How do we watch a film, recognise a compelling story, verify information in today’s media environment, survive making a first film and ultimately bring it to an audience? These were among the questions this year’s five-day RAFF Generation programme, held as part of the 8th Rab Film Festival, explored with young people through lectures, discussions and the first-hand experiences of film, journalism and media professionals.
The programme opened on 22 August with film critic and RAFF programmer Vladan Petković and university professor Tomislav Levak, a former journalist with many years of experience. Petković introduced participants to the different ways filmmakers, critics and audiences approach film, while Levak spoke about journalism at a time of rapid change, the pressure to publish content as quickly as possible and the diminishing space for research and mentorship. Despite all these changes, one rule remains the same: information must be checked against multiple sources.
On 23 August, journalist Barbara Štrbac spoke about working in small newsrooms and the challenges of reporting on major breaking-news events, while Vida Žagar used her film ‘The World’s Best Film Professor’ to present a young filmmaker’s first serious encounter with investigative documentary filmmaking.
On 24 August, television editor Đelo Hadžiselimović explained how to navigate an almost limitless supply of content. Today, he pointed out, we have all become our own content curators, while streaming platforms and recommendations from others can help guide our choices. Yet wide availability does not guarantee quality, which is why it is worth following writers, actors and directors whose work we trust.
The stories about the long and unpredictable journey from a film idea to a finished film were particularly compelling. Also on 24 August, director Igor Jelinović revealed that the idea for his feature film ‘Koke’ dated back to before his university studies and was inspired by an argument between members of his family. He came close to abandoning the film many times, but found new motivation in 2016 when he met an actress who reminded him of his aunt. The entire process took 14 years and involved numerous obstacles and changes. Jelinović also explained that he first develops his characters and then builds the story around them.
A similar experience was shared on 25 August by Filip Grujić and Aleksa Borković, the filmmakers behind the documentary ‘Yugo Goes to America’. They began the project convinced that it would require far less time and money, only to encounter visa issues, administrative hurdles and financial and production challenges. ‘If we had been smarter, we might never have made the film,’ Filip Grujić quipped, showing that a degree of initial naivety is sometimes exactly what it takes to attempt a big idea in the first place.
That same day, Belgian producer and distributor Thierry Detaille introduced young participants to a less visible side of the film industry – production, distribution and sales – while on 26 August Danish film critic Tue Steen Müller brought the programme back to perhaps its most important question: why do we love film in the first place? On the final day of RAFF Generation, Vladan Petković and RAFF director Robert Tomić Zuber spoke with the young participants, students from universities and higher education institutions across Croatia, about their experiences of the programme.
Once again, RAFF Generation connected theory and practice, film and journalism, and young filmmakers with experienced professionals. Rather than offering participants simple recipes for success, it gave them honest stories about attempts, mistakes, perseverance and everything that can usually be learned only through real-world experience.
