Academic Kino Club was founded by students at the University of Belgrade in 1958. In 1976 it became known as Academic Film Center (AFC) at Culture Centre “Studentski grad” in Belgrade. One of the most important of the film clubs in the former Yugoslavia, it left its mark on experimental film culture in Yugoslavia and Serbia through the work of the artists associated with it. In addition to producing independent and alternative films, AFC organizes workshops on film directing and various seminars in the area of film. Within the Alternative Cinema it presents a large number of alternative, experimental, and avant-garde films, artist profiles, and retrospectives. It organizes the festival Alternative Film/Video (founded in 1982) and the Festival of European animated film Balkanima (founded in 2004). Through the Alternative Film Archive it preserves and distributes works significant to the history of experimental film in Serbia. Danas jedini aktivni kino klub u Srbiji, AFC predstavlja nezaobilazno mesto na mapi svetske alternativne filmske produkcije i instituciju koja mladim ali i afirmisanim autorima pruža bezrezervnu podršku u realizaciji i distribuciji alternativnih (eksperimentalnih, avangardnih, ličnih, dokumentarnih …) filmova. Today the only active film club in Serbia, AFC represents an important space on the map of international alternative film production and an institution in which young and established artists are offered dedicated support in the realization and distribution of alternative (experimental, avant-garde, personal, documentary, etc.) films.
Alternative Film Archive was founded in 1982 and represents the ideal synthesis of the work of Academic Film Center at Culture Centre “Studentski grad”, seen through the intensive development of film creation and activity in the field of critical revalorization and theoretical definition of alternative film production. The Alternative Film Archive preserves films by artists who produced work within Academic Kino Club/Academic Film Center from 1958 to today. A significant part of the collection also includes films by artists not associated with AFC, who deposited their works for preservation and protection in the archive. Activities include: publications, photographs, documentary, video and audio recordings, also technology for reproducing old film and video formats, which depict the cultural milieu and the era in which these films were created. In relation to the mainstream of professional cinema, alternative film was always on the margins. The relatively small number of digital copies of these films and the limited opportunities to view them, usually either in the archive or through special projections, has resulted in a lack of recognition and valuation. This is why further digitalization and the availability of this film heritage online is one of the key preconditions for researching experimental and avant-garde film in Serbia and presenting it throughout the world. The digital copies of the films and the documents preserved in Alternative film archive are available for consultation in the Library of Culture Centre "Studentski grad" during official opening hours or at Academic Film Center.
Miodrag Milošević, urednik Arhiva; Milan Milosavljevic, arhivist; Marija Kovačina, arhivist; Bojana Katalina, direktor
