{"id":130788,"date":"2021-08-26T19:32:26","date_gmt":"2021-08-26T17:32:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ffos.unios.hr\/science-portal\/aesthetics-laboratory-of-the-faculty-of-humanities-and-social-sciences\/filmozofija\/"},"modified":"2026-09-25T15:45:08","modified_gmt":"2026-09-25T13:45:08","slug":"film-philosophy","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.ffos.unios.hr\/en\/science-portal\/aesthetics-laboratory-of-the-faculty-of-humanities-and-social-sciences\/film-philosophy\/","title":{"rendered":"Film Philosophy"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"What is FILM PHILOSOPHY? Or, rather, when is FILM PHILOSOPHY? Film Philosophy happens\/comes into being\/takes place when all of us who strive to think about the reality around us \u201cseize kairos<\/em> by the forelock\u201d. When we (re)think what appears to be unthinkable \u2013 the image. The \u201cart of moving images\u201d requires us to stop. To stop? Yes, precisely to stop before an image that is moving. We must pause and ask ourselves, \u2018What have we just seen?\u2019, what message is conveyed to us by the moment in time that has just passed, captured on the cinema screen? How do we experience it\u2026, think it?! For film is a \u201creal ontology of time\u201d (Deleuze), or a \u201cform that thinks\u201d (Godard); by happily joining the \u2018love of wisdom\u2019, philosophy, with the \u2018love of film\u2019, cinephilia, we Socratically bring forth within ourselves\u2026 FILM PHILOSOPHY. Pretentious? Immodest? No! Only in this way do we \u201cseize the opportune moment\u201d, kairos<\/em>, understanding our own time as conceived through images. From The Birth of a Nation<\/em> and Triumph of the Will<\/em> all the way to Breathless<\/em> and Fight Club<\/em>, we strive to follow one principle \u2013 think about what you watch!<\/p>\n

EVENTS<\/h2>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

4 June 2024
\nMetastases <\/em><\/strong>(of Croatian Reality) \u2013 <\/strong>Film Screening and Conversation with Branko SCHMIDT<\/strong><\/h2>\n

\"\"<\/a>The final EstLab<\/strong> event of this academic year offered those present a rarely exciting, \u201cmetastasising\u201d experience. Our guest was Branko Schmidt<\/strong>. The recent recipient of the Vladimir Nazor Lifetime Achievement Award in the field of film art spoke \u2013 with the author of these lines \u2013 about Metastases<\/em><\/strong>. (The cult film, by the way<\/em>, was once again screened for those interested before the conversation itself.)<\/p>\n

Everyone present, including director Schmidt himself, considers this film remarkably resistant to socio-cultural change and capable of withstanding the passage of time, remaining equally innovative and fresh a full 15 years after it was made. During the conversation, Branko recalled many memories and newly acquired experiences connected with the shooting itself. We also learned how he met Alen Bovi\u0107<\/strong>. Indicatively for the environment in which we live, Bovi\u0107 had to use a pseudonym when publishing the novel Metastases<\/em>, fearing radical reactions to his literary debut\u2026 and who knows what else. For in Metastases<\/em><\/strong> (of Croatian reality!), Ivo Balenovi\u0107<\/strong> depicts both the metaphorical and literal disintegration of a group of young people during the local post-war transition, all under the banner of hooliganism and violence associated with the creation of our \u201cBeautiful Homeland\u201d.<\/p>\n

Schmidt revealed that this film also represented a kind of metamorphosis within his own body of work. His collaboration with Balenovi\u0107 and the film\u2019s leading actor, Rene Bitorajac<\/strong>, also produced another important film of Croatian cinema (and beyond) from those years, Vegetarian Cannibal<\/em><\/strong> (2012).<\/p>\n

Ultimately, Schmidt proved to be an inspiring interlocutor, but also someone who remained disappointed by certain phenomena in the country in which we live, among them a certain persistence of fascist tendencies, particularly in connection with the so-called \u201cfootball supporter subculture\u201d. Our homeland remains burdened by many \u201cmetastasised\u201d deviations, and the director of the cult film also commented on the result of our most recent parliamentary elections.<\/p>\n

As a native Esseker<\/em> \u2013 and also a wartime television cameraman in the devastated city of Osijek during the early 1990s! \u2013 Schmidt is certainly a legitimate witness capable of passing on his experience to younger generations in a country that, in many respects, could and should have been different<\/em>. Metastases<\/em><\/strong> is a film that makes us aware of all this in a disturbing yet intellectually stimulating way. Fortunately, we can also enjoy it as a bursting, humorous, witty and full-blooded genre film. Believe me, it remains not only the most important but truly the best Croatian film since independence. mk<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n