Journal of Film Preservation - FIAF

and Milka Badjura. In the thirties amateur cameramen were very active
and among them the name of Boidar Jakac is worth mentioning.
Years before World War II, a group of film technicians had been formed
within the Prosvetna Zveza association. Rudi Omota, a sound recording
expert and Dr. Mario Foerster, a specialist in image reproduction, were
among the most active. These two filmmakers, together with cameramen
France Cerar and Anton Smeh, displayed great technical skill. They set
up the elements for post-war film activity by the state film company
Triglav Film Ljubljana. Simultaneously with the expansion of film
production, the demands for effective storage of film material intensified.
In 1964 the Slovene Secretariat for Culture drew particular attention to
the fact that a great deal of film material (especially of earlier vintage,
shot before and during World War II) had been destroyed. Triglav Film
delivered some film reels to the Association of Slovene Filmmakers.
Unfortunately the Association did not have an appropriate storage
facility at its disposal. The Association returned part of the material to
the producer and the rest to the Jugoslovenska Kinoteka. Some of the
most precious negatives were stored in the safe of the National Bank.
The State pleaded for “a single trustee who would take care of the
Slovene film archive with a special historical value, for a better roof
(for the time being films were stored partly in the huts situated near the
gymnastic club Partizan and partly in some other institutions) and for
money”. Even the Public Record Office of the Republic of Slovenia
expressed no clear point of view on the future tasks of the Slovene Film
Archive. It suggested that an independent institution could store all sorts
of film and that the archives’ special film departments could not keep
artistic films while that was not the archives’ task. On December 18,
1964, at a session of the educational cultural assembly at the Parliament
of SR Slovenian film director France ?tiglic began to speak about film
preservation and he emphasised the authenticity of the documentary
film material as well as its direct and persuasive factors. He illustrated
his statement with several examples and he showed a modern and
professional approach to this matter:
“We shoot at least 4,000 to 5,000 meters of film material each year and
in addition we have at our disposal the material which does not belong
to the documentary genre but which is valuable as well. We use it and
we will also use it in the future. We keep it as archival material,
irrespective of its artistic evaluation and of the development of film art in
Slovenia. Together with other documents which testify to the progress of
the Slovene film culture it has very specific characteristics and meaning.
We should not forget other material; either shot, photographed, drawn
or written, which has historical value. All the material is gathered mainly
at Triglav Film and Viba Film; a great deal of it is scattered among
individuals or is ruined. And the situation is irreparable. Producers
maintain film reels to the best of their ability and their interest. After so
many years all this material is not the domain of a single film company
any more. It is a matter of common public interest, while firms are
interested only in maintaining commercial prints which they need for
81 Journal of Film Preservation / 58/59 / 1999