Bostjan Hladnik made his mark as an Eastern European director to watch when his trendsetting Dance in the Rain (1961) burst on the Yugoslav film scene at a time when socialist realism principles still reigned supreme in other socialist countries.

Hladnik had just returned to his native Slovenia from his film studies at IDHEC in Paris and a period working as an assistant director for Claude Chabrol.

The French Nouvelle Vague had taught him firsthand the value of fragmented editing and strong visual images. Yugoslavia, however, was not quite ready for such maverick experiments: Dance in the Rain was heavily attacked, although praised with equal ardour by young intellectuals and filmmakers.

Hladnik continued his experiments at Viba Film in Ljubljana with a radical approach to thematic content.

His Erotikon (1963), with its openly sensual approach to taboo sexual relationships, not only triggered angry protest again in the press, but it also led to its being banned in some Yugoslav republics. Western European critics and public, however, supported the Slovene director, enough for Hladnik to find some foreign backing for his even more provocative feature film on sexual mores, Masquerade (1971).

Born in Kranj, Slovenia, Bostjan Hladnik graduated from the Ljubljana Academy of Fine Arts before departing for Paris. He has made for Yugoslav and Slovenian television a number of award-winning shorts and documentaries on painters and artists living in Ljubljana.

Ron Holloway

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