The biggest project of the association Kulturni front, Festival of Fantasy and Science Fiction Liburnicon More than 2,200 people visited this year, showing that it is equally interesting to the local population and guests, as well as to people of all ages.
In total, over 80 points of the program were held.
FRIDAY
The central part of the festival was certainly the lectures, among which the presentation of the literary opus of one of the festival’s honorary guests – the British writer Jonathan Stroud – should be singled out, who has earned worldwide fame as one of the best writers of fantastic literature for children and young people through an unforgettable and easy-to-read style and over six million books sold. The presentation was led and moderated by Vladimir Cvetković Sever, a well-known Croatian literary expert, initiator of the new publishing house Mitopea and Algoritam's longtime translator, who translated (among others) all the books of Bartime's trilogy, Stroud's most famous series. After the presentation, many readers had the opportunity to talk to their favorite writer, get signatures on books and photographs to mark the meeting with the writer who marked the childhood and youth of many visitors.
An extremely interesting lecture was given by Steve Lundin (better known by his pseudonym Steven Erikson), a well-known Canadian writer who has dealt with archaeology for many years, so his writing successes will be discussed more on Saturday, while on the first day of Liburnicon he spoke about forbidden archaeology, i.e. archaeological research that, for various reasons, is prohibited, difficult or not financed, as well as controversial results and discoveries that will certainly conclude the professional career of every archaeologist. Steven Erikson stayed long after his performance with his fans who came from Slovenia, Slovakia and other countries. Even more controversial topics continued in the popular talk-show of the famous TV host Krešimir Miško, who, with his guests, but also the audience who unreservedly engaged in a discussion with numerous questions and comments, discussed implosion technologies of Viktor Schauberger, an Austrian inventor and (pseudo)scientist whose designs (as well as himself) were seized by the US immediately after the end of World War II due to their possible military and technological applications.
The presentations, along with numerous lectures, have shown that educational-scientific and cultural-artistic contents can still be attractive and interesting to the younger population, since the spaces of their maintenance were filled to (and over) the last place. Experimental physicist and local inventor Davor Jadrijević, a longtime friend of Liburnicon, showed how it can be levitated using magnets, and the honorary guest and famous comic strip illustrator Enis Čišić spoke and presented how our visual memory works.
Liburnicon was also marked by numerous workshops, quizzes and games, and a large playroom with over 30 tables stood out, where visitors could try one of almost two hundred different social table games, with volunteers from a friendly association Playful goat from Pula or Mordele from Poreč, as well as experts from the company Czech Games Edition which deals with the issue of table games.
The evening was also marked by a concert by a Slovenian band Noreia, who, through the cheerful and entertaining sounds of Irish music, further raised the cheerful atmosphere at the festival itself.
SATURDAY
Veé has traditionally been of greatest interest to local science popularizers, astronomer Korad Korlević and physicist lvica Puljko, for whom almost two hundred seats, as many as the organizers prepared in the largest lecture hall at Liburnicon, proved to be not nearly enough. Korado Korlević, a longtime friend of the festival who participated in the program of 12 of the 13 editions of the festival with his presentations, took interested visitors through the world of myths and legends of Istria, while Ivica Puljak explained in a understandable way to everyone what important questions science does not yet have an answer to, but more importantly - to which it has. Accordingly, he believes, the space of religion and other non-scientific approaches that try to explain the world around us is defined and shaped – the space for them is only one where science does not have a clear answer.
Although the number of visitors proved to be the most interesting, taking into account the intensity of interest, the main guests of this year's Liburnicon undoubtedly lead, which is why some visitors came from thousands of kilometers away cities of central and western Europe. A large panel about the works of Jonathan Stroud and Steven Erikson, famous fiction writers with millions of books sold, had to (after the expiration of the predicted duration, and due to the huge interest of visitors) continue in another room so that the program of the festival could take place without delay, and again many fans could complete the discussion with their favorite writers and submit numerous books for signing. Similar interest was given to other main guests, from experts in table games from the publishing house Czech Games Edition to artists Enis Ćišić and Goran Sudžuka, whose presentations and workshops (and many of them were held at the Liburnicon itself) were always well attended, and there was always a crowd in the hallway with the exhibition of their works.
In addition to lectures and presentations, Saturday's Liburnicon hosted numerous quizzes, games and workshops, and many experienced the highlight of the evening dancing at the inspiring concert of the group Dellboys, or participating (or at least accompanying) fun game The Elf Boys of Liburnicon. In accordance with the theme of the festival, a competition was held in cosplay, the practice of dressing in characters from novels, films or comics of fantastic and science-fiction themes, so that visitors had the opportunity to see a number of excellent masks and performances.
Sunday was marked by an extremely rich children's program in which almost a hundred children participated. In addition to the workshops of making elven lanterns, ears or houses, the youngest visitors had the opportunity to try archery and board games, see a magical show Keymaker Theatre Oz, but also enjoy the large inflatable castle that is set in front of the school.
The organizers expressed their great satisfaction with the way this year's festival went, including a record attendance of 2200 visitors and a never richer and better quality program that received many praises and congratulations, both from the local population and from people who usually travel to similar festivals in Europe, and compare Liburnicon with some of the largest European fantasy festivals. Finally, the organizers expressed special gratitude to the City of Opatija and Primorje-Gorski Kotar County, which have been financially supporting the festival for years, strategic partners such as Amadria Park Hotels and Festival Opatija, friendly associations, organizations and bodies such as the City Society of the Red Cross Opatija, Association Playful goat and the Local Board of Toshin, but also numerous other sponsors from the private sector, such as HBO, Workers Opatija, bookstore and stationery Melior, table games stores Carta Magica, Paraguay Tours, Studio Spektar and Camp Velebit.
