NEWS RELEASE
September, 2016
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
(Mannheim, September 2016) Everybody has heard of Alcatraz, yet the same cannot be said of the former Croatian prison island, Goli Otok. But this is now set to change.
Both the magical and dark past of this island, which was used as a prison essentially for political prisoners in the middle of the 20th century, is to be brought back to life in a dynamic and experimental short film by young, upcoming directors from London. The professional translation service provider, flexword, which has offices in Germany, Serbia, Great Britain and the USA, is providing financial support to this documentary film project and, in the future, would like to become more closely involved in cultural sponsorship. “For us, this short film project on ‘Croatia’s Alcatraz’, represents the start of an even greater commitment to the promotion of new talent. Language is an essential means of communication, yet equally just one of many ways to get a message across. For the most part, this film does not use dialogue but rather relies on images which are international and accessible to all cultures. As an international language service provider, this was the particular appeal of this film project,” explained Goranka Miš-Čak, the founder and managing director of flexword.
Goranka Miš-Čak was born on the neighbouring island: “Goli Otok is part of my native country and also a dark chapter in its history.” This is why the preservation of this historical legacy is so important to her. Goli Otok (Croatian for “barren” or “naked” island) is an island in the Adriatic Sea located between the island of Rab and the Croatian mainland. From 1949 onwards, it was used by the Yugoslavian regime under Tito as a camp for political prisoners. Later on and up to its closure in 1988, it was used to house dangerous criminals. Today it is uninhabited. However, it is open to tourists who, in the scorching heat and amidst the now derelict buildings, can get a sense of the oppressive feeling of knowing there used to be no escape from there.
The young director Antonina Blažanović and her crew were all trained at the Met Film School at London’s tradition-steeped Ealing Studios where films, such as Notting Hill and TV productions including Downton Abbey were shot. This documentary does not merely want to serve as a memorial to the horrors of “Tito’s concentration camp”, first and foremost, it wants to highlight the island’s sad beauty. “We want to capture the unique atmosphere of this island and revitalise it”, explained Antonina Blažanović. The 15-minute film is visually stunning and has been deliberately created to absorb and capture viewers. There are no interviews and, instead, the focus is on highlighting the scenery from unusual perspectives. Filming is already underway and is expected to be complete by mid-September 2016. If, by the end of this project, which has been financed by Crowdfunding, funds are still required in order, for example, to submit it to film festivals, flexword has already promised to make up any difference. The director hopes to submit the final film to the London Experimental Film Festival, the London Independent Film Festival and the Berlin Experimental Film Festival.
Impressions of “102 – Portrait of a Prison Island” can be found on Instagram and facebook.
flexword Translators & Consultants:
flexword Translators & Consultants, whose head office is in Mannheim, Baden-Württemberg, is one of Germany’s leading professional language service providers. Its director is Goranka Miš-Čak, a qualified translator, who founded the company in 1992. From very small to large-scale projects, from single-language to multilingual, long-term projects, to express and overnight translations, over 1,000 clients in a variety of industries choose flexword as a full service provider because of our convincing core competence in translation services. We were one of the first translation providers to be certified to EN 15038. This makes flexword the top provider among the high-quality service providers. In 2015 we became a member of the British Chamber of Commerce and a provider of education services for the Rhein-Neckar Chamber of Commerce and Industry. In that same financial year we also noted a sharp upturn in growth, increasing turnover by 62%, allowing us to add several new members to our core team. We have a total of 33 full-time staff backed up by a global network of around 8,000 highly qualified translators and sub-editors. This places us in a position where we can provide translations exclusively from qualified mother-tongue specialists with sound professional experience behind them. For over 20 years, flexword has provided top-quality translations, completing all assignments competently and on time while showing flexibility and focusing on the customer’s needs.
Press Contact
Amélie Quasthoff
Administrative & Communication Assistant
Tel. : +49 621 39 74 78 – 0 | Fax: +49 621 39 74 78 -10
Amelie.quasthoff@flexword.de
PDF download here: Sponsorship of the arts and new talents
