The First Petletka
petlétka n. fem. (formerly in socialist economies) a government plan for economic development over a period of five years In Yugoslavia the five-year planned economy presented the grounds for the socialist reform of the economic system. After the Second World War and its devastation, the aim was to re-establish the socialist production relations, which would ensure social and economic prosperity and accelerated growth. This year marks the conclusion of the first five-year plan of the FeKK Festival. Similarly driven by the desire to establish a platform, ensure better conditions, if not prosperity, and accelerated growth in the scene of short films, it rose from the wasteland that reigned in Slovenia in the short film industry. If we dare to continue this grand analogy, we can draw numerous parallels between the manner of building the former Socialist Federal Republic and the approach adapted to build the FeKK film festival. Let’s name just a few: shock brigades, unison of countries, films, and filmmakers from the region, relying of volunteer brigades… On the gloomier side, there is also the quixotic propaganda, monotonous food, unbalanced budgets, as well as the forbidding possibility of a tragic faith (#weblewit?). Although nowadays the question of production means is still crucial, the initial endeavours were fuelled by pure enthusiasm and quixotic belief into the utopian bright future of the short. Through the years we have managed, despite great uncertainties and frail production foundations, to create a festival with continuity and credibility, seen by many as their own. Of course, this was all only possible with the excessive and selfless help of numerous co-workers, friends, like-minded enthusiasts, and, of course, the support of various institutions. When planning this year’s film programme, we have again relied on the guide-lines which have importantly defined the profile of the festival and which continuously upgrade and flex to specific editions and circumstances. The decision for the festival to have a competition programme for the ex-Yugoslavian countries was crucial. On one side, the festival could gain international recognition, and on the other, the filmmakers and film experts from the remains of the once common production conglomerate could re-connect. The unique Yugo-nostalgia will be juxtaposed by the programme dedicated to the giant of the Yugoslav Black Wave, Dušan Makavejev (1932-2019), whose protagonists are not merely a well-oiled screw inside a moral and ideological excavator. They are the personifications of critical reflection and are seeking their intimate and individual. This is something comparable, but less glorified, to what the protagonists of the short films of Jelena Gavrilović do, repressed by the social reality of the post-transitional Serbia. Jelena Gavrilović, one of this year’s jurors, is the award-winner of the first FeKK and a sharp young author, presented also in our Instant Cult section. Similarly, personal experience prevails inside the Slovenian competition programme of FeKK SLO and inside the EFA: Short Matters! films, nominated last year for the European Film Awards. Then there is the counterpoint: a fresh selection of shorts by the Luksuz Production, the stronghold of the engaged short documentary film from Krško. And as the Balkan life in the previous system was (and still is) characterised by the distinctive affinity to humour (which was soothing and could ease tensions even at the most delicate moments), so FeKK leans on its felicitous wittiness. At the same time, it educates the public and inspires them with its Off programmes, annually bringing them precious examples of witticism, scraped from the internet underground (this year it is the Internet Archaeology 2.0 and the guest appearance of short home movie bizarrities from the Memory Hole collection, prepared by the cult Californian collective Everything is Terrible!). In addition, it will be possible to determine whether the five-year plan was justifiably successful at the presentation of the visiting Indielisboa, one of the top European film festivals with renowned tradition. Along with many other representatives of short film festivals, we will be considering the possibilities to establish a coalition of the non-aligned in the scope of professional events and lectures that focus on festival identities and the future of festival connections. All in all, we will probably have to face about a hundred offensives, and so the conclusion of the first five-year plan is of course a mini jubilee and as such, a serious reason for celebration (attested by the carefully selected archive programmes, prepared with the help of the Slovenian Film Archive, that firstly, celebrate women, and secondly, re-examine the nature of celebration in Slovenia). At the same time, it is a contemplation on the miles covered and the challenges on the horizon. In any case: count on us. We’re going to blow it again.
Peter Cerovšek, Matevž Jerman