Branko Istvancic  
Film and TV director
 
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 The Cormorant Scarecrow


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Original title: Plasitelj kormorana
English title: The Cormorant Scarecrow


HRT - Croatian television, Croatia, 1997
Documentary, duration 30 minutes
Original format 16mm
35 mm copy for screening
English subtitles

Director BRANKO ISTVANCIC
Screenwriter DAVOR SISMANOVIC
Camera BRANKO CAHUN
Editor VISNJA STERN
Music PERE ISTVANCIC
Sound TONI JURKOVIC

Synopsis:The film deals with people who work at a fish farm in Donji Miholjac in Croatia and who are responsible for scaring away cormorants who eat fish stocks (which serves as food for humans). The problem is that cormorants are protected by law and because their habitats are located in neighboring Hungary, the daily lives of these people is Sisyphean absurd job.  The film simply aims at telling the story about an occupation, unusual not only because it's rare, but also because it's self-sufficient.  It is a real "life on a small scale", a micro universe nearing extinction. To these people, guarding the fish farm by scaring away the cormorants is not a mere job but an obsession of sorts, and it doesn't end when the working day comes to end. The reason for this attitude perhaps becomes clearer if we translate the administrative, dry description of their job into more human language. This case is a battle for existence in it's most elementary form. Naturally, the cormorants are not doing a job in what they have "hidden" intentions, but they are merely trying to survive. And what could be called their "guilt" is exclusively a human categorization. On the other hand, the occupation of the guards is a factor of existential security, as long as the cormorants are there. Therein lies the key to the relationship between the cormorants and their "scarecrows". This film has tried to show the compelling interdependence created in this way. 

Film Director's Statement: The Cormorant Scarecrow is a black humor real life story. The film deals with people who work at a fish farm in Donji Miholjac in Croatia and who are responsible for scaring away cormorants who eat fish stocks (which serves as food for humans). The problem is that cormorants are protected by law and because their habitats are located in neighboring Hungary, the daily lives of these people is Sisyphean absurd job.  The film simply aims at telling the story about an occupation, unusual not only because it's rare, but also because it's self-sufficient. It's a microcosm that is disappearing. To guard a fishpond and scare away the distant cormorants is not only a job, but also a form of an obsession that does not end at the end of the working day. Naturally, the cormorants are not doing a job in what they have "hidden" intentions, but they are merely trying to survive. On the other hand, the occupation of the guards is a factor of existential security, as long as the cormorants are there. This film has tried to show the compelling interdependence created in this way.




Festivals:
Croatian Film Festival 1998
International Tourfilm Festival Split Croatia 1998
Croatian New Cinema Budapest Hungary 2001
ENVIRONMENTAL FILM FESTIVAL USA 2003
Rastgele International Sea and Fishermen Film Festival 2005

 

 
 

 


Plasitelj kormorana insert 1 from Branko Istvancic on Vimeo


Plasitelj kormorana insert 2 from Branko Istvancic on Vimeo

GRAND PRIX Award - the best film
at the Croatian Film Festival in 1998

Oktavijan Award for the Best Documentary in Croatia in 1998 of Croatian Film Critic's Guild
at the Croatian Film Festival in 1998

Special award
at the International Tourfilm Festival Split in 1998

In conclusion, documentary film in the '90s definitely failed to make an artistical record of the drama that surrounded it. Nevertheless, from the production of the period one could piece together two programmes of exellent films including Hotel Sunja, Sky over Osijek, Radio station Krapina, Mirila, The Cormorant Scarecrow, The Duel, BBB, The Hallway and The Corn Road. These documentaries could easily constitute the list equal to that of some of the best decades of Croatian documentary.

Jurica Pavičić,
CROATIAN DOCUMENTARY IN THE NINETES
THE CROATIAN CINEMA CHRONICLE, Vol 9 (2003),
No 33, Zagreb, March 2003

"The Cormorant Scarecrow is a black humour real life story and for many was the best Croatian documentary in 1990-es."
Kino klub Zagreb,
Young Croatian Documentary