Kariokinesis

Original format: 16 mm

This film is a subsequent reconstruction of the original performance at GEFF 1965, where the operator pulled a color film (the East German ORWO) right in front of the projection lamp, occasionally bringing the film closer to the bulb, which resulted with an onscreen effect of a gradually burning film accompanied by different color effects. This kind of truly radical methodological film (destruction of one’s own film as the theme of its projection) was also the absurd evidence that the “anti-film” is useless and that anyone can make one. Zlatko Hajdler wasn’t a director, but an amateur cinematographer, occasionally commited to shoot the ethnographic materials, and he — within the conservative stream in Zagreb Cine Club — invented the whole performance only to ridicule the film experimentalism. Like Šamec, he only succedeed in proving that ridicule is also an act of liberation from traditional bindings and that it can bring about fascinating visual results. This film also won the top prizes at GEFF.