A Very Complex Organism: Industrial Films on “3. maj” and “Brodosplit” Shipyards
This paper analyses three industrial films shot in two out of three largest Yugoslav shipyards: Treći maj – brodogradilište (3. maj) – brod by Frano Vodopivec from 1976, Treći maj by Petar Trinajstić and Željko Luković from 1983 both shot in Rijeka and Brodograđevna industrija Split: Zapisi iz škvera filmed in 1984 (list of nine authors in bibliography), shot in Split. Although industrial films are still a somewhat under-researched genre, their importance stems from the fact that this once “mighty industry” is currently hanging on a thread, and these films will probably soon become one of major memory channels for the future generations on topic of shipbuilding. This is why this paper takes in consideration represented content – such as the tradition of referring to the ships as “living beings” – but also tries to understand it within a larger shipbuilding culture. Finally, it is of importance to grasp the possible meanings of these films in the moment of their production, but also today as it has passed nearly fifty years from their creation, and therefore our final remarks are written from a post-socialist, but also post-shipbuilding prism.
Andrea Matošević
Andrea Matošević is a full professor in Ethnology and Cultural Anthropology at the Juraj Dobrila University of Pula. He has published several monographs, edited three books, and published fifty papers. He was a visiting research fellow at the University of Padua, University College in London, the IOS Leibniz Institute in Regensburg, and the University of Graz.