The best from children's film kitchen - we cook best film soups!
This program was launched last year and in a way, together with the program "Once winners of the festival, and today?" closes the circle. Specifically, as the Croatian Film Association, together with Youth Film Festival, organizes Children's Film Festival, it turned out to be logical for these two events to unite, at least briefly – because where else did high school filmmakers start their career than on Children's Film Festival? That's why in this programme we will be able to see the first films of authors who are today present at the competition program of the festival, who used to win at Children's Film Festival when they were young yellow filmmakers.
This year, it is the turn on filmmakers from Gunja, Zagreb and Zaprešić!
The best animators from Zaprešić!
True little lovers of animation come to us from Zaprešić because the list of animated films from Zaprešić that won at Children's Film Festival is really long. In this group are also films in which the characters are puppets, which were moved and photographed. These are the animated films made by the so-called stop motion technique. We present to you 5 animated films by the already well-established team that decides to use this technique of animation in their films year after year.
We are presenting their films:
'Frog Choir', 2010, animated, 3' 32'' (Dorotea Košutić, Lucija Majnarić, Matea Bačan Peškir, Sara Biljan i Eda Emanuela Šimić, FKVK Zaprešić)
'Earthworm in the Employment Agency', 2011, animated, 1'58'' (Lucija Majnarić, Sara Biljan i Eda Emanuela Šimić, FKVK Zaprešić)
'The Red Button', 2012, feature- animated, 3' 18'' (Dorotea Košutić, Lucija Majnarić, Marta Bregeš, Matea Bačan Peškir i Sara Biljan, FKVK Zaprešić)
'Laaa', 2012, animated, 3'26'' (Lucija Majnarić, Dorotea Košutić, Matea Bačan Peškir, Sara Biljan i Marija Nikolić, FKVK Zaprešić)
'Biba and Beetlejuice', 2012, animated, 1' 52'' (Leda Globan, FKVK Zaprešić)
The girls say that they met at a winter workshop in FKVK Zaprešić in 2010 when they made the animated film "Frog Choir" with which they have won awards. They make films mostly during the summer and winter holidays when they have the most time, and on the film set they have a real democracy. Anyone can try out all the roles on the film set, and this time we are not talking about acting, but filming, editing, assistance or making of the animations. Speaking of animation, we were interested in how the girls made their animations, and they said that the characters are made of plasticine and collage, and that it is most important to be creative. Not everyone can draw, and they wanted everyone involved in every step of creating the film, so they decided to create characters of materials that were available to them. When asked, how is it that you return to animated film year after year, the girls are very clear in their answer. Specifically, the whole group decides to vote. So, the question 'Which film gender or discipline will the film be?', 'Which genre?', 'Which category?', 'Which style?', Dorotea, Lucija, Matea, Sara, Eda, Marija and Leda will propose their ideas and answers to questions, and which will then be followed by voting. They immerse themselves in the idea which has won and make the film. Their goals are to create even better films, go to workshops, socialize and go out.
Marko Bičanić and Nika Vahčić are young hopes from Blank Film Incubator.
After the team from Zaprešić, we return to Zagreb and head to Blank Film Incubator because it is a place where young and creative people gather, and Marko Bičanić and Nika Vahčić were still little and yellow kids when they presented their films on Children's Film Festival.
Marko made a feature film 'The Bully', 2013, 5 '33 in which he spoke about the subject of violence.
Marko, are you really that much into socially engaged themes?
Marko: Yes, pretty much. In the film The Bully, we talked about violence and how it spreads from child to child. The message is actually that violence does not happen by itself but, unfortunately, there is always someone bullies and someone who iss being bullied. Sometimes, the person who was bullied, at the end himself becomes a bully.
When did you start to make films?
Marko: At the age of eight I had already filmed my first few-minute-long clips at home, but in fact I seriously started making films when I joined Blank Film Incubator at the age of 13.
Which film did you apply to the Youth Film Festival?
An experimental film with the title 'Ana'. At the workshop, everyone can express their ideas, and my team has proposed an experimental film on anorexia and in the end we made it.
What are your future plans?
I'm working on several films; helping my mentor Igor Jelinović who is shoting his short film in a way that will be a camera assistant on the set. During the summer, I will shoot my new film, but I cannot yet reveal what it is. In the future I would like to study something related to film, most of all directing.
Nika Vahčić made a short film Mirror, 2014, 7'25 '' with which won the first prize for best feature film and the second audience prize for feature film. The film was made as part of the film group of Elementary School V. Holjevca.
Nika, what is the film Mirror about and when did you start making films?
It is about a gang that has doodled on a mirror and due to their negligence an accident happens. The message of the film is that we have to be careful and think about our actions. I started to work on film in the seventh grade of elementary school and the first film that we shot also won an award at Children's Film Festival.
What are your plans for the future?
We applied our experimental film 'Ana' with Blank Film Incubator to Youth Film Festival, and in the future I want to make films and that's all! I really enjoy it.
Great documentaries from Gunja!
Team from Zaprešić focuses on animated film, the Blank team on feature and socially engaged film, and the team from Gunja on documentary film.
Ivan-Stjepan Lucić from SKIG Gunja, presented himself at Children's Film Festival with his TV report 'Coffee lovers' from 2010 and the documentary 'Love for football in Podgajci' from 2011.
Why documentaries?
Ivan-Stjepan: Because in Gunja you have a lot of interesting topics that I want to talk about in my documentaries. In fact, we can easily make a documentary in the place where we live and for a feature film for high-quality, unfortunately, do not have sufficient funds. The social concerns interest me because people here live quite hard, and I'd like to realistically show it in my films.
What have you prepared this year for Youth Film Festival in Karlovac?
Ivan-Stjepan: This year I sent in the film 'A house Full of River Sava' i.e. 'The Flood 'and the film 'Help Gunja'. As the name suggests, it is about a flood that devastated my hometown. It is an atmospheric film and we did not specifically ask residents any questions, but we have shown their way of life, i.e. their life during and after the floods, when Gunja was being rebuilt. I am also interested in experimental films, and later I would like to start doing feature films. I would like to go to Zagreb and study Editing at the Academy and I hope I will succeed.
15.06.2015.