Representation of Slovenian filming locations in narratives of foreign-produced movies

The aim of this paper is to understand the role Slovenian locations play in the narratives of the foreign produced movies after Second World War. During Yugoslav period Slovenia was an attractive destination for western film makers who recognized diverse and pristine nature and preserved cultural heritage as suitable scenes for their movies. Important factors for filming were low cost coproduction agreements with Yugoslavian market-oriented film companies, low production prices and freer political atmosphere compared to the Soviet bloc countries. Their interest disappeared after the dissolution of Yugoslavia and political instability of the region. Slovenia as an attractive film destination was “rediscovered” only recently by Indian filmmakers and western European and American companies which found advantage in recently introduced tax rebate policy. In the paper we analysed foreign produced movies filmed in Slovenia since 1950s to determine the meaning of selected locations in the narratives. Out of 24 movies analysed most of them were produced by US film companies, followed by Italian and German companies. Film locations in the movie narratives mostly substitute real locations in other countries or regions. The second most frequent motive is a fantasy scene or not explicitly defined location. We also identified locations that represent idealised mountainous landscape and landscapes of North America. The results show that Slovenian landscapes are often chosen as a non-authentic substitution for other globally more recognized landscapes and their parts. Low production costs in globally competitive market most likely still play an important role for destination decision. Understanding references of Slovenian filming locations in movie narratives can be useful for location scouts and tourism workers who design promotion strategies. //   Namen clanka je razumeti vlogo slovenskih lokacij v zgodbah filmov tuje produkcije, posnetih po drugi svetovni vojni. V casu Jugoslavije je bila Slovenija privlacna destinacija za filmske ustvarjalce z zahoda, ki so prepoznali raznoliko in neobljudeno naravo ter ohranjeno kulturno dediscino kot primerno za kuliso v njihovih filmih. Pomembni dejavniki za snemanje so bili poceni koprodukcijski sporazumi z jugoslovanskimi filmskimi podjetji, ki so bila tržno usmerjena, nizki produkcijski stroski in svobodnejse politicno ozracje v primerjavi z državami sovjetskega bloka. Interes tujih filmskih ustvarjalcev je izginil po razpadu Jugoslavije in nastopu politicne nestabilnosti v regiji. Slovenija je bila kot privlacna filmska destinacija ponovno »odkrita« sele nedavno s strani indijskih filmskih ustvarjalcev ter ameriskih in britanskih podjetij, ki so videla priložnost v nedavno uveljavljeni politiki oprostitve davkov. V clanku smo analizirali filme tuje produkcije, ki so bili posneti v Sloveniji od 50. let 20. stoletja dalje, da bi prepoznali pomen izbranih lokacij v zgodbah. Izmed 24 analiziranih filmov, so vecino producirala ameriska filmska podjetja, sledijo nemska in italijanska. Lokacije v zgodbah filmov vecinoma nadomescajo resnicne lokacije v drugih državah in regijah. Drugi najbolj pogost motiv so fantazijski prizori ali nedolocljive lokacije. Prepoznali smo tudi lokacije, ki predstavljajo idealizirane gorske pokrajine in pokrajine Severne Amerike. Rezultati kažejo, da slovenske pokrajine pogosto ne-avtenticno nadomescajo druge globalno bolj poznane pokrajine in njihove prvine. Nizki stroski v globalno konkurencnem trgu najverjetneje se vedno igrajo pomembno vlogo pri odlocitvi za destinacijo. Razumevanje pomenov slovenskih filmskih lokacij v filmskih zgodbah je lahko uporabno za poklicne iskalce filmskih lokacij in turisticne delavce, ki pripravljajo promocijske strategije.