(by memory I thought this was on 30th, but later found it was 23-25th, when I caught up with my diary)
After having won the municipal competition (which was easy, because there were perhaps only two more schools where they had 8mm movie technique (take that back - no other schools); we did the lab for it in my elementary school but I don't think we had too many spools to develop)(true: just two), went to Senta for the province level (i.e. Vojvodina). This time it was in Senta. I remember the weather was very nice, I remember a few faces (Lazar was the organizer of the trip; I think I met Bukac first time there, Sredljak, Strle plus a few pals who will show up again next year). The test was two parts - the general oto knowledge and the knowledge of movie technique. I did well on both, possibly maxed out on the first. Then there was the practical part where we should shoot a spool of 8mm, the theme being "Street impressions", IOW go out and shoot what you see. I found a piece of chalk somewhere and wrote my name and the movie title on dark soil (was probably still humid enough, rained a few days ago) and on a garbage can. Seems to be I got extra points for originality... the rest of it was mostly how to not shoot the kids who wanted to be on tevee. As if the 8mm was a suitable format for that screen, with just 16 fps and the tiny image - something about 6,3 by 4,8mm and no sound.
Well, whatever - it lasted three days. Tests and shooting on friday, then they'd develop that overnight, editing and projection on saturday, then the žiri would go out and probably get drunk, scoring and pronouncements by sunday lunch, then trip home. We were accomodated, i.e. guests of, kids from local schools. So I slept two nights in a house of people I never saw, and never will, and for the life of me I couldn't remember where the house was. I remember going to a movie (with the host, probably), some french thing with lots of falling leaves, a romantic story which I couldn't quite follow, probably was rather tired by then. Ah, "the thief of Paris" with Belmondo. Sure, a romantic story.
What I wrote down is no kudos to the organizers - first, when we got there nobody was waiting; we were accomodated late in the day, almost dark; material (i.e. 2mm tape) wasn't provided; we had to go everywhere, sometimes out of town, transportation wasn't provided; food in the restaurant was awful; the prize watch I got wasn't much and had scarce service network. Don't know how long it lasted.
I appeared on TV, some guy interviewed me :).
To keep us all amused on sunday, the hosts organized (or hooked into) a local airforce practice, where some flying (probably from the Sombor airport) was arranged and we took turns in flying in a helicopter, perhaps some five minutes. It was exciting and extremely loud and vibrating. Seeing the soil from above was worth it.
And, ahem, I came out first, ahead of the haughty kids from the best (and best equipped) schools in Novi. So I'll be going on that trip to Sarajevo soon. Amazingly, I thought we had some other transportation, but no - we caught a bus to Čoka, and then a šinobus to home.
These trips were a good consolation prize for not going to an ekskurzija with my class. We were fucked up as a generation anyway - all the classes before us would go for a ten day camp, under real tents, on Fruška Gora, we were the first where the camp was replaced with a just two-three day trip.