Within the programme of the European Film Festival the book ''A Brief Overview of the Film History in Vojvodina'' by Dejan Kosanović, PhD, published jointly by Yugoslav Film Archives and Subotica Open University, will be presented today at 1 pm on the Grand Terrace.
Whose idea was it to publish this book?The idea to publish short overviews of the beginning phase in the film development in different parts of the former Yugoslavia countries was born during the conversation with the special editions editor of the Yugoslav Film Archives Dinko Tucaković. While talking about the Palić Film Festival, we came up with the idea to publish a short book about Vojvodina, which would comprise and systematize unknown materials. The idea was supported by Radoslav Zelenović and Blažo Perović and that is how the book came to be. Of course, I had to write it in a short period of time. I had the material (and the knowledge, considerable expertise on the matter) and, with a lot of effort, we wrote a book in a comparatively short time. It will be published in English, too, so the foreign film historians will be able to use it.
Except the names of Aleksandar Lifka and Ernest Bošnjak, it seems that very little is known about the beginnings of cinema in Vojvodina?
So far very little indeed has been known about this period of cinema development in Vojvodina. It was mostly about Lifka and Bošnjak, especially Lifka, thanks to the anthology of works ''Lifka and Lifkas'' published last year by Yugoslav Film Archives and Subotica Open University.
There are not many written records about the first film projection in Novi Sad in November 1896?
As I mentioned in the introduction and the conclusion of the book, it should have a dual function: to bring out of the darkness of oblivion the names of people who were the pioneers of film in Vojvodina and now nobody knows about them, and to encourage some further research, as a task of some young researchers interested in the cultural and film history of Vojvodina.
It is not the same case with the first film projection in Subotica in May 1897, not a whole year after the one in Belgrade?
Little is known about the first visit of a travelling cinema and the first film making in Novi Sad in 1896, we should search through the archives and the press to obtain more accurate information. As for Subotica, there were more available facts, as well as for some other towns in Vojvodina, so we are much more sure about them.
At that time, one of the first films was made in Palić?
At the time when cinema was born, at the beginning of the 20 century, Palić was a well known spa in Southern Hungary. Neat, classy, it attracted guests from the whole empire and beyond. Budapest newspapers were filled with advertisements and offers, Palić Spa was neat and no wonder it was in films so much. I believe there are many more films about Palić than we know today.
Aleksandar Lifka had one of his cinemas in Palić too?
Since he opened his first permanent Lifka cinema theater in Subotica, he also opened the summer branch of this cinema in Palić.
Many people from Vojvodina left their marks in the world cinema, and you dedicated one of the last chapters of the book to them?...
For us it is interesting that many people from Vojvodina have left some marks in the world films too. On the one hand, they managed to do that because of their personal talent, so it was not actually decisive that they were born in Vojvodina, but it is also probable that their childhood and young age legacy and upbringing – they were diligent, serious in their approach, tenacious and persistent – all contributed to their achievements (Svetislav Petrović, Slavko Vorkapić, Boško Tokin…). Nevertheless, it is much more important what other people from Vojvodina have done, and who I mention; they have left immeasurable legacy built in the foundations of our cinema.
