Mercury from Idrija (1947)
Živa iz Idrije [SRP]

“Mercury from Idrija” depicted the life of miners in one of the world’s biggest mercury mines. Located in Western Slovenia, Idrija became a part of Italy with the Treaty of Rapallo (1920). In 1943 it was occupied by Nazy Germany. During the Trieste Crisis it was a part of the zone B until the signature the Paris Peace Treaties allowed for its inclusion into socialist Yugoslavia in 1947. “Mercury from Idrija” discussed this turbulent political history, showing the improvement of conditions in the mercury mine, following Idrija’s inclusion into Yugoslavia.

“Mercury from Idrija” was among the very first Yugoslav films ever sent to film festivals abroad. At the time, films traveled to international film festivals by the decision of the official institutions, and they were not sent individually by the producers. In Yugoslavia, the selection of films to be sent to international festivals was made by the government’s Committee for Cinematography. In 1947 the Committee sent a total of six short documentary film to film festivals in Locarno, Edinburgh, Venice, Brussels [FRA], and Mariánské Lázně (forerunner of the Karlovy Vary film festival). Two of these films dealt with the situation in the contested Italian-Yugoslav borderlands: “Mercury from Idrija” which was sent to the film festivals in Venice and in Brussels, and “The Truth about Pula / Istina o Puli” (Kosta Hlavaty, Jadran film, 1947), which was sent to the festival in Mariánské Lázně.

As one of the first Yugoslav films screened abroad, “Mercury from Idrija” was well-received by the Yugoslav film-specialized press, as evidenced by the 1947 film press safeguarded at the Library of the Yugoslav Film Archives.

Nikola Rajić (1915–2001) was a Yugoslav film director, scriptwriter and scenographer from Belgrade. He studied architecture but got involved in filmmaking in 1947. He made documentary and feature films, worked for television and did scenography for several films, including Aleksandar Saša Petrović’s films “Days / Dani” (Avala film, 1963) and “Three / Tri” (Avala film, 1965).