[ Vorträge - Lectures ]

The International Forum Bosnia will organise a public lecture by Dejan Kosanović (Belgrade) entitled Stolac and Mostar in the History of Bosnian Cinema [.pdf].
The lecture is part of the international conference Unity and Plurality in Europe [.pdf] (8.8. - 10.8.) and will be held on 9th of August 2006 at 20.30, in Hotel Bristol, Mostar.
 

Dejan Kosanović, documentary film director and film historian, is author of the book Kinematografija u Bosni i Hercegovini 1897-1945 (History of Cinema in Bosnia and Herzegovina 1897-1945).


 

The first film screening on the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina was held in Sarajevo on July 27, 1897. That event could be considered as the beginning of film activities in this region. Later on, many B&H towns hosted a number of moving pictures presentations, by different travelling showmen, so large audiences had an opportunity to learn about the last great invention of XIX century. As early as 1907, began the succession of permanent cinema theatres openings in many cities; we have data for Sarajevo, Mostar and some other larger towns. Stolac, as a small town, was never particularly mentioned, but we have reasons to believe that travelling cinemas visited it as well. Between two world wars, cinema became the most popular entertainment for a vast majority of people, as well as after the WW2 until the expansion of television.
Owners of several travelling cinemas shot first films in Bosnia and Herzegovina from 1898, but the oldest footage is lost. In the first decade of XIX Century, a great number of foreign film operators were attracted by beautiful landscapes and oriental charm of Bosnian cities (Sarajevo, Mostar, Jajce etc). Only some parts of that documentary footage are preserved, especially about the Assassination of Archduke Francis Ferdinand and his consort in Sarajevo in June 1914 and the beginning of the WW1 on Bosnian territory. In the period between two world wars, during the Kingdom of Yugoslavia (1918-1941) a great number of documentary and travelogue films were realized in Bosnia and Herzegovina by foreign and domestic filmmakers, some of them on Stolac and Mostar. This footage is partially preserved. After WW2, in post-war Yugoslavia was organized a national film production in all parts of country, including Bosnia and Herzegovina, and results of such a production present a part of national film heritage from the second half of XX century.
The first foreign feature film partially realized in Bosnia and Herzegovina was Szulamit, a Hungarian melodrama on a Medieval noble girl and her fate, shot in 1916 in Mostar and its environment (this film is lost). The very first foreign silent feature shot on the territory of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia was Treasure Hunter from Blagay (Kopaci blaga od Blagaja) shot also in Mostar and its surroundings in 1919. Recently, this film was found and restored. In the following years, exteriors for several foreign films were shot in B&H, the most important among them was the German sound film Blood Brothers (Pobratimi) shot entirely in Stolac an its surrounding areas – and a print of this film was preserved until our days. First Bosnian national short feature was Ljubav u Sarajevu (Love in Sarajevo) realized in 1937 by Nikola Drakulic from Sarajevo (preserved and restored).
After 1945, a large number of national and foreign feature films were realized in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The best known was the Austrian-Yugoslav co-production The Last Bridge (Poslednji most) shot in 1953 in Stolac, Počitelj, Mostar and their surroundings. It was the first West-East European film co-production during the Cold War era.

Source: Aida Šunje , International Forum Bosna