''O, Vrba'' is a key Slovene pre-war

documentary film A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional film, motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". Bill Nichols (film critic), Bil ...

. It was commissioned by the Educational Union ( sl, Prosvetna zveza), directed by and produced in 1941 under the auspice of the company Emona Film. Its first internal premiere took place in the beginning of 1942. Due to the so-called "

cultural silence Cultural silence ( sl, kulturni molk) was the boycott, ordered in January 1942 by the communist-dominated Slovene Liberation Front (OF), of all cultural activities and events connected with the German and Italian annexation of Slovenia because the ...

" imposed in the

Slovene Lands The Slovene lands or Slovenian lands ( sl, Slovenske dežele or in short ) is the historical denomination for the territories in Central and Southern Europe where people primarily spoke Slovene. The Slovene lands were part of the Illyrian provinc ...

during World War II, it was released only in 1945 by the State Film Company. It is a

short Short may refer to: Places * Short (crater), a lunar impact crater on the near side of the Moon * Short, Mississippi, an unincorporated community * Short, Oklahoma, a census-designated place People * Short (surname) * List of people known as ...

black and white film Black-and-white (B&W or B/W) images combine black and white in a continuous spectrum, producing a range of shades of grey. Media The history of various visual media began with black and white, and as technology improved, altered to color. ...

that shows the

Prešeren House The Prešeren House (traditional Slovene oeconym ) is a house in the village of Vrba in the Municipality of Žirovnica in Slovenia. It is the house where the Slovene poet France Prešeren was born in 1800. The Slovene theologian and archbishop ...

after it was opened as a museum, on the day when the authors found out about the

German assault on Poland The invasion of Poland (1 September – 6 October 1939) was a joint attack on the Republic of Poland by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union which marked the beginning of World War II. The German invasion began on 1 September 1939, one week after ...

, reflected in a dark atmosphere of clouds traversing the

Karawanks The Karawanks or Karavankas or Karavanks ( sl, Karavanke; german: Karawanken, ) are a mountain range of the Southern Limestone Alps on the border between Slovenia Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: ...

. The film reflects Förster's fine feel for light and composition. It contains voice recordings of the writer

Fran Saleški Finžgar Fran Saleški Finžgar (February 9, 1871 – June 2, 1962) was perhaps the most popular Slovene folk writer. He is particularly known for his novels and short stories, although he also wrote poems and plays. Life Fran Saleški Finžgar was born ...

, who led the arrangement of the house, and of the poet

Oton Župančič Oton Župančič (January 23, 1878 – June 11, 1949, pseudonym ''Gojko'') was a Slovene poet, translator, and playwright. He is regarded, alongside Ivan Cankar, Dragotin Kette and Josip Murn, as the beginner of modernism in Slovene literature. ...

, who recited the Prešeren's poem O Vrba. The music, written by , was the first original Slovene film music. The montage and mixing of sound and picture were done by .

References

1945 films Documentary films about poets France Prešeren 1945 documentary films Slovenian documentary films Documentary films about Yugoslavia {{Slovenia-film-stub