RADOVAN IVANČEVIĆ (1931-2004)

Zagreb Avant-garde Animated Film of the ’50s

— notes

Posthumous publishing of late Radovan Ivančević’s notes on Zagreb animated film. The notes were, obviously, preparation for a lecture, or maybe a text or a film on ’Zagreb School of Animated Film’. The author concentrates primarily on the visual side of chosen films by prominent authors in the 1950s, which he considers particularly valuable and pronouncedly avant-garde, and analyzes films made by Kristl, Bourek, Vukotić, Dragić, Štalter and Mimica-Marks. He explicitly emphasizes consistent one dimensionality, geometrical characters (Kristl, Vukotić), use of collage (Kristl, Dragić), creating scenography as ’patchwork’ of architectural symbols (Dragić), and film world as a ’dadaistic machine’ (Mimica). But, while analyzing, he critically warns about often clumsy story development, directing and editing, excessive repetition (Kristl), resorting to verbal propaganda (Mimica), and gives a list of films he considers ’worthless’.

Radovan Ivančević