The five films distributed by Bonobostudio are part of the project inspired by the Genre Film Festival (a.k.a. the GEFF), as well as by the notion of anti-film. Several authors participated in the realisation of the project, with producers Vedran Šuvar (Cinema Club Zagreb) and Diana Nenadić (the Croatian Film Association) at the helm. Diana Nenadić initiated the project, in addition to curating the exhibition about the heritage of the GEFF.

Unfortunately, the GEFF is little known around the world. If it were, its four editions would likely be studied side by side with the great Belgian festival EXPRMNTL, whose five editions took place from 1949 to 1974, in the small town of Knokke-le-Zoute. The GEFF started out as a meeting of researchers and film amateurs gathered at the Cinema Club Zagreb (KKZ) under the guidance of Mihovil Pansini. It was conceived as a series of conversations between Pansini, Tomislav Kobia, and other film experimenters, held under the title Anti-film and Us. The four editions took place from 1963 to 1970: Anti-film and New Tendencies in Cinema, Research of Film and Research through Film, Cybernetics and Aesthetics, and Sexuality as a Possible Way into a New Humanism. The fifth edition was to be held in 1971, under the title Unknown Human Energies and Unidentified Senses. However, it was never realised.

Ideas about non-mimetic and polemic film resonate in the works of the authors who took on the task of paying homage to the GEFF. X Tape by Dragan Mileusnić and Željko Serdarević reinterprets the notion of sexuality as a way into new humanism; Dalibor Barić and Tomislav Babić refer directly to the never realised edition of the festival, indicated by the very title of the film (Unknown Energies, Unidentified Emotions); Tomislav Šoban (The End/Land) approaches his film in a structuralist tradition, following self-imposed obstructions, and thus exploring the scope and ideas of anti-film; in Dota, Petra Zlonoga explores “film through film”; and in Machinae Novae 002, Darko Vidačković refers to the cybernetic theories which served as inspiration for the third edition of the GEFF.

Finally, we would like to note that some of these films have already screened at various festivals: Šoban’s The End/Land screened at the Jihlava International Documentary Film Festival and the 25 FPS Festival, where it received the Green DCP Award, while Unknown Energies screened in the feature competition at the Animafest Zagreb, and won Best Film at the Be!There Corfu Animation Festival, and Best Screenplay and Sound Design at the Croatian Film Days.

Those who want to learn more are encouraged to read the engaging article about the GEFF written by Željko Luketić. For all information regarding the films, please contact Bonobostudio.