Godina was born in Skopje (Macedonia) in 1943. At the age of six, Godina moved from the southernmost republic of Yugoslavia to the northernmost one, Slovenia, where he later became a member of Ljubljana’s Kino Club Odsev (Reflection). In 1962, he enrolled in the Academy of Theatre, Radio, Film and Television in Ljubljana, while at the same time making amateur short films within the very well developed structures of amateur film clubs all over Yugoslavia. These early 8mm films won him many awards at numerous short film festivals all across the Federation; that is also where Godina met many of his future collaborators, kindred spirits who wanted to break away from all the existing aesthetic and political conventions of the time, to point their cameras into the previously uncharted territories and do so in a theretofore unimaginable way.
It is precisely this all-pervading, infectious sense of happiness that makes Godina’s short films stand out from everything his peers produced at the time; happiness regardless of the gravity of certain topics that were explored in Godina’s films. In a seemingly carefree, light-hearted manner, always being mildly ironic but never cynical, Godina tackled such delicate issues as the holy dogma of Yugoslav brotherhood or the absurdity of conscripted soldiers’ everyday life.
Strange as it might seem, it is actually easy to overlook this specific and quite unique attitude as one of the key elements of Godina’s directorial signature due to the fact that at least three other important elements play a very prominent role in his cinematic universe. The first simply has to do with the fact that Godina is a masterful cinematographer, versed in framing and lighting a shot as only the greatest talents can. Secondly: every single short film that Godina directed is, especially in a structural sense, a highly conceptual work of art where the rigorous (and always different) concept-at-work shows itself immediately. Last but not least, Godina’s films not only disregard but seem happily oblivious of the established notions of documentary or fiction filmmaking.
The project would not have been possible without the kind help of our partners and supporters: the right holders (the Provincial Secretariat for Culture and Public Information of the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina, the Republic of Serbia, and the ministry of Defence of the Republic of Serbia / Military Film Centre “Zastava Film”); the Jugoslovenska Kinoteka, Zastava Film, the Slovene Film Archives at the Archives of the Republic of Slovenia and the archives of the International Short Film Festival Oberhausen for making the film elements available; the Österreichisches Filmmuseum and L’Immagine Ritrovata for carrying out the restoration work. A special dept of gratitude is owed to the ministry of Culture of the Republic of Slovenia for their financial support as well as to the Embassy of the Republic of Slovenia in Belgrade. Last but not least we would like to extend our special thanks to Karpo Godina and Želimir Žilnik.

Jurij Meden