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Subversive Festival

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Subversive Festival
Subversive Festival logo
LocationZagreb,Croatia
Founded2008
AwardsThe Wild Dreamer
LanguageEnglish,Croatian
Websitehttp:// subversivefestival /

TheSubversive Festivalis anannualinternationalfortnightofpolitical,activist,cultural,educational,literaryandartisticevents that takes place inZagreb,Croatiaevery May.[1]Its activities are divided into the Subversive Film Festival (which was the official name of the festival until 2011), the Subversive Forum, the Balkan Forum and the Subversive Book Fair. The cross-cutting activity is the Subversive Festival's Conference that includes major keynote lectures and round tables held in Cinema Europe.

Origin and history

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Audience at the Festival
Year Topic
2008 Hommage to '68
2009 China 1949-2009
2010 Socialism
2011 Decolonization
2012 The Future of Europe
2013 The Utopia of Democracy
2014 Power & Freedom - in the time of control
2015 Spaces of Emancipation - Micropolitics and Rebellions
2016 Politics of Friendship
2017 The European Left Against the New World (Dis)order
2018 Struggle for Freedom and Poetic Justice
2019 Europe on the Edge
2020 Creative Disobedience
2021 A Post-COVID Democracy[2]

The Festival was initially founded as theSubversive Film Festivalin 2008 which celebrated the 40th anniversary of theprotests of 1968.The initial edition of the festival included screening of the films byChris MarkerandJean-Luc Godardas well as public lectures bySlavoj Žižek,Ernesto Laclau,Chantal Mouffeand others. Each edition of the festival has an overarching theme that invites critical examination and public debates. In 2009 the Festival was dedicated toChina,in the context of the 60th anniversary of theCommunist Revolution,whereas in 2010 its theme was the history, present and future of the idea ofsocialism.

Following the "Arab Spring",the 2011 edition was dedicated todecolonisationas well as tonew social movements.The situation in theEuropean Unionprompted the organisers in 2012 to tackle "The Future of Europe",[3]whereas the major theme of 2013's "The Utopia of Democracy" responded to the rise of global movements demanding realdemocracy,participationand socialjustice.[4]Che Guevara's daughterAleidawas one of the guests in 2013, as well asAlexis Tsipras,the head of Greece's leftistSYRIZAparliamentary group, both taking part in debates at the festival.[5]

In 2013Srećko HorvatandIgor Štiksleft the Subversive Festival together with other members of the program team, "due to differences in understanding the goals and direction of the activist platforms within Subversive Forum and, more generally, the general purpose of Subversive Festival".[6]From 2014 onwards it has been run by a different team.[7]

In 2021, after the 2019 closure of the festival's primary venue Europe Cinema, the event moved to four venues and streamed online.[2]

Festival sections

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Subversive Festival has several sections.

The Subversive Film Festival

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Pre 2012 logo of the festival

In 2011 the Subversive Film Festival, originally the core of the festival, became one of many festival sections.

Thefilm festivalconsists of a selection of films according to their relation to the main theme of that year's Festival (e.g. 1968, China, Socialism, Decolonisation, Europa Incognita, Utopia of Democracy),retrospectivesof acknowledgedleftistfilm authors andpanel discussionsbetweenfilm theoreticiansandfilmmakers.

The most notable film retrospectives so far include an overview of the revolutionary films of the 1960s and 1970s, a selection ofChinese filmclassics and contemporary films, a majorretrospectiveofYugoslav cinema(curatedby Sergio Germani Grmek) and a selection of contemporaryThird Worldcinema.

Wild Dreamer Award

The sixth edition of the Subversive Film Festival (in 2013) introduced competition categories for contemporaryEuropeanand international films, selected by theartistic directorDragan Rubeša. The first Wild Dreamer Award for Lifetime Achievement was given toOliver Stone,whose latest 10-hour-long series theUntold History of the United Stateswas shown in the main film programme.[8]The Wild Dreamer for Best Documentary Film went to Italian directorDaniele VicariforLa nave dolce[it].The Land of Hopeby Japanese directorShion Sono,a story about a family whose father refuses to evacuate his sick wife from aradiation affected area,won the Best Feature Award. French filmmaker Sylvain George'sVers Madrid(en.The Burning Bright!), which documents demonstrations of the15-Mgrassroots protest movementin Spain, was voted Best Film by theaudience.

The Subversive Forum

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The Subversive Forum is a leftist andprogressiveevent that established itself as an open platform for different and even opposing positions. The Subversive Forum is not connected to anypolitical partybut it attracts individuals of various political stripes on the progressive left and is related to almost all significant Croatian,post-YugoslavandBalkanssocial movements– fromstudent movements,trade unions,feminist organisations,the Right to the City movements,greenandLGBTactivistsetc. The Subversive Forum has been supported by theWorld Social Forumas an official event of the WSF. According to the organizers, the Subversive forum has become "one of the key European mobilisation points for activists and intellectuals from the region and the world, thinking jointly how to build better social systems"[5]

The Balkan Forum

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The Balkan Forum was established in 2012 as the platform for cooperation for pan-Balkansocial and political movements and organisations from 10 post-socialist countries (Slovenia,Croatia,Bosnia and Herzegovina,Serbia,North Macedonia,Albania,Bulgaria,Romania,Montenegro,and with strong participation fromHungary). The conclusions of the First Balkan Forum[9]highlighted a need for strongercooperationamong these movements as well as for joint action across thepeninsula.A huge number of activists gathered in 2012 and 2013 to discuss topics relevant to the region, includingneoliberal policies,rampantprivatisation,the defense of theCommons,student and workers movements, sex andgender equality,social change,as well as the questions ofdemocratisationandparticipation,the media andpublic sphere,and alternativeeconomic models.[10]

The Balkan Forum includes bothself-organisedsessions by movements and organisations themselves as well asplenary sessions.

Networks and influence

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Slavoj Žižek,Alexis TsiprasandOliver Stoneat 2013 Subversive Festival

The Subversive Festival established strong ties with theWorld Social Forum,The World Forum of Alternatives,Transform! Europe Network,Attac,Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung,Heinrich Böll Foundation[11]and similar international organisations.

The events at the Subversive Festival are usually reported by local and internationalmedia(Al Jazeera,Croatian Television,Slovenian Television,Arte TV,etc.). The Festival benefits from special media support by media sharing its political vision such asle Monde Diplomatique,La Memoire des Luttes,[12]Transeuropeennes,Zarez,Critic Attac, etc.

The 6th edition of the Subversive Festival provoked special attention since it took place just beforeCroatia's accession to the EU.In this context, the visit of the head of theGreekoppositionSyrizaAlexis Tsiprasandfilm directorOliver Stonewas particularly followed both by local audience and international media. A joke made bySlavoj Žižekduring the public debate with Tsipras provoked a controversy in Greece.[13]

Notable guests

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The Festival's conference attracts thousands of visitors from all over the world. Many prominent intellectuals have givenkeynotelectures and participated inpublic debates,includingSlavoj Žižek,Oliver Stone,Alexis Tsipras,Tariq Ali,Aleida Guevara,Terry Eagleton,Gayatri Spivak,Michael Hardt,Antonio Negri,Saskia Sassen,Wang Hui,Minqi Li,Karl-Heinz Dellwo,David Harvey,Erik Olin Wright,Bernard Stiegler,Franco Berardi,Karl-Markus Gauss,Renata Salecl,Boris Buden,Dubravka Ugrešić,Želimir Žilnik,Aleš Debeljak,Samir Aminetc.

References

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  1. ^Hopkin, James (1 July 2013)."Croatia: meet the new EU neighbours".The Guardian.Retrieved9 July2013.
  2. ^abKruljac, Ivor (28 September 2021)."Zagreb Subversive Festival 2021: Progressive Films and Discussions in October".total-croatia-news.Retrieved28 December2021.
  3. ^Holdstock, Nick (24 October 2012)."SUBVERSIVE FORUM: WHAT IS THE FUTURE OF EUROPE AND ITS CITIZENS?".Citizenship in Southeast Europe.Retrieved9 July2013.
  4. ^Malamud, Randy (15 July 2013)."The Subversive Summit".In These Times.Retrieved9 July2013.
  5. ^abPavelic, Boris (3 May 2013)."Oliver Stone, Alexis Tsipras Join Croatia 'Subversives'".Balkan Insight.Retrieved9 July2013.
  6. ^"7. Subversive Festival -".subversivefestival.
  7. ^"7. Subversive Festival - Naslovnica".subversivefestival.
  8. ^AFP (13 May 2013)."Oliver Stone gets award at Croatian film festival".FRANCE 24.Retrieved9 July2013.
  9. ^Subversive Festival (5 June 2012)."The 1st Balkan Forum:" Another Balkans is Possible! "".Subversive Festival.Retrieved9 July2013.
  10. ^Rolandi, Francesca (21 June 2012)."SUBVERSIVE FESTIVAL: OCCUPY MOVEMENT COMES TO ZAGREB".Café Babel.Retrieved9 July2013.
  11. ^Rüdriger, Rossig (21 May 2013)."Utopie Demokratie".taz.de.Retrieved4 July2013.
  12. ^"Au coeur des mouvements sociaux des Balkans, le Festival subversif de Zagreb".medelu.org.
  13. ^Horvat, Srećko (25 May 2013)."The Easiest way to Gulag is to joke about Gulag".openDemocracy.Retrieved4 July2013.
  14. ^M. P. (3 May 2010)."Stjepan Mesić: Dobili smo šank-kapitaliste - tportal.hr /kultura/".Tportal.hr.Retrieved13 February2012.
  15. ^Gordan Duhaček (23 May 2011)."'Nije toliko strašno što je Horvatinčić pobijedio' - tportal.hr /kultura/ ".Tportal.hr.Retrieved13 February2012.
  16. ^Terry, Eagleton (21 May 2011)."Mythologies of Marx".SkriptaTV.Retrieved10 July2013.
  17. ^tportal.hr (19 May 2011)."Pročitajte ulomak iz nove knjige Antonija Negrija - tportal.hr /kultura/".Tportal.hr.Retrieved13 February2012.
  18. ^Darko Polšek (19 May 2011)."Skok nalijevo u Kinu Europa - tportal.hr /komentari/".Tportal.hr.Retrieved13 February2012.
  19. ^Gordan Duhaček (18 May 2011)."'Budućnost ljevice je u našim rukama' - tportal.hr /kultura/ ".Tportal.hr.Retrieved13 February2012.
  20. ^tportal.hr (27 August 2011)."Otvoren Subversive Film Festival - tportal.hr /showtime/".Tportal.hr.Retrieved13 February2012.
  21. ^abcM. P. (27 April 2011)."'Nove emancipacijske borbe' na ovogodišnjem Subversiveu - tportal.hr /kultura/ ".Tportal.hr.Retrieved13 February2012.
  22. ^I. T. (14 May 2010)."Jugoslavenski filmski slučaj na Subversiveu - tportal.hr /showtime/".Tportal.hr.Retrieved13 February2012.
  23. ^Duhaček, Gordan (3 May 2012)."Subversive privodi najveća imena svjetske kulturne scene".Tportal.hr.Retrieved9 July2013.
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Media related toSubversive Festivalat Wikimedia Commons

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