Balkan, My Balkan: How to Film Rural Areas?

Croatia and the region have a rich tradition of documenting rural life. Rural documentaries provide a fascinating insight into life outside urban centres, exploring the preservation of tradition, coexistence with nature, and unusual personal stories amidst isolation. However, the image of the brutal and uncivilised Balkans is still prevalent in the Western consciousness. The tenacity of the discourse about the exotic Other is also present in regional film production and culminates in the phenomenon of (auto)-exoticisation.

With documentary filmmakers Jadran Boban (Feast of the Wolf) and Petra Seliškar (The Mountain Won't Move), as well as anthropologist Tomislav Pletenac, we will talk about avoiding the autocolonial reflex, stereotypical portrayals of protagonists, and spectacular shots of nature as an idyllic paradise. How does the filmmaking process affect the filmed subjects and how can we approach them in an ethical manner? How to balance the artistic and the ethnographic value of documentary filmmaking?

WITH: Jadran Boban, Tomislav Pletenac, Petra Seliškar

HOST: Dina Pokrajac

Thursday, 23 April, 17.00 (Dokukino KIC, Preradovićeva 5)