OSA | Visions after the Fall: Program

Visions after the Fall: Museums, Archives and Cinema in Reshaping Popular Perceptions of the Socialist Past

Daniel Rafailović: Perceptions of Croatian history in films made in Croatia during the Second World War (1941-1945.)

During the Second World War Croatia, as a German satelite state, was a prolific producer of films. In the course of only four years "Hrvatski slikopis", the only film production company in Croatia at that time, reached very high professional levels. In the variety of films produced, issues from recent and ancient Croatian history were constantly portrayed. The problematic past of Croatia was handled very differently in the different films, but it was always associated with terms such as "honorable", "strong", "defiant" and so on. Although widely shown, few films from that period try not to blur the past. In my lecture, I will try to emphasize (with examples from Croatian films from 1941-1945) how film was used as a medium of propaganda in order to change perceptions of past events, and to win approval for contemporary political and other actions. Daniel Rafailović, Zagreb, Croatia. Film historian and audio-visual archivist working in the Croatian National Film Archive, teacher of Croatian film history at the Academy of Dramatic Arts in Zagreb. Developed Croatian film history projects for the Motovun international film festival; participated in planning the Zagreb film festival and the Tabor film festival. Currently working on a monograph on cinematography in Croatia under the Ustasa fascist regime (1941-1945), a monograph on the film director Rajko Grlic, and is in the process of completing his film project on Orson Welles' work in Croatia, entitled "The Other Side of Welles." Regularly contributes to DOP, Hollywood, the Croatian Film Journal, and the Historical Journal of the Philosophy Faculty of Zagreb University.

« Back Date: June 10, Saturday Time: 10-10.30 am