SPELEO FILM FESTIVAL – Aquatika Karlovac, September 23rd, 2017
The seventh Speleo Film Festival, organised by the NGO Osmica from Karlovac took place at the Aquatika, Karlovac on Saturday, September 23rd, 2017. This year’s edition gathered together around 150 hikers and cavers from all around Croatia, Slovenia, Italy and Germany as well as other nature lovers from Karlovac and its surroundings. Patrons of the Festival were the City of Karlovac, Speleological Committee of the Croatian Mountaineering Association and Aquatika Karlovac.
Speleological film holds a significant role in speleological exploration because of its ability to present authentic underground environment in all its beauty, previously accessable only to a small number of specially trained people – speleologists. The value of recorded scenes beyond the surface is even greater if observed from non-specalized viewer’s perspective. Films displayed in recent festivals showed viewers all the beauty of speleological decorations and hidden touristic possibilities the underground holds. They presented the various life beyond the surface, acknowledged as one of the bearers of biodiversity in Croatia. They exhibited the results and valuable scientific information from many speleological explorations and expeditions to different, exotic parts of the world and a lot more.
20 films from 13 countries competed for prizes this year, giving the festival national and international recognition, as one of the very few festivals with similar topics in the world. The jury of 5 members awarded the following 3 films:
- 3rd prize for „SIGNAL SEEKER – A SHORT STORY ABOUT BO LENANDER’S LIFELONG JOURNEY“ by Janne Suhonen from Finland and Antti Apunen from Sweden.
- 2nd prize for „OUR CAVE (VEREVKINA CAVE)“ by Petr Lyubimov from Russia
- 1st prize for: „NELL’INFERNO DEL MONTE KRONIO“ by Tullio Bernabei from Italy
Prizes were provided by the festival sponsors: Northland professional, BiM sport and Elwork speleo,
The organising committee of the festival and the organiser would like to thank everyone for their support. As the festival is growing each year we are very excited to be able to implement new ideas in the near future, making Karlovac a unique tourist destination for cavers and all the nature lovers.
For the Organising Committe of the Festival
Damir Basara