Film screenings and discussions at Galerija Miroslav Kraljević
Tuesday, 20 October 2026, 7:30 pm
Galerija Miroslav Kraljević (GMK), Šubićeva 29, Zagreb
Free admission
On Tuesday, 20 October, Galerija Miroslav Kraljević launches “Film Ephemera: Film in Applied Contexts” (“Filmske efemerije: film u namjenskim praksama”), a four-part series of screenings and discussions devoted to a lesser-known area of Croatian film history: advertising, educational, tourist, industrial and other films made for purposes beyond conventional theatrical distribution.
The opening event, “Ephemeral Film Before the Digital Era”, offers a historical survey of non-theatrical film in Croatia. The screening programme is organised by the Croatian Cinematheque, a department of the Croatian State Archives, and brings together films made between 1929 and 1984. The event is led by Juraj Kukoč, PhD, and Tomislav Šakić, PhD.
How was film used to advertise products, promote travel destinations, explain school subjects or document industrial processes before the rise of digital platforms? The selection moves from early advertising film and Dušan Vukotić’s animated commercials to Radovan Ivančević’s educational shorts, Obrad Gluščević’s tourist film and an industrial newsreel produced for INA–Naftaplin. Seen today, these works also reveal something about social habits, visual culture and the ways institutions and industries communicated with their audiences.
Screening programme | Tuesday, 20 October
- “Campek nevaljanac” (Mladen Širola, 1929)
- Animated commercials by Dušan Vukotić (1954–1955)
- “Balada o pijetlu” (Zvonimir Berković, 1964)
- “Atmosferska perspektiva” (Radovan Ivančević, 1972)
- “Postanak feudalnog društva” (Radovan Ivančević, 1976)
- “Turistički skerco” (Obrad Gluščević, 1963)
- “Kronika 13 INA–Naftaplina” (1984)
Curators and presenters: Juraj Kukoč, PhD, and Tomislav Šakić, PhD.
About the curators
Juraj Kukoč, PhD (born in Split in 1978), is a film scholar and senior film archivist at the Croatian Cinematheque, a department of the Croatian State Archives. He studied comparative literature and Spanish language and literature at the University of Zagreb, where he also earned his PhD in film studies. His work focuses on researching and presenting Croatia’s film heritage. He has curated several exhibitions on the history of Croatian cinema, is one of the organisers and selectors of the Pssst! Silent Film Festival, and is a member of the Croatian Society of Film Critics.
Tomislav Šakić, PhD (born in Zagreb in 1979), is a film scholar, assistant professor at the Academy of Dramatic Art in Zagreb and assistant editor-in-chief of the Croatian Encyclopaedia at the Miroslav Krleža Institute of Lexicography. After graduating in comparative literature and Croatian language and literature, he completed his PhD on modernism in Croatian cinema. His book “Modernizam u hrvatskom igranom filmu: nacrt tipologije” (2016) received the Ante Peterlić Award in 2018. His curatorial work includes a retrospective of Krešo Golik and the film programme for the exhibition “The Sixties in Croatia: Myth and Reality”.
About “Film Ephemera”
“Film Ephemera: Film in Applied Contexts” is a programme conceived by Tomislav Šakić, PhD. Across four evenings in October, it traces the history and contemporary uses of non-theatrical, commissioned and applied film. This broad field extends from advertising, educational, industrial, tourist and public-health films to contemporary promotional videos, architectural teasers and music videos.
Although such films formed a substantial part of audiovisual production and often reached large audiences, they have frequently been overlooked in film histories and curatorial programmes. “Film Ephemera” approaches them both as moving-image works and as records of changing social practices, technologies and forms of communication, from analogue film to online platforms and short-form digital video.
Upcoming events
Friday, 23 October, 7:30 pm
“Documentary and Tourism: Representing Contemporary Touristification”
Curator: Sara Simić · Guest: Ivan Grgur
Tuesday, 27 October, 7:30 pm
“Teaser: Short Film Between Architectural Representation, Promotion and Spatial Research”
Curator: Nina Bačun · Guests: Mia Roth Čerina, Maroje Mrduljaš and Vladislav Knežević
Friday, 30 October, 7:30 pm
“I’ll Make a Scene: Music Videos from Found Footage to Prompts”
Curator: Bartol Babić Vukmir · Guests: Rino Barbir and Martin Peranović
All events take place at Galerija Miroslav Kraljević (GMK), Šubićeva 29, Zagreb. Admission is free.
The series is organised by Galerija Miroslav Kraljević. The opening screening programme is organised by the Croatian Cinematheque, a department of the Croatian State Archives. The programme is supported by the City Office for Culture and Civil Society of Zagreb and the Croatian Audiovisual Centre (HAVC).
Visual identity: Andro Giunio.
