The Otok Institution
Otok, the Institution for the development of the film culture Ljubljana was established in the year 2003 by Vlado Škafar, a slovenian film-maker, founder of the slovenian art cinema network and programme director of the Slovenian Cinematheque for many years.
The central project of the Otok Institution is the Kino Otok - Isola Cinema international film festival - an annual spring festival of African, Asian, Latin American and Eastern European cinematography, which the Otok Institution co-produces alongside Slovenian Cinematheque, Kinodvor Cinema and The Isola Center for Culture, Sports and Events under the support of the Izola Municipality. The Kino Otok - Isola Cinema Festival enriches the Slovenian but also wider-ranging area by bringing its delicately made selection of African, Asian, Latin American and Eastern European films and many of their creators to the attention of general public - all with the best intentions to introduce and popularize an important segment of the contemporary film production, which is being neglected by the local film distribution inspite of its tremendeous artistic value. It is the festival’s intent to gradually expand over its present cinematographic boundaries to complementary fields like exhibition organisation, concerts, film workshops and alike. If this is to be achieved, many succesful connections and cooperations with similar institutions at home and abroad are to be made, for it is the festival’s primary ambition to firmly establish itself in an international network of similar film festivals. In this sense contacts have been made with three central stations of similar film programme, namely Innsbruck, Fribourg and Nantes, but also with the most important festivals in wider regional area: Alpe Adria Cinema (Trieste), Crossing Europe (Linz), Sarajevo, Motovun and Zagreb.
Throughout the year, the Otok Institution focuses on the cinematographic distribution of the so called “art films” and on the organisation of the artistic and cultural events or activities which hold the development of the general slovenian film culture as their primary goal - in the future, the Institution intends to widen its activity also to the field of film production. Russian film The Granny, which has won the 2004 Kino Otok - Isola Cinema Audience Award for Best Film, is the first film ever to be distributed by the Otok Institution. The January 2005 opening-night projections of The Granny have been invigorated by the glamourous presence of the main actress Olga Oniščenko and have been overcrowding the Kinodvor Cinema in Ljubljana ever since, thus once again re-establishing the film as a just victor of the 2004 Kino Otok - Isola Cinema Festival.
Otok, the Institution for the development of the film culture Ljubljana was established in the year 2003 by Vlado Škafar, a slovenian film-maker, founder of the slovenian art cinema network and programme director of the Slovenian Cinematheque for many years.
The central project of the Otok Institution is the Kino Otok - Isola Cinema international film festival - an annual spring festival of African, Asian, Latin American and Eastern European cinematography, which the Otok Institution co-produces alongside Slovenian Cinematheque, Kinodvor Cinema and The Isola Center for Culture, Sports and Events under the support of the Izola Municipality. The Kino Otok - Isola Cinema Festival enriches the Slovenian but also wider-ranging area by bringing its delicately made selection of African, Asian, Latin American and Eastern European films and many of their creators to the attention of general public - all with the best intentions to introduce and popularize an important segment of the contemporary film production, which is being neglected by the local film distribution inspite of its tremendeous artistic value. It is the festival’s intent to gradually expand over its present cinematographic boundaries to complementary fields like exhibition organisation, concerts, film workshops and alike. If this is to be achieved, many succesful connections and cooperations with similar institutions at home and abroad are to be made, for it is the festival’s primary ambition to firmly establish itself in an international network of similar film festivals. In this sense contacts have been made with three central stations of similar film programme, namely Innsbruck, Fribourg and Nantes, but also with the most important festivals in wider regional area: Alpe Adria Cinema (Trieste), Crossing Europe (Linz), Sarajevo, Motovun and Zagreb.
Throughout the year, the Otok Institution focuses on the cinematographic distribution of the so called “art films” and on the organisation of the artistic and cultural events or activities which hold the development of the general slovenian film culture as their primary goal - in the future, the Institution intends to widen its activity also to the field of film production. Russian film The Granny, which has won the 2004 Kino Otok - Isola Cinema Audience Award for Best Film, is the first film ever to be distributed by the Otok Institution. The January 2005 opening-night projections of The Granny have been invigorated by the glamourous presence of the main actress Olga Oniščenko and have been overcrowding the Kinodvor Cinema in Ljubljana ever since, thus once again re-establishing the film as a just victor of the 2004 Kino Otok - Isola Cinema Festival.
