By Momir Matović
Montenegro
Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow
The communication system of cinema has seen great developments, but with the emergence of video the two media overlapped, bringing along dilemmas and pitfalls for the filmmakers. The documentary film in the Montenegrin cinema has its past and its present – rather small in terms of the production volume, but very pronounced in the region and other parts of the world.
Past And Present
Just nine months after the first ever public motion-picture performance in Paris, the first film frames featuring people from Montenegro were created. However, Montenegro was shown for the first time in a documentary movie titled IN THE BLACK MOUNTAINS – AT THE MONTENEGRIN PRINCE’S COURT, premiered on November 1, 1902, at the Urania Theater in Vienna. At that time, all documentary film stories were made by foreigners, working for the European film companies such as Pathé or Société Gaumont, to whom Montenegro had an appeal as an exotic and romantic country constantly embroiled in unending struggles for its freedom, state and political sovereignty.
It was only after the Second World War that Montenegro embarked on an organised development of its own cinema. In 1949, the first Montenegrin production company, Lovćen Film, was established with the aim to produce documentary and feature films. Newsreels were just a first step in the development of the newborn medium, soon to be followed by documentaries featuring topics and visuals that drew attention of both the local and the international audiences. Movies were made by the company’s own professional staff and its own facilities, while postproduction work was done in Belgrade, Zagreb, or Sarajevo. In spite of the advent of feature film production in Montenegro, documentary movies, having already gained a distinctive and recognisable role in the development of Montenegrin cinema, remained a consistent presence in its production plans.
Documentaries from that period, such as MRTVI GRAD (THE DEAD CITY, d.: Velimir Stojanović, 1952), CRNE MARAME (BLACK SCARVES, d.: Branislav Bastać, 1958), ZUBLJA GRAHOVAČKA (THE TORCH OF GRAHOVAC, d.: Zdravko Velimirović, 1958), ZAROBLJENI KAMENOM (CAPTIVATED IN STONE, d.: Boško Bošković, 1959), ZAKONOM ZAŠTIĆENO (PROTECTED BY LAW, d.: Nikola Jovičević, 1975) are now regarded as a valuable and inseparable part of the overall Montenegrin cultural heritage.
In 1978, two Montenegrin film companies, Titograd Film Studio and Zeta Film, the latter one of the leading distribution companies in the region, merged into a unique motion-picture enterprise of Montenegro. At that time, talented young filmmakers appeared on the scene with very unique and original approaches to their topics, keeping the documentary genre in the focus of Montenegrin film production. Even at the most difficult times, when the cultural life of the former Yugoslavia found itself in a total isolation during the 1990’s, Montenegrin filmmakers like Momir Matović, Vladimir Perović, Ognjen Radulović or Mirko Matović participated with their films at a number of international film festivals, winning many prestigious awards. METRI ŽIVOTA / METERS OF LIFE (1991), ŽICA ŽIVOTA / STRING OF LIFE (1996) and many other titles from the documentary opus of Momir Matović were shown at more than a hundred film festivals.
Today, aound three documentaries are produced per year, plus one documentary episode per week produced by the Montenegrin State TV, which employs six filmmakers in its documentary department, while the number of independent filmmakers is around four.
Blown Off To The Margins
Documentary cinema has has both its filmmakers and its eager audience. Yet that light is not stable. Why so? In recent years, many horrible things have happened. Around us, life was often cruel, and in such storms one was at every moment surrounded by certain signs, the messages of which would sometimes be noticed, understood and accepted, or rejected, causing sorrow or joy.
At that time, cinema as such was blown off to the extreme margins of the Montenegrin culture. And with it, of course, went the documentary film. But while the feature film has been just an illusion for many years, the documentary was painfully struggling for its own existence. Even in the years of greatest obstacles and hardships the shooting still went on, films were screened at many festivals and respected awards and prizes were won. Today, the efforts are made to keep that continuity, despite the fact that the formerly state-owned Montenegrin film company, Budva-based Zeta Film, has, after fifty years of successful operation, been simply sold in the process of transition in 2004, and then turned into a discotheque.
Although we have challenged the advent of video technology, I have to admit that documentary film in Montenegro greatly depends on this now-compact technological chain nowadays. Simply put, a range of independent, small TV houses, private studios and individuals emerged, practising perforce a specific kind of documentary form with their production capacities and subjects: some daily, some occasionally, and seldom systematically, according to production plans. Thus the majority of such filmmakers, at least formally, are no longer conditioned by certain rules, but can produce their own ideas with complete independence. Although we can raise cultural, aesthetic, or ethical objections to many such projects, they are a document of the moment as soon as light and tape immortalise their story. The objections could perhaps be justified by the fact that the only film school in Montenegro, the Faculty of Dramatic Arts in Cetinje, unfortunately does not offer a documentary film course even as an optional subject, or even as a single optional lesson. Generally, visiting lecturers educate the creative directing personnel, doing so without a single school exercise in the documentary field. Even the simple matter of making a reportage is not covered, as everybody thinks that life begins and unfolds in their future feature debuts. Other institutions are non-existent – unless we have in mind the sudden appearance of private faculties/colleges of diverse orientations, whose primary task is to efficiently collect the annual tuition fees – often an amount with which the student could completely cover the education/training at one of the reputed European film academies.
Screening (In-) Activities
Theatrical distribution in Montenegro is dwindling daily, on the verge of a complete disaster. While there had been 31 cinemas in 1976, only five cinemas are active in Montenegro at present, with their equipment on the level of the 1950’s. And the documentary film has been virtually banished from them for a while. At the moment, the interest in commercial film seems to be at a low level, as even Hollywood blockbusters are not well-received by the audience. As anti-piracy and copyright laws have been strictly enforced during the past year, there is no reason to speculate about potential cinema-goers turning into pirated DVD consumers. On the other hand, certain occasional efforts to hold meaningful showings of individual documentary films and cycles have recently been made, organised by certain embassies, non-governmental organisations financed with earmarked funds provided by, generally, foreign donors, or individuals activating their personal networks. Recently, a Dutch film week, featuring documentaries, has been organised by the Dutch Embassy. And what appears strange is the fact that a stratum of audience has been formed that supports the existence and purpose of this genre. It seems that there is a certain need for individual filmmaking voices.
We cannot boast of film festivals. This year, only the Bar International TV Festival survived, with a documentary segment within a broad selection of categories. This festival, which was held for the eleventh time in 2006, lasts for seven days; films are shown in a hotel, local people “stray” in, a filmmaker appears now and then, couple of articles can be found in the press, television stations inform in their chronicles about the events and awards – and then everything is forgotten. Besides, there are no roundtable discussions, no special showings elsewhere, and as of last year, not even the awarded programmes are shown on Montenegrin TV. Nevertheless, Žarko Pavićević, the mayor of Bar, entitled his foreword in the catalogue of the 2006 edition “A New Beginning”, as related to not only the Montenegrin independence, but also the will to integrate the festival into the region’s networks. However, there haven’t been many efforts to change the festival’s appearance itself. At the same time, the future of the respectable Herceg Novi Film Festival is still undecided. Until Montenegro’s independence, it was showing the national Serbian and Montenegrin feature film production. The concept of the festival, held for the first time in the independent state of Montenegro, has been changed: it is conceived now as a competitive festival of art films from the region (Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Slovenia, Macedonia, Serbia), dedicated to film directing (with awards for film direction). For the Festival management and organizers – the documentary films are nonexistent. For the time being, at least.
Funding And The Marketplace
The issue of film production financing in Montenegro is solely in the hands of the Ministry of Culture and Media, by way of a yearly competition, but the available funds have been stagnating for a couple of years. In the present year, the total investment for this sector has been planned at € 120,000, of which the documentary allotment is € 15,000. So far, films like AND YET IT DOES MOVE!, Momir Matović’s TV series of seven 50’ episodes on the development of Montenegrin cinema, A FRAME FOR THE PICTURE OF MY HOMELAND, a feature-length documentary project by the same director, and a few yet unrealised projects, have been approved for support.
Coproduction or any form of cooperation with other Balkan states is a great unknown today, except with Serbia, as a result of long interdependence. There are a few films like SIMO OD CRNE GORE (SIMO OF MONTENEGRO, d.: David Solomon, Serbia 2005) that are pure Serbian productions. In 2006, DIM (SMOKE) by the Cetinje-born director Vladimir Perović appeared as a Serbian-Montenegrin coproduction which was one of the first documentaries to be supported by the film funds of the Montenegrin Ministry of Culture and Media in the year of the country’s independence. Perović studied film and TV directing at the Belgrade Faculty of Dramatic Arts, and still lives and works in both Serbia and Montenegro, where he realised his recent film RIBAR ÐORÐE RAZGONI MRAK (FISHERMAN GEORGE SCATTERS THE GLOOM, 2006).
So far, there has been no cooperation with other production companies from the region. Attempts were made in the past, but today there are no significant shifts. Montenegro has always offered opportunities to filmmakers from all former Yugoslav republics, encouraging them to make their projects in Montenegro, but, as far as I can remember, no neighboring country has ever invited a Montenegrin documentarian to realise a film project in their production.
International organisations, like in the other countries of the region, support the media development. USAID (United States Agency for International Development) recently commissioned the 4-part TV-series A STORY OF A VOUCHER CASE, a public information serial on the process of privatisation, which was produced by the advertising and production agency MAPA. A few films were made with the help of international donors, like Koča Pavlović’s RAT ZA MIR / WAR FOR PEACE (2004) which was co-financed with assistance of the EU and USAID, and Sead Sadiković’s EMPTINESS (2007), produced by the Nansen Dialogue Center Podgorica, which is suported by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Both deal with delicate subjects: RAT ZA MIR / WAR FOR PEACE is an interview-based documentary on Montenegro’s involvement in the attack on Dubrovnik in 1991, stirring public discussion. Describing the broad support for the politics of Slobodan Milošević, it was a taboo-breaking event. Pavlović, former editor-in-chief of the private Montena TV station, runs the independent production studio Obala. The journalist often raises controversy by uncovering the connections of top Montenegrin officials and politicians with the former Milošević government. RAT ZA MIR / WAR FOR PEACE was supported by the State TV, but has never been shown there. Sead Sadiković’s EMPTINESS deals with the Moslems from the village of Bukovica, close to the border with Bosnia, who were deported and murdered in the 1990’s. As these events have been hidden under the veil of silence for fifteen years, the film might also cause discussion.
Interior market perspectives for the Montegrin filmmakers exist mainly in the TV market, while a few films run successfully on the international festivals. In Montenegro, with the population of just over 600,000, there is one state company – the Radio-Television Montenegro, operating Channels 1 and 2 as well as a satellite programme, which is financed by the government and the population by way of subscription. Another six private TV stations cover the rest of the media spectrum of Montenegro. Besides, another eleven small-capacity TV stations, including one in the Albanian language, operate as programme broadcasters.
Programming is created under a variety of concepts, some of which have stood the test of time, featuring a mainly journalistic approach to daily events – with the politics dominating. Therefore, the presence of the documentary film varies from case to case. Certainly, it seems best represented on the channels of the state television, which seems to be a reflection of programming concepts from the past. Only they have an editorial staff for documentary programming that produces weekly 30’ TV films on subjects such as cultural heritage, ecology, or travel. However, it is noticeable that they very rarely deal with subjects bearing the filmmaker’s stamp. Generally, this means one to two programmes a week, while a TV series is rare – maybe one in a year.
Unfortunately, I am convinced that the majority of filmmakers accept and perform their job as a kind of a “work obligation”. These are generally journalists of various profiles and orientations, political above all, who often lack the creative will or basic film-making training for this kind of work. The journalistic approach dominates, while the artistic approach is contestable. We are living in uncertain times and therefore many things do not appear to be firm enough. Long ago, one was aware that a new war was not necessary to tell a story about war. Petty stories have been told. The metaphor was always present. The film proceeded from the information to a metaphor. That was artistically empowering. This “power” has been lost nowadays, within the scope of ordinary interviews rarely supported by archive materials – and it has been like that for years. And from such topics, in a very “innovative” manner, anything that could be construed as a detailed description, an analysis, or, God forbid, an investigation, has been removed. Everything is under the “subtle” but watchful eye of the hidden ideological controllers of conscience and the owners of private media.
Chances Of Improving The Situation
In Montenegro, one thing is definitely clear: There is no true film production, so the documentary film has to struggle even harder for its place within the television empire. Not only in terms of volume, but also the frequency of production, and thefilmmaker’s individual approach to reality, which is the essential issue in the documentary genre.
As an alternative, international cooperation ought to improve – member states of the Stability Pact should help with the education via various thematic camps, seminars, or workshops, aiming toward a better understanding of the issues; however, the aid coming from various foreign institutions and foundations operating in Montenegro is still rather modest, as are interregional links and cooperation. On the basis of a long experience and the knowledge of circumstances, I can say that Montenegro will readily embrace all kinds of mutual partnership-type cooperations and enter into a proportional financial participation for certain joint documentary projects or events (documentary film screenings, training staff exchanges, and the like).
Of everything that was said and noted, the most important is the will, and it is something awful, as it appears to be the main source of hopes and advancements in a man’s life, but of his fall as well.
Within the region, we are so close, and yet so far away from each other. Let us be even closer. Thus we shall be stronger.
Momir Matović Biography
Momir Matović, born 1951 in Titograd (today Podgorica), graduated at the University of Dramatic Arts in Belgrade, Department of Film. His metaphorical personal portraits describe the life circumstances of their protagonists without talking but in a very sensitive way. Matovićs short documentaries run on festivals throughout the world so he became one of the most wellknown Montenegrian filmmakers. In September 2005, the goEast Film Festival presented a retrospective of his films as part of Zajedno – gemeinsam, Days of Serbian and Montenegrian culture in Germany 2005.
