Film evening in the company of Borivoj Dovniković-Bordo and KINO! magazine

Saturday 8th March 2008 at 7 pm - the evening dedicated to animated and documentary films in Kibla, including presentations of the book "School of animated film" (Šola risanega filma) by Borivoj Dovniković-Bordo and the latest issue of the KINO! magazine, dedicated to documentary film. The presentations were accompanied by a selection of short animated films by Borivoj Dovniković-Bordo and a short documentary film by Želimir Žilnik.

It was a special honour for Maribor to meet in person one of the pioneers of Yugoslav animated film, Borivoj Dovniković-Bordo from Zagreb, who was with us for this occasion to discuss his prolific career, present the translation of his book and watch a selection of his short animated films:

Ceremony (Ceremonija), DVD, 1965, 3'22''
Curiosity (Znatiželja), DVD, 1966, 8'48''
Krek, DVD, 1967, 9'36''
Flower lovers (Ljubitelji cvijeća), DVD, 1970, 9'07''
Second-Class Passenger (Putnik drugog razreda), DVD, 1973, 10'40''
N.N., DVD, 1976, 6'19''
The School of Walking (Škola hodanja), DVD, 1978, 8'08''
A Day in the Life (Jedan dan života), DVD, 1982, 9'42''
An Exciting Love Story (Uzbudljiva ljubavna priča), DVD, 1989, 5'49''

KINO! Association for promoting cinema culture will then present the second issue of Kino! film magazine, to be followed by the screening of a short documentary film by Želimir Žilnik:

Black film (Crni film)

Direction and script : Želimir Žilnik, photography: Karpo Aćimović Godina, editing: Kaća Stefanović, sound Dušan Ninkov, production: Neoplanta film, country: Yugoslavia, year: 1971, technical data: DVD, BW, 14 minutes

One night Zilnik picks up 10 homeless men from the streets of Novi Sad and brings them home. While they enjoy the hospitality of his family, Zilnik tries to ‘’solve the homeless problem’’ - bringing along the film camera, as a witness. He talks to different social services, common citizens, even the police. Everybody close their eyes in front of the ‘’problem’’.
This film depicts the misery of abstract humanism. It is a reckoning with anarcho-liberalism, with false avant-gardism, with social demagogy, with left-wing fraction.

School of animated film (Šola risanega filma)

There are not many good books on the theory of animated film that would offer detailed and comprehensive explanations of theoretical and practical procedures of making an animated film. Despite being quite old by origin, the book by Borivoj Dovniković remains one of key works at world level. Having this book, serving as the basic technical manual, published is of major importance for further development of theory and practice of animated film in Slovenia.

»The School of Animated Film« offers the basics of traditional animation, that must eventually be mastered by any animator, even those preferring digital technology, as the basics of moving images and objects have remained the same. Apart from that the book serves as a document on production and post-production of works within Zagreb School of Animated Film (from 1956 till today).

Borivoj Dovniković Bordo, born in 1930, began his prolific career as a the author of comics in Croatian post-war humor magazines. The Kerempuh weekly, for which Bordo drew caricatures and illustrations, decided in 1950 to dedicate part of their income to realize the first artistic animated film within ex-Yugoslavia. The conducting role (direction and main drawings) was assumed by the pioneers of Croatian comics and animated film, the brothers Walter and Norbert Neugebauer, with Bordo and his four colleagues caricaturists using all their skills and knowledge to create animation. After a year of hard work, The Great Meeting, a political-satirical 22-minute animated film in Disney manner was complete, thus establishing the foundations for professional production of animated films within Zagreb School of Animated Film. Ever since, Bordo has dedicated his life to animation. He dropped his studies at the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb and signed many films as the animator, drawer, screenwriter and director, often winning awards. In 1983 he summarized his experience in the book The School of Animated Film, which has been widely translated; being considered a classic in France and the Czech Republic.