The Alternative Film Archive
We are delighted to welcome the director of the Academic Film Center in Belgrade (AFC) Milan Milosavljević in January. In a short film program, 10 films from the history of the center's renowned film archive will be presented. Don't miss the unique chance to see these treasures, one of the rare cases where the old saying ONLY IN THE CINEMA is actually true.
The Academic Film Center (AFC) in Belgrade, Serbia, was founded in 1958 in what was then socialist Yugoslavia under the name Akademski kino klub. Thanks to the original work of its numerous film and video artists, it developed into one of the most renowned and award-winning film clubs in Yugoslavia. The film club movement was a platform for film amateurs who explored the boundaries of the medium and shaped the country's experimental and avant-garde cinema.
In 1976, the Akademski kino klub was renamed the Academic Film Center (AFC) as a department of the city's state-sponsored Student Cultural Center. In the late 1970s, a movement emerged in the region that established the term “alternative film”. These filmmakers rejected the term “amateur film” and expanded the term to include unconventional documentaries and feature films.
In 1982, the AFC founded the Alternative Film Archive to preserve the film and video heritage. Today, it comprises more than 800 films and videos from the AFC as well as over 2,000 other works. In the same year, the AFC initiated the Alternative Film/Video Festival, one of the oldest festivals in the Balkans dedicated exclusively to experimental and alternative filmmaking.
In cooperation with the Open Resource Center (ORC) of the Karlsruhe University of Arts and Design, the Academic Film Center is presenting a selection from its extensive collection. The programme was curated by Milan Milosavljević, filmmaker and head of the department at the AFC as well as organizer of the Alternative Film/Video Festival.
This special program underlines the central role of the AFC in the development of alternative filmmaking and invites you to rediscover the past and present of experimental film.
