VESNA AND BORIVOJ DOVNIKOVIC, representatives of ASIF

VESNA DOVNIKOVIC, the Secretary General of ASIF and the President of ASIF in Croatia : - I hope to meet here in Belgrade the representatives of ASIF for Serbia and Montenegro , which is one of the national ASIF (International Association of Animators) groups out of 37 ones worldwide. ASIFA Serbia and Montenegro is one of the oldest and highly respectable groups. I hope to meet the President Nikola Majdak in order to talk about the themes of ASIF. I would like to know what your problems are, how they can be overcome, and if there are any talks about organizing a festival, I will be glad to help a this organization has a long tradition of organizing participations at international festivals. I will talk to Mrs. Vera Vlajic, the Art Director of the Festival, as she is a member of ASIF, too and the lack of domestic animators is noticeable.

In addition to this problem of the lack of the domestic animation films, the doyen of the Zagreb and former Yugoslav animation, Borivoj Dovnikovic - Bordo, draws the attention to the authors: - The picture is almost identical with us, in Zagreb . The Zagreb School of Animation Film has not been revitalized yet, despite the fact that for already four years there has been the Academy of Animation . I cannot explain that; maybe this is because this new age offers so much to the young. There are many fields where you can find your artistic expression. We travel more, it is easier to get in touch with the world. Our generation had only the possibility to work and we were looking forward to it. The fact is that there are no great films that can enter the world through open doors. Luckily, there are some promising films.

We shouldn't think that we know everything; it is not important just to move the figure, but different conditions have to be presented and the character has to be made alive in a right way. And to know how to present it meaningfully.

Last year, an International festival of Animation Film, BALKANIMA, was held in the Civic Centre “The Students' Town” in Belgrade . I had a retrospection at that Festival, and I also received to recognitions that are very dear to me, the Plaque of the Yugoslav Film Archive and the Life Achievement Award. There were a lot of retrospections at that Festival, of the old films, the films from this region. That was an opportunity for the young to see what used to be done and what is presently being done in the world. And just to add one more thing, BALKANIMA was conceived and organized by Nikola Majdak, the man who celebrates this year 60 years of work in animation which has never been officially recorded in any way.

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