Monday, 13 April 2026 at 7 pm
We dedicate this edition of the Film Curriculum to films that approach “the boards that mean the world” in various ways.
The hilarious documentary A Little Village Performance (Krsto Papić, 1972), whose title is still used today to describe a low-quality local event, depicts the clash between folk tradition and pop-rock aesthetics on stage.
The feature film Timon (Tomislav Radić, 1973) depicts high art on stage, but also the lives of the actors backstage during a real performance of Timon of Athens, based on Shakespeare's tragedy. Critics disliked the film's raw documentary approach, but subsequent reappraisal has placed it in terms of quality alongside Radić's debut, The Living Truth, also made in the cinéma vérité style.
Before the screening, an introduction will be given by Dr Dubravka Zima, a lecturer in the history of Croatian film at the Faculty of Croatian Studies. The curator of the programme is Dr Juraj Kukoč, a senior film archivist at the Croatian Film Archive.
Admission to the screening is free.
The Film Curriculum programme is dedicated to Croatian cinema classics and is intended for students of Croatian film history, as well as for all audiences interested in exploring the country’s film heritage. It is organised in collaboration with the Croatian State Archives (Croatian Cinematheque Department), the Cultural and Information Center, the Croatian Audiovisual Center (Department of Film Literacy and Audience Development), and professors of Croatian film history from the Academy of Dramatic Arts, the Faculty of Croatian Studies, and the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences in Zagreb.
A LITTLE VILLAGE PERFORMANCE
(documentary, 1972, 18’)
Directed and written by: Krsto Papić
Cinematography: Ivica Rajković
The film shows an event in the Međimurje village of Orehovica, featuring local amateur performers singing popular pop and rock songs of the time, a folk dance performance, joke-telling, concluding with the election of the 1971 Miss Village.
TIMON
(feature, 1973, 89’)
Director and Screenplay: Tomislav Radić
Cinematography: Tomislav Pinter
Starring: Boris Buzančić, Vanja Drach, Kruno Valentić, Zlatko Crnković, Saša Violić, Helena Buljan, Ivo Kadić, Tonko Lonza
We follow a theatrical troupe on tour with a production of Timon of Athens, based on the play by William Shakespeare. The relationship between the lead actor Boris and his colleagues very quickly begins to mirror the relationship between Timon and his friends in the play.