaking into a social practice which we should consider as a crucial aspect of developing a wider film culture. The social aspect goes beyond watching, presenting or producing films, offering a network, stability, reliability and somehow continuity as the connecting medium is an ever changing, and „Sve je to movie“ (if we follow Tomislav Gotovac). Important to mention is also the emancipatory aspect of film making in the community. The Film in Video Klub Maribor has mostly elderly members who are not as familiar with cameras and editing programs as younger generations are. Still, they put a lot of effort and joy in understanding and help each other to understand the technological means to make films. Secondly, film amateurs can be found all over the world and Film in Video Klub Maribor was and is a member of an international community of film enthusiasts as well. Hence, there are many film amateurs who could enrich a film culture, once they are acknowledged. Thirdly, Film Festivals are one important expression of the community mode of film amateurs, who get connected with other clubs and open up their screenings for wider audiences. In Maribor, this happened within two festivals: The first one was the FADF MB-YU (Festival of Amateur Documentary Maribor-Yugoslavia) which took place yearly between 1972 and 1988, gathering films of amateurs from all over Yugoslavia. The second one was TOTI Festival (International Festival of the non-commercial film Maribor), happening yearly since 2000 until 2013 when they had to stop the organization due to a lack of financial support. The peak of TOTI in 2011, shows the dimension of the festival: film authors from 32 countries participated with almost 200 films. As two important Slovenian filmmakers (who were in the Jury of the TOTI Festival) comment, the films and the festivals should be considered as indispensable for the film culture, being surprising, proximal to the spectator and important for the professional cinematography.
“My artistic film career begun in the old Sixties as a film-amateur. At that time, we worked with the 8-millimeter film, soundless. We could apply music or other sound effects only afterwards. Only a few had a 16-millimeter camera. We envy them, because they could work with a semi-professional’ format. Today, thanks to the modern video and digital shooting technique, the authors can express their visions unencumbered. In two following years, as a Chairmen of the jury of the TOTI Festival, I met after years the amateur film again. The outcome amazed and surprised me. The level of the quality of films can be compared with the higher level of the professional films. The amateur cinematography becomes a strong artistic means of expression in the creations of talented authors, which beside the rigid, financial supported professional production enables the authors free expressions” (Karpo Godina about, 8. TOTI Festival 2007)
“Those films show elements we do not see in the standard-production of the world film industry. There are films with such wild tempo that takes your breath away and in the same time with a string of gagas without a break. It is an explosion of the most interesting things in a film and a sense of humor, which we miss at a regular cinema. I am a film professional, for this reason I can say that professional filmmaker could learn from those films” (Mako Sajko about 10. TOTI Festival, 2009)
In the short documentary ‚MB Film‘ one of the interviewees emphasizes the advantages of cooperation of different actors as important for developing a wider film culture in Maribor. In this sense, I think (and I hope this became clear throughout the essay and film) it is important to rethink the lines drawn between professional and amateur film scenes since both could enrich each others activities and create a cinematic sphere that is much wider than the screen of a cinema.
References
DeCuir, Greg (2011): Yugoslav Ciné-Enthusiasm. Ciné-Club Culture and the Institutionalization of Amateur Filmmaking in the Territory of Yugoslavia from 1924-68. In: Romanian Review of Political Sciences and International Relations 8 (2), pp. 36–49.
Hagener, Malte (Hg.) (2014): The Emergence of Film Culture. Knowledge Production, Institution Building, and the Fate of the Avant-garde in Europe, 1919-1945. New York: Berghahn Books.
Kosanović, Dejan (2011): Kinematografija i film u Kraljevini SHS/Kraljevini Jugoslaviji 1918-1941. Belgrad: Filmski centar Srbije.
Meden, Jurij/ Piškur, Bojana (2010): A Brief Introduction to Slovenian Experimental Film, In: Janevski/Meden/Piškur/et al. (eds.), Vse to je film/This is all film. Eksperimentalni film v Jugoslaviji 1951-1991/Experimental film in Yugoslavia 1951-1991. Moderna galerija, Museum of Modern Art, Ljubljana, 22. 12. 2010-28. 2. 2011.
Shand, Ryan (2008): THEORIZING AMATEUR CINEMA. Limitations and Possibilities. In: The Moving Image: The Journal of the Association of Moving Image Archivists 8 (2),pp. 36–60.
Film culture doesn't merely describe the existence of art cinema(s) and centers of film production. It is an intersection of discourse (in the sense of knowledge of film theory, history, aesthetics...), distribution, screenings and production. In fact, those components are known to most of us from professional (albeit sometimes noncommercial) cinematography and our own consumerist or productive role within the world of films. Yet, there is another mode within that world, which lacks attention in many ways even though it historically was and currently is an – as I want to argue – important element for the further development of a so-called film culture. This holds true for Maribor but also many other places and regions.
The mode I am referring to is the amateur mode. The term amateur evokes probably immediately negative associations (like dilettantism, not-skilled, stuporous) as it is not ahistorical and has changed its meaning in the course of time and especially in the course of economic development. If time is money and money is the value that counts, an amateur cannot be more than someone who is simply not good enough to make money out of his/her activity, thus wasting time. Of course, latter assumption could be true, but it is not the ‚whole truth‘ because we might rethink the category professional film rather than exclude the amateur film from considerations. To explore the importance of film amateurs for film culture, a twofold explanation is crucial.
Firstly, the designation amateur film offers a wide range of definitions and interpretations. It could describe a film made with love and devotion, a private practice, a certain kind of aesthetics, a lack of commercial interest or financial resources, a travel document, an imitation, an experimentation... The only common denominator of the diverse possible amateur practices seems to be the economic parameter, which refers to the amateur film as any kind of film documents, made by a person dedicated to the medium without primarily financial interest. Hence, amateurism as a mode of doing something out of love and with a high degree of devotion somehow moves beyond the logic of the market.
Secondly, film amateurism doesn’t necessarily describe individuals making films with their cameras or mobile phones which they would then upload on YouTube or store it on a hard disc filled with sweet family memories. Indeed, the amateur film is a practice as old as the medium itself and since Pathé brought film amateur equipment to market in 1920, amateur filmmaking flourished, started to be organized in local ciné clubs and on an international level. The fact that the amateurs started to build up communities of like-minded created an ambiguous position between private and public, thus offering certain kinds of freedom. The organized manner of film amateurism shall be referred to as the community mode (Shand 2008), which finds its expression in the film productions, artistic regimes, discourses, wider audiences of film screenings and most important, turns film amateurism in a social practice.
Throughout the history of Yugoslavia, the activities and impact of film amateurs developed likewise (and sometimes even faster) than the professional film industry. In socialist Yugoslavia, film amateurism (as well as other amateur activities) was developed as a political program for peoples education. For that purpose, ciné clubs (kino clubs) were established all over the republics. They became meeting points, production centers, sometimes subversive cells and starting points of a (back then) unloved Avantgarde, since they were relatively independent, “remained free from dogmatic ideological intervention and continued to function as an open space for filmic expression and experimentation” (DeCuir 2011, S. 42). This was also the case in Slovenia, were some well-known directors (for example Karpo Godina) started their careers in kino clubs and art groups (Grupa OHO) used the chances to experiment with the film medium.
In Maribor, this kind of club was found in 1970 as a section of Foto Kino Klub Maribor and later became independent in 1974. As it is the destiny for most of the clubs and amateur filmmakers, the history and oeuvre of the club in Maribor is not widely known. Jurij Meden and Bojan Piskur aptly describe the fate of experimental and amateur filmmakers in Slovenia as an either-or situation. „Either they soon exchanged amateur filmmaking for professional work in the cinema and never looked back […], or they went down in (or out of) history as film amateurs (which was the fate that befell most of the others in Slovenia)“ (Meden/Piškur 2010, 25). That statement well describes a feeling that overcame me when I visited the Film in Video Klub (former Kinoklub Maribor). A rich film history is hidden in the premises of the club, which are located in the basement of a housing complex in Goriška ulica. Since almost forty years, film enthusiasts gather once a week, discuss organizational issues, present their films to each other, and socialize in their rooms, surrounded by a history that hardly means something to anyone and is rarely recognized outside the club. One wall is full of diplomas and documents, telling stories about the activities of the club in Yugoslav times. Another shelf full of awards from amateur film festivals and one from the UNICA (Union Internationale de cinema d’amateurs) for the best ciné club 1979 expresses the rich and far reaching networks and successes of the amateur film makers.
I want to argue that it is of importance to have an eye on those hidden stories because they aren’t only testimonies of past times but evidence of cinematic spheres which we mostly ignore due to economic conditioning. We do not consider film amateurism as important because the films do not serve our ‚professionally conditioned view‘. It is true, that the films I saw in Film in Video Klub Maribor weren’t the most impressive and developed film documents I have ever seen. They were family films, holiday films, short documentarians of events all around Maribor… But more important than the films, I experienced the continuous enthusiasm and a welcoming interaction with the members, who would acknowledge each other's films and recognize the personal efforts and ambitions. And it is this experience which made me think about the importance of filmmaking (and loving) as a social practice.
The above-mentioned community mode of film amateurs implies three aspects that I want to point out. Firstly, the common practice and enjoyment of films turn filmmaking into a social practice which we should consider as a crucial aspect of developing a wider film culture. The social aspect goes beyond watching, presenting or producing films, offering a network, stability, reliability and somehow continuity as the connecting medium is an ever changing, and „Sve je to movie“ (if we follow Tomislav Gotovac). Important to mention is also the emancipatory aspect of film making in the community. The Film in Video Klub Maribor has mostly elderly members who are not as familiar with cameras and editing programs as younger generations are. Still, they put a lot of effort and joy in understanding and help each other to understand the technological means to make films. Secondly, film amateurs can be found all over the world and Film in Video Klub Maribor was and is a member of an international community of film enthusiasts as well. Hence, there are many film amateurs who could enrich a film culture, once they are acknowledged. Thirdly, Film Festivals are one important expression of the community mode of film amateurs, who get connected with other clubs and open up their screenings for wider audiences. In Maribor, this happened within two festivals: The first one was the FADF MB-YU (Festival of Amateur Documentary Maribor-Yugoslavia) which took place yearly between 1972 and 1988, gathering films of amateurs from all over Yugoslavia. The second one was TOTI Festival (International Festival of the non-commercial film Maribor), happening yearly since 2000 until 2013 when they had to stop the organization due to a lack of financial support. The peak of TOTI in 2011, shows the dimension of the festival: film authors from 32 countries participated with almost 200 films. As two important Slovenian filmmakers (who were in the Jury of the TOTI Festival) comment, the films and the festivals should be considered as indispensable for the film culture, being surprising, proximal to the spectator and important for the professional cinematography.
“My artistic film career begun in the old Sixties as a film-amateur. At that time, we worked with the 8-millimeter film, soundless. We could apply music or other sound effects only afterwards. Only a few had a 16-millimeter camera. We envy them, because they could work with a semi-professional’ format. Today, thanks to the modern video and digital shooting technique, the authors can express their visions unencumbered. In two following years, as a Chairmen of the jury of the TOTI Festival, I met after years the amateur film again. The outcome amazed and surprised me. The level of the quality of films can be compared with the higher level of the professional films. The amateur cinematography becomes a strong artistic means of expression in the creations of talented authors, which beside the rigid, financial supported professional production enables the authors free expressions” (Karpo Godina about, 8. TOTI Festival 2007)
“Those films show elements we do not see in the standard-production of the world film industry. There are films with such wild tempo that takes your breath away and in the same time with a string of gagas without a break. It is an explosion of the most interesting things in a film and a sense of humor, which we miss at a regular cinema. I am a film professional, for this reason I can say that professional filmmaker could learn from those films” (Mako Sajko about 10. TOTI Festival, 2009)
In the short documentary ‚MB Film‘ one of the interviewees emphasizes the advantages of cooperation of different actors as important for developing a wider film culture in Maribor. In this sense, I think (and I hope this became clear throughout the essay and film) it is important to rethink the lines drawn between professional and amateur film scenes since both could enrich each others activities and create a cinematic sphere that is much wider than the screen of a cinema.
References
DeCuir, Greg (2011): Yugoslav Ciné-Enthusiasm. Ciné-Club Culture and the Institutionalization of Amateur Filmmaking in the Territory of Yugoslavia from 1924-68. In: Romanian Review of Political Sciences and International Relations 8 (2), pp. 36–49.
Hagener, Malte (Hg.) (2014): The Emergence of Film Culture. Knowledge Production, Institution Building, and the Fate of the Avant-garde in Europe, 1919-1945. New York: Berghahn Books.
Kosanović, Dejan (2011): Kinematografija i film u Kraljevini SHS/Kraljevini Jugoslaviji 1918-1941. Belgrad: Filmski centar Srbije.
Meden, Jurij/ Piškur, Bojana (2010): A Brief Introduction to Slovenian Experimental Film, In: Janevski/Meden/Piškur/et al. (eds.), Vse to je film/This is all film. Eksperimentalni film v Jugoslaviji 1951-1991/Experimental film in Yugoslavia 1951-1991. Moderna galerija, Museum of Modern Art, Ljubljana, 22. 12. 2010-28. 2. 2011.
Shand, Ryan (2008): THEORIZING AMATEUR CINEMA. Limitations and Possibilities. In: The Moving Image: The Journal of the Association of Moving Image Archivists 8 (2),pp. 36–60.
Zunaj (kino)škatle. Ali: Zakaj je pomembna filmska kultura med profesionalnim in amaterskim filmom
Hanna Stein
Po štirih tednih odkrivanja filmske kulture in posebno aktivnosti filmskih amaterjev v Film in video klubu Maribor sem bila navdihnjena, da sama posnamem svoj kratek amaterski film eksperimentalni dokumentarec o filmski kulturi v Mariboru. Film, naslovljen MB Film, je posvečen vsem filmskim entuziastom v Mariboru, ki se trudijo, da ima mesto bogato filmsko sfero, kljub temu da trenutno nima neodvisnega kinematografa. Prav tako je MB Film odsev mojih dosedanjih raziskav filmskega amaterizma na področju nekdanje Jugoslavije. Naslov filma je enak kot registrska tablica na avtomobilu Franca Kopiča, dolgoletnega člana Film in video kluba Maribor, ki sem ga spoznala med svojim raziskovanjem (Slika I). Z uporabo njegove registrske tablice za naslov sem želela doseči, da bo moj film razumljen kot poziv za povečano razumevanje filmske kulture med profesionalnim in amaterskim načinom ustvarjanja kot tudi za prepoznavanje dolge zgodovine in vloge amaterskih filmarjev.Filmska kultura ne opisuje zgolj obstoja kinematografov in centrov filmske produkcije, temveč predstavlja presek diskurzov, distribucije, projekcij in produkcije, kar so komponente, ki jih poznamo iz ustvarjanja ali konzumiranja sveta profesionalnega filma. Toda znotraj tega področja obstaja tudi drugi način, ki se mu z različnih vidikov posveča malo pozornosti, čeprav je bil zgodovinsko in pravzaprav še vedno je pomemben element za nadaljnji razvoj tako imenovane filmske kulture. To drži tako za Maribor kot tudi za druge kraje in regije.
Način, na katerega opozarjam, je amaterski način, ki pogosto nemudoma prikliče negativne asociacije, saj ni ahistoričen in je spreminjal svoj pomen skozi čas in kapitalistično doktrino dobičkonosne uporabnosti. Da presežemo to percepcijo, moramo znova premisliti amaterski film, namesto da ga izključujemo iz obravnav. Pomen filmskih amaterjev za filmsko kulturo lahko pomaga raziskati dvodelna razlaga.
Najprej, oznaka amaterski film ponuja širok razpon definicij in interpretacij, katerih skupni imenovalec se zdi ekonomski parameter, ki za amaterski film označuje katere koli filmske dokumente, ki jih je naredila oseba, ki se mediju ni posvečala poglavitno iz finančnih interesov. Tako se amaterizem kot način neke aktivnosti iz ljubezni nekako pomakne onkraj logike trga. Nadalje, filmski amaterizem ne opisuje nujno individualne prakse. Amaterski film je dejavnost, ki je stara toliko kot sam medij odkar je Pathé v dvajsetih letih 19. stoletja na trg pripeljal amatersko filmsko opremo, je amaterski film uspeval in se kmalu organiziral v lokalnih filmskih klubih in na mednarodnem nivoju. Dejstvo, da so amaterji začeli graditi skupnosti enako mislečih, je povzročilo dvoumni položaj med javnim in zasebnim, ki je omogočal določene oblike svobode. Organiziran tip filmskega amaterizma bomo imenovali skupnostni način (Shand 2008), ki se izraža v filmskih produkcijah, umetniških sistemih, diskurzih, širšemu občinstvu na projekcijah in, najpomembneje, spremembi filmskega amaterizma v socialno dejavnost.
Tako je bilo tudi skozi zgodovino Jugoslavije, kjer so se aktivnosti in učinki filmskih amaterjev razvijali vzporedno (in včasih celo hitreje) kot v profesionalni filmski industriji. V socialistični Jugoslaviji se je filmski amaterizem (kakor tudi druge amaterske dejavnosti) razvijal kot politični program za izobraževanje ljudstva. S tem namenom so v vseh republikah ustanavljali kino klube, ki so postali zbirališča, produkcijski centri, včasih tudi subverzivne celice in kališča (takrat) nepriljubljene avantgarde, saj so »lahko bili neodvisni od dogmatičnih ideoloških intervencij in so še naprej delovali kot odprt prostor filmskega izražanja in eksperimenta« (DeCuir 2011, str. 42). Tako je bilo tudi v Sloveniji, kjer so nekateri uveljavljeni režiserji (na primer Karpo Godina) začeli svoje kariere v kino klubih in umetniških skupinah (Skupina OHO) in v njih eksperimentirali s filmskim medijem.
V Mariboru je bil kino klub ustanovljen leta 1970 kot sekcija Foto kluba Maribor, leta 1974 pa je postal neodvisen. Kakor je značilno za večino klubov in amaterskih filmarjev, sta tudi zgodovina in opus mariborskega kluba večini nepoznana. Jurij Meden in Bojan Piškur trdita, da je bila usoda eksperimentalnih in amaterskih filmarjev v Sloveniji postavljena v položaj ali-ali: »bodisi so amatersko filmsko ustvarjanje kmalu zamenjali za profesionalno filmsko udejstvovanje in se nikoli več ozrli nazaj […] bodisi so se po nekem obdobju kreativnosti prenehali ukvarjati s filmom in tako za vselej ostali zapisani (pozabljeni) kot filmski amaterji (takšna je pri nas večina drugih)«. (Meden in Piškur 2010, str. 25). Ta izjava dobro opiše občutek, ki me je prevzel, ko sem obiskala Film in video klub Maribor (nekdanji Kinoklub Maribor). V prostorih kluba, ki se nahaja v kleti bloka na Goriški ulici, je skrita bogata filmska zgodovina. Že skoraj 40 let se filmski navdušenci enkrat tedensko zbirajo, razpravljajo o organizacijskih zadevah, drug drugemu predstavljajo svoje filme in se družijo v klubskih prostorih, obkroženi z zgodovino, ki je tako zunaj kot znotraj kluba le redko prepoznana. Zid, ki je prekrit s priznanji in dokumenti (Slika II), ter polica polna nagrad s festivalov amaterskega filma in ene od UNICA (Union Internationale de cinema d’amateurs) (Slika III) bi lahko pripovedovala mnoge zgodbe o aktivnostih kluba iz časa Jugoslavije.
Menim, da je pomembno, da smo pozorni na tovrstne skrite zgodbe, saj niso zgolj pričevanja o preteklih časih, temveč tudi dokazi o filmskih sferah, ki jih zaradi naše ekonomske pogojenosti večinoma ignoriramo. Filmskega amaterizma ne vidimo kot pomembnega, saj filmi ne ustrezajo našemu ‘profesionalno pogojenemu pogledu’. Res je, da filmi, ki sem jih videla v Film in video klubu Maribor, niso bili najbolj impresivni in razviti filmski dokumenti, ki sem jih kdaj srečala bili so družinski in počitniški filmi, kratki dokumentarci o dogodkih v Mariboru in okolici … Toda kar je bolj pomembno od samih filmov, deležna sem bila toplega in odprtega sprejema od članov_ic kluba, ki so priznavali_e filme in osebnosti drug_a drugega_e. Prav zaradi tega sem vse bolj razmišljala o pomenu ustvarjanja filmov (in filmskem entiziazmu) kot socialni aktivnosti.
Zgoraj omenjen skupnostni način filmskih amaterjev implicira štiri vidike, ki jih želim izpostaviti. Najprej, skupnostna praksa in uživanje v filmu spremeni filmsko ustvarjanje v socialno aktivnost, ki jo je potrebno obravnavati kot ključen dejavnik v razvoju širše filmske kulture. Ta socialni aspekt presega zgolj gledanje, predstavljanje ali produkcijo filmov ponuja mrežo, stabilnost, zanesljivost in nekako tudi kontinuiteto, saj film postane povezovalni medij v okolju, ki se vedno spreminja. Drugi aspekt je emancipatorni potencial filmskega ustvarjanja v skupnosti. Člani_ce Filmskega in video kluba Maribor so večinoma starejši_e, ki so manj seznanjeni s sodobnimi kamerami in programsko opremo za urejanje filmov kot mlajše generacije. Ne glede na to v razumevanje sodobnih filmskih tehnologij vlagajo veliko energije in veselja ter pri tem pomagajo drug drugemu. Tretjič, filmski amaterji so razpršeni po vsem svetu in tako je Filmski in video klub Maribor bil in še je vključen v mednarodno skupnost filmskih entuziastov, tako lahko mnogi filmski amaterji prispevajo k obogatitvi filmske kulture, ko so pripoznani. Nazadnje, filmski festivali predstavljajo enega izmed pomembnih izrazov skupnostnega načina filmskih amaterjev ter omogočajo povezovanje z drugimi klubi in doseganje širših občinstev. V Mariboru se je to zgodilo z dvema festivaloma: prvi je bil FADF MB-YU (Festival amaterskega dokumentarnega filma Maribor-Yugoslavia), ki se je odvijal med leti 1972 in 1988 in predstavljal amaterske filme s področja nekdanje Jugoslavije; drugi je bil TOTI Festival (TOTI mednarodni video festival nekomercialnega filma Maribor), ki so ga organizirali med letoma 2000 in 2013, ko so ga zaradi izgube finančne podpore prenehali prirejati. Vrh TOTI festivala leta 2011 kaže dimenzije, ki jih je dosegel: filmarji iz 32 držav so sodelovali s skoraj 200 filmi. Člana strokovne žirije TOTI festivala, Karpo Godina in Mako Sajko, sta v uvodnikih festivalskih katalogov v letih 2007 in 2009 zapisala, da bi morali filme in festivale videti kot nepogrešljive za filmsko kulturo, saj so presenetljivi, bližji gledalcu in pomembni za razvoj profesionalne kinematografije.
V mojem kratkem dokumentarcu MB film eden izmed intervjuvancev poudari prednosti sodelovanja različnih akterk_jev za razvijanje širše filmske kulture v Mariboru. V tem duhu menim, da je pomembno premisliti ločnice med profesionalno in amatersko filmsko sceno, saj bi se lahko vzajemno obogatili in ustvarili sfero, ki bi bila veliko širša kot kinematografsko platno.
Literatura:
DeCuir, Greg (2011): Yugoslav Ciné-Enthusiasm. Ciné-Club Culture and the Institutionalization of Amateur Filmmaking in the Territory of Yugoslavia from 1924-68. V: Romanian Review of Political Sciences and International Relations 8 (2), pp. 36–49.
Hagener, Malte (Hg.) (2014): The Emergence of Film Culture. Knowledge Production, Institution Building, and the Fate of the Avant-garde in Europe, 1919-1945. New York: Berghahn Books.
Kosanović, Dejan (2011): Kinematografija i film u Kraljevini SHS/Kraljevini Jugoslaviji 1918-1941. Beograd: Filmski centar Srbije.
Meden, Jurij/ Piškur, Bojana (2010): A Brief Introduction to Slovenian Experimental Film, V: Janevski/Meden/Piškur/et al. (eds.), Vse to je film/This is all film. Eksperimentalni film v Jugoslaviji 1951-1991/Experimental film in Yugoslavia 1951-1991. Moderna galerija, Museum of Modern Art, Ljubljana, 22. 12. 2010-28. 2. 2011.
Shand, Ryan (2008): THEORIZING AMATEUR CINEMA. Limitations and Possibilities. V: The Moving Image: The Journal of the Association of Moving Image Archivists 8 (2), pp. 36–60.