Janko Ravnik
In the Realm of the Goldenhorn, 1931
In the Realm of the Goldenhorn was the first Slovenian feature film, which premiered in 1931 and was created and produced by members of the Skala mountaineering club. The film was directed, filmed, and edited by Janko Ravnik, pianist and professor of piano at the Academy of Music in Ljubljana. The screenplay was written by Juša Kozak and starred mountaineers of the time, including legendary alpinists Joža Čop, Miha Potočnik, Herbert Drofenik, and Franica Sodja.
The film follows the journey of three companions, each belonging to a different social class: a student from Ljubljana, an ironworker from Jesenice, and a farm labourer who set off from Kranjska Gora, via Vršič, Prisojnik, Vodnik Lodge and Kredarica, all the way to the top of Mount Triglav – to the realm of the Goldenhorn. They spend the first night in a tent, the following day they meet grass mowers, foresters, and herdsmen and spend the night before their final ascent in a herdsman’s hut with the fair shepherdess Liza. Each encounter is captured on camera, showing the work people do in the mountains. They conclude their mountaineering adventure, revealing the many beautiful features of the Slovenian land and the mountains, at Lake Bohinj and from there to Bled, where they part ways.
Filmed over a period of three-and-a-half years, In the Realm of the Goldenhorn premiered on 29 August 1931 at the Grand Hotel Union in Ljubljana, where it was seen by 15,000 people over the next ten days. The premiere of this silent film, which delighted young and old alike, was accompanied by a twelve-piece string orchestra, and at later screenings by a smaller musical ensemble. From the proceeds of the screening of the first Yugoslav alpine film, the members of club Skala built a mountain lodge on Rjava skala (Brown Rock) on Vogel mountain. The lodge burned down during World War II and has since been replaced by the Ski Hotel.
As a tribute to the 90th anniversary of the film, in 2021 the Archives of the Republic of Slovenia ensured that the film was digitised and digitally restored. The demanding digital restoration process, which was carried out in Italy, allowed the film to be restored as close as possible to the way it was seen by the audience at the time, with as little intervention in the image as possible. Some coloured shots that had been lost in the conventional copying process in the past have also been restored. We would like to thank Matej Ravnik, grandson of Janko Ravnik, for permission to screen the film at EKO 9. The screening of the film was made possible by the Slovenian Film Archives at the Archives of the Republic of Slovenia.
docu-fiction feature film, 75′, still frame, courtesy of Matej Ravnik and the Archives of the Republic of Slovenia
Janko Ravnik (b. 1891, Bohinjska Bistrica, d. 1982, Ljubljana) was a Slovenian pianist, composer, music pedagogue, photographer and film director. He graduated from the Glasbena matica [Slovene Music Society] in Ljubljana and studied piano with Josef Jiranek at the Prague Conservatory. On his return to his homeland, he was drafted into the 17th Infantry Regiment. During the First World War he played in the military orchestra together with the prominent violinist of Czech origin, Rihard Zika. After his return to Ljubljana, he took up a job as an accompanist and conductor at the Ljubljana Opera, having had the honour of being the first to do so. He was a professor of piano at the Academy of Music in Ljubljana and its Dean. He was a mentor to many generations of pianists, including Pavel Šivica, Hilda Horak and Zdenka Novak. In 1931, he made the first Slovenian feature-length film, In the Realm of the Goldenhorn. His other documentary work includes a film about the celebration of the 120th anniversary of the foundation of the Illyrian Provinces and the unveiling of the Napoleon monument in Ljubljana (1929).
