Four short films about four local museums from Croatia and Slovenia were produced as a part of the project In Cultura Veritas, an EU cross-border cooperation, aimed at the active protection of cultural heritage by creating a new tourist destination in the traditional winegrowing regions. To achieve one of the primary goals—an increase in the number of museum visitors—the emphasis was put on the production of films, based on the results of workshops organised by the Museum Documentation Center (MDC) with the curators of the local museums.
During the workshops, we have identified the museum objects, historical figures, and events, tangible and intangible cultural heritage of those cities, and their centuries-old winegrowing tradition. We have also discovered unknown stories like the one according to which Beethoven was drinking wine from Zelina vineyards owned by his friend, the Countess of Erdödy, and one of the women believed to have been “immortal beloved”—an unnamed woman he loved. To tell these stories in 60 seconds, we chose a production company that is working with the youngest generation of filmmakers and artists.
Different techniques and technologies were used, such as drone shots, parallax 3D photos, animated photos and sketches by a young painter, illustrator and street artist whose art brings to mind Durer’s woodcuts and the peasant festival prints—the “promotional videos” of the 16th century. The combination of storytelling and an innovative visual vocabulary resulted in exciting films that can attract all generations of museum visitors.