(International TV Festival Golden Chest – Bulgarian National Television
II International Conference
Audiovisual Media and the Cultural Dialogue on the Balkans – 31 October 2005)
I would like to begin with a general admission: our world is changing so fast, that we often face difficulty in following the changes. These changes take place in many sectors and mostly in technology. Nevertheless, there are also other changes taking place in the political and social field often occurring in a quite dramatic way. We, the inhabitants of the Balkans, have intensely sensed all those rehabilitations, which have brought great changes, and in many occasions in a violent way making us face new problems but also new challenges.
The nationalistic and religious delved animosities seem to slowly mitigate. Behind them, the features of our countries and our people started appearing, a priceless cultural wealth, which could through diversity, if properly exploited, without fanaticisms and expansionary policies be the heritage to a peaceful future, a better life in a world where everyone will face the other human beings with trust and will be able to collaborate with them. This situation, of course, requires the condition of: getting acquainted with one another.
Culture
The best way for human approach is culture. Furthermore, if we examine the Balkan region through its history, the population movements, the interaction, as well as, the logical similarities, we will realize that there is no point in fanaticism and animosity.
The common features between us is something more than obvious in the everyday life, in the way of living, much more different to that of the people of Central and Northern Europe.
I recall a magnificent film by the Romanian director Loucian Pintilie, “An Unforgettable Summer” in which the story is unfolded somewhere close to Danube, at the Bulgarian – Romanian borders. The villagers from both sides of the river lived there peacefully, changed products, formed relationships. Suddenly, a war started and without realizing it, the river, a contact and survival spot, up to that time, became a separation frontier, a rampart from where soldiers fired from one side of the river to the other.
The power of pictures
And here we come to the second admission, the unquestionable power of pictures. Everyone has heard the famous motto: “one picture is worth a thousand words”, and I believe that this is not far from the truth. And if a still picture is worth a thousand words, imagine how many words a moving picture is worth. How much information could a 5minute video offer, wordless, recorded, for example, in Plovdiv. And this way we reach our object, the picture and its power.
Bresson used to say that “cinema is writing with pictures and sounds”. Pictures and sounds, audio-visual means, potentials of new audio-visual technology use. Cinema, television, video art, films or digital means, all form the great and indivisible family of audio-visual means. With no intention of depreciating celluloid – besides, I am one of its great supporters, as being an incurable cineaste – , I believe that this new digital technology offers enormous potentials, which we should exploit. The medium use facility and the minimizing of cost, alone, form the basic conditions so as to be positive towards these technologies.
What is left for us, for all users to do, is to exploit the offered potentials, in order to produce work. Through, thus, the use of new technologies, communication becomes easier.
Communication need
Let us now talk about communication, one of the basic features of human nature.
Man, as a social being, has based his whole civilization on this specific feature: communication. Language and writing have gained, through the years, their “technical” support by the great inventions, starting with the invention of printing, and later on the other great inventions as the telegraph, telephone, radio, cinema, television, etc.
I was previously commenting on the civilization and how it can form a communication and medium of contact between the Balkan people. A very powerful medium, a weapon that can contribute in the direction of communication and contact between the people of the Balkans is cinema and certainly television.
The formation of communication networks
In this field, essential is the contribution of the several film festivals taking place in many Balkan cities. For example, at the International Film Festival of Thessaloniki, this year becoming 46 years old, there has been, for some years now, a special section called “Balkan Survey”. In this section projected are selected films from the Balkan countries, and the truth is that through them, even more clearly, appear the potentials the cinema of our region’s countries could offer. I am not aware of respective sections in other Balkan festivals, but certainly films from Balkan countries are projected there as well. It is also known that there are tributes to great directors, as the one, a few years ago, to the work of Theodoros Aggelopoulos in the International Festival of Istanbul.
All abovementioned data form an initial element, an initial point of contact and information exchange regarding the Balkan cinema. At this point, I would like to make a proposition without knowing the way by which it could be materialized or who could be the people that could promote it. Nevertheless, I believe that the already existing film festivals could form a network aiming at the establishment of a Balkan Film Festival. At this festival, the whole number of film productions could – probably – be projected and committees from each of the nine countries of the Balkans, would choose 1 to 2 films, which would participate in a competition program. And so as to be fair, this festival could take place annually, and each year in a different city, other than the ones already holding an international festival.
Within this framework, there will be, of course, contacts and meetings between directors and producers, a film market and certainly a section of short films, etc.
Another problem sets the distribution of films produced in Balkan countries. At this point, I would like to pose the formation of another network, a film distribution network among the Balkan countries. Ministries of Culture or Cinema Centers of the eight Balkan countries could contribute in this goal. It’s all a matter of will. Believe me, there are many people who are interested in the Balkan Cinema. The arising issue is how the Balkan cinema will be able to go beyond the borders and open out. Certainly, the abovementioned network will, also, see to the promotion of the films to other countries, outside the Balkans.
Ultimately, an important field that should be developed is co-production, which is, also, supported by the European Union. Some steps have been made in this section, but there have to be many more, as we have to look at the Balkans as a geographical entity with common goals and common interests.
In television, there is, also, a similar situation. In no television station is there a projection of programs or series from the Balkans, although, it could very easily be so. I will mention a relevant example. On a Greek private television station, a big surprise came forth, in this summer season. The Turkish television-series “A Foreigner Son in Law” (Yabanci Damat) – projected in Greece by the title “Love Borders” – swept out all ratings being in the first place for almost two months on a daily basis. The result was to have another series being projected – from another station – and a Turkish reality show, as well. With these data, I do not wish to comment on the quality of these programs, but underline the interest of the public, which has to be enforced. On this issue, the initiative belongs to the public television stations – as well as the private television stations – which could exchange programs and establish a projection zone of programs from the Balkan countries. Television is a device which is in every house thus forming the best way of communication and acquaintance between our people.
Ultimately, I find the internet use quite interesting, as well. I believe that the best way of updating and information extraction on the latest, is the formation of a website, which will offer language selection option (Balkan languages and English) with information on cinema and television, managed and controlled by a group of people from all countries.
Bulgaria, Macedonia, Albania, Serbia – Montenegro, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Romania, Turkey and Greece, countries with common historical recollections, with common habits, but, also, with common interests, have the obligation to do everything in their power to get closer.
Besides, this is what our times and our common European future command, through which, though, we should preserve our special features without becoming victims of a cultural globalization.
Stratos Kersanidis
-Film critic- (Greece)
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