To the first edition of a festival.
I’ve known the members of the Kraken society for quite a few years – some of them for longer, some not so long, but all of them since before they were members of the Kraken society. All this time I have respected (and still do) the diligence that every one of them puts into their work. None of them is only a member of Kraken society and every one of them has an admiringly long list of other activities, hobbies and accomplishments, but their love for what they do (the easiest would be to write »film«, but it is in fact so much more than that), their innovative spirit that relates to easy going, fresh and sometimes silly ideas and the persis- tence which isn’t always obvious from the start, but for that reason maybe even greater, were not only transmitted to their work with the society, they were, as it seems, multiplied. FeKK was always kind of a joke (at least until it didn’t become clear it never was). What made it seem that way is its name, a presumptuous and reckless idea, formed at one of the many afternoons that were titled as meetings, but always felt like hanging out with friends. This idea, if I use the appropriate language – showed the mid- dle finger to all the established, institutional and institutionalized cultural, artistic, financial, festival and other practices which never appreciated the underdogs partially represented by FeKK any- way. It is the perpetual dilemma between seriousness and un- seriousness of FeKK, or better a dilemma between seriousness despite of un-seriousness, which is a driving force, something that motivates, explains and at the same time apologizes their success and their (few) failures. When Bojana, Matevž, Neža and Peter invited me to edit the festival catalogue and write its editorial, my first thought was writing a professional styled text I most frequently write. At least I write those more often then I write the ones similar to this one. But still while editing the catalogue I started realizing, they al- ready said it all. Who could know more about the meaning of the festival for the Slovene cultural landscape, about the disad- vantage of short film despite its endless capability and about the flourishing of the regional short film production, than four friends, pop culture fanatics with a background of film critic, journalism, podcasts, amateur short films, music videos, zine culture and all of the other things they were intensely and continuously devoted to in the past years. When it comes to that, the stage is theirs. I don’t want to finish by saying that the fact that they’ve put so much work, effort and heart into this project is »to be congratu- lated«. If for a moment we leave aside the deliberation about the eternal dilemma of art between the subversiveness and mal- nutrition or system integration and a bit better nutrition, I firmly believe that fragile alternative, urban, pop, trash, guerilla style and contemporary »contra« culture shouldn’t be left to the mercy of the market, who has no ear for it. I also don’t want to in any way encourage the cheers to the kindness of the enthusiasts, their friends and other people, who work for no pay and “out of love” which is most of the time a euphemism for taking advantage. But still: the festival was and will be carried out no matter what. Therefore, With best of wishes, Tina Poglajen, Editor of the festival catalogue and a friend of Kraken society
Tina Poglajen