Culture to the people!
Close your eyes and try to imagine a beautiful Mediterranean dream. It’s September. Last days of summer. There is nostalgia in the air for the long hot and exciting days behind us. The nights are still pleasantly warm, but the sun is setting early. The wind blows lightly bringing the familiar pleasant smell of the sea. It caresses your face. The heart is filled with happiness. You feel nice. You are in a park. You hear film music in the background. The murmur of people. Lots of tiny lamps illuminate tall trees. You hear a woman’s voice powerfully breaking through the space: “Yo soy como el chile verde, picante pero sabroso. Yo soy …”. Oh, Chavela Vargas! The spectacle begins and you are part of it.And now open your eyes. You don’t sleep, you don’t dream. The magic is really happening. Welcome to film festival “Bokun Festivala“. You are in the Malaria Park in Trogir, one of the most beautiful medieval cities on the Adriatic coast. You are in the right place at the right time and are an important part of the festival. Relax and enjoy your moment of happiness. Bokun festival is a multimedia film and music project of the Association “Gozba”. This year marks a significant five years. The festival started from the desire to offer the citizens of Trogir a touch of a slightly different, innovative culture that they deserve. That is why the entrance to the festival is free with the slogan: Culture to the people!
From Dali to Chaplin, from Buster to Frida
Every year, the festival presents work of an artist who worked during 20thcentury. It is important that they worked on the film or collaborated with filmmakers. So far, painter, director, designer, actor and performer Salvador Dali “has arrived” in Trogir. Dali moved to Paris with Luis Buñuel, his colleague from his student days in Madrid. There, in the 1920s, they made two films, “Un Chien Andalou” and “L’Age d’Or”. With their films, they surprised “The City of Light” and entered the world of Parisian Surrealists through a small door. Their first film was funded by Buñuel’s mother. Dali even acts in several scenes. In addition to the Spanish genius, the audience at the Bokun Festival could enjoy the works of Croatian composer, illustrator and designer Ivo Tijardović, who composed for the film. One year audience had the opportunity to laugh at the films of the great American film director, actor, acrobat, screenwriter Buster Keaton. And as an icing on the cake was the art of a world-famous painter, the Mexican Frida Kahlo. Frida was an icon of the struggle for human rights, activist against war, fighter for gender equality, an icon of style. The festival brought to Trogir the film work of her partner muralist Diego Rivera and his friend, famous Russian director Sergei Eisenstein. Que viva Mexico, you could hear in Park Malaria. And Charlie Chaplin knew Frida too. Therefore, his films from 1917 were shown at the festival.
Festival with a goal
Fifth edition of the festival to be held from September 7thto 10th2022 will be dedicated to animated film and the work of Croatian director Dušan Vukotić. In 1962, he won the prestigious Oscar film award for his film “Surrogate”. The fact that the American director and screenwriter Pete Doctor dedicated a character from his animated film “Soul” (2020) to Vukotić’s Surrogate proves how important Vukotić’s work is. Another good reason to visit Trogir in 2022.The special feature of the Bokun festival is that new music is composed for each shown film and it is played live during the program. The program is very dynamic. Along with the film, pantomimes are performed, the painter is inspired by the artist’s work, singers sing, dancers dance, DJ plays music. There is an improvisation of the theater in the park.The dream team of the Bokun Festival, led by artistic director Ivana Orešić, consists of: the best silent film composer in the region Mitja Reichenberg, composer and saxophonist Deni Pjanić, actor and professor of stage movement Alen Čelić, DJ Damir Duplančić and many other professional artists.The essence of the Bokun festival is to entertain and educate citizens. Encourage new generations to engage in culture and the arts, to create and devise new projects and be creative, because creatives are changing the world. They make it a happier place to live.
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