Tatjana Ivančić’s films will screen on 29th May at Cineteca Madrid. The programme “Destellos Cotidianos” is over one hour long, will showcase 14 works by the author and is supported by the Embassy of the Republic of Croatia to the Kingdom of Spain and the Croatian Audiovisual Centre. 

As a member of the Zagreb Cinema Club, in the period from 1967 to 1986, Tatjana Ivančić made more than 70 films on Super 8mm film and is today considered one of the most prolific authors of the Club. Her works have been exhibited at numerous festivals across the region, as well as international competitions (in Trieste, Berlin, Hiroshima), in which Ivančić garnered significant acclaim, entering history as the only woman to receive the title of Master of Amateur Film of the time.   

During 2019 and 2020 Tatjana Ivančić’s films were digitally restored by the Austrian Film Museum (Vienna) and the Light Shop/Digital Magic Studio (Zagreb). Image digitalisation in 2K resolution with 48kHz audio rate and image digital restoration were done in the Austrian Film Museum using copies of Super 8mm film strip with sound recorded on magnetic strips, courtesy of the Zagreb Cinema Club Collection. Audio restoration was done by Light Shop/Digital Magic Studio. The aim of the project was to restore the second generation of the film strip, preserving the existing visual traits and traces of use of the original Super 8mm reversal film. The project was conducted by the Zagreb Cinema Club in collaboration with the Croatian State Archives – the Croatian Cinematheque, supported by the Croatian Audiovisual Centre.    

“Most of the films created by amateur film experimentalist Tatjana Ivančić centre on the beauty of everyday life, the minute details of the natural world and the textures of the biosphere – particularly the sea, demonstrating the virtuous transformation of a decisive moment into an uninterrupted sequence of images. With equal skill, ingenuity, attention to detail and poetic flare, Ivančić shot the microcosms of seaside beaches, the bustle of the city reflected in a shop window, or the first steps of her grandchildren. Watching her films, we get a sense that the world existed in the fullness of its cinematic landscapes – in the cinematic, kinetic and kinaesthetic sense – only to be captured on film by her tiny camera” said Petra Belc, head of the digital restauration project.    

Tatjana Ivančić’s films to be featured at Documenta Madrid:

• The Play of Life, 1972., 4'13''
• The Good Old Oar, 1976., 4'35''
• Variations, 1975., 4'34''
• Boredom, 1973., 3'06''
• To the Final Drop, 1972., 1'50''
• Rhapsody in Green, 1970., 3'40''
• From 0 to 2, 1972., 7'13''
• Travelogue, 1976., 4'57''
• From Dawn to Sunset, 1971., 4'10''
• The Gloomy Sea, 1977., 3'56''
• Sand, 1971., 3'28''
• Equinox, 1973., 3'24''
• The Greatest Day, 1979., 8'26''
• City in the Shop Window, 1969., 5'07''

The programme “Everyday Textures” was also featured in the programme Short Tuesday in late 2020. Tatjana Ivančić’s restored films were likewise showcased in the programme Portraits and the Sky, dedicated to short experimental works from Zagreb, Belgrade and Ljubljana at the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, as well as the German Cinematheque Museum of Film and Television in Berlin, during the festival Film Restored, and the Centre for Contemporary art in Geneva, in 2020 and 2021.

The international film festival Documenta Madrid is held at cinema venues, 26th – 30th May, while the films in the programme will also be available for online viewing until 6th June.  

Cover photograph: scene from City in the Shop Window