Amateur cinema clubs in Yugoslavia

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Amateur cinema clubs in Yugoslavia (or cine clubs) were the basic organizational units for amateur filmmakers. Originally they were formally dependent "film sections" of photo clubs, with the first photo clubs in the region organized in the late 19th century. After the Second World War, photographers and filmmakers often formed clubs together; one such example was the Janez Puhar Photo-Cinema Club in Kranj. Initially, photo clubs covered a wide range of activities and took on the role and responsibilities of cultural and educational institutions that had not yet been set up. Their scope was, however, limited: they provided premises for meetings, some equipment and materials, they organized courses and enabled their members to enter their works for festivals, which did not accept independent filmmakers. As amateur clubs had been the domain of the bourgeoisie before the war, an umbrella organization was set up for them after the Second World War, Popular Engineering Society (Ljudska tehnika). This was to ensure that representatives of the working class also joined the clubs and in part also to supervise the clubs for any potentially subversive activities. In the 1970s the clubs gradually became less significant, although some exist as associations to this day. (Miha Peče)