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Film / Photography | Slovenia | by Otto Reiter | 2004-10
Of Suicides and a Few SurvivorsIn former Yugoslavia Slovenian film played only a marginal role and yet there are still a number of current highlightsFor the southern regions of the former Yugoslavia the Slovenian north was an economic model as well as a kind of indicator of the (prevailing?) mood in the country. An extremely high suicide rate with an equally high level of economic achievement, similar to the situation as in Denmark, Austria and Hungary, was however a carefully veiled taboo theme. One did not talk about it, one wanted to survive.Slovenia never was and still is not a utopian land of images, it is not a country where film or cinema is seen as a means of escape from reality, but is far more a righteous nation of workers. Many people today are still aware of the fact that Tito's mother was a Slovene, that Peter Handke's most haunting book, "Wunschloses Unglück", describes the suicide of his despairing mother is something perhaps a few still recall. However many people have forgotten today that the courageous Yugoslav director Dušan Makavejev was chased out of Belgrade in the 1970s: "Only the Slovenes wanted to have me back. I was not welcome in Belgrade or Novi Sad. In Sarajevo too I was regarded as an enemy of the state for a long time, something I have a number of severe party bureaucrats to thank for. Only the Slovenes dared to show a retrospective of my work in 1986. But they were put under pressure and were unable to get copies. They then simply got the films from archives in Germany and other countries." In former Yugoslavia Slovene filmmaking played only a marginal role and yet there are a number of highlights. One should mention, for example, the sensitive Slovene camera artist Vilko Filac, who was the cameraman for Emir Kusturica's internationally acclaimed early works such as "Do You Remember Dolly Bell?“ (1981), "When Father Was Away on Business “ (1984), "Time of the Gypsies“ (1988). This wonderful collaboration has however come to an end. And only few prophetically addressed the shock of the 1990s, such as Slovene director Filip Robar-Dorint. In his film "Ovni in mamuti“ ("Rams and Mammoths“, made in 1985, camera: Karpo Godina) he shows in a sarcastic and semi-documentary fashion the lives of Bosnian "guest workers" in Slovenia that are marked by prejudices on both sides. The ironic commentary in the film seems almost modest, if only Slovenes are being referred to: "If there were no Bosnians we would have to invent them. Once all the Slovenes disagreed with each other but now they love each other again because we have a common enemy, the Bosnians. We are proud again of being Slovenes. The Bosnians are our most urgent historic necessity. We drove out or exterminated the Jews a long time ago but the few remaining gypsies could not be made responsible for everything. We could not even make the working class responsible for our upset stomachs, unfaithful wives and drunken nights because now we are all working class. Oh God give us our daily Bosnians and our hearts will be lighter.“ Until recently Filip Robar-Dorin was director of the Slovene Film Fund and Karpo Godina worked as a professor at the Film Institute in Ljubljana. Two committed teachers of a young self-confident but critical generation that is full of fantasy and far from discouraged. Janez Burger, inventor and director of the BURGerTHEATER in Ljubljana, achieved a major international festival success with his debut film "V leru“ ("Idle Running“, 1999). The main role of the unmotivated student who is gradually losing control of a meaningless life is played by Jan Cvitković, who has developed from an actor to one of the most important European author film directors with his directing debut film "Kruh in mleko“ ("Bread and Milk“, 2001). And finally two women have put an end to the decades of male monopoly of film making in an impressive way: Maja Weiss and Hana Slak with their dark, sad films "The Road of Fraternity and Unity“ (1999) and „Blind Spot“ (2002). Internationally there is considerable interest in Slovene filmmaking, which in turn helps the local scene. In 1997 the young wild director Igor Sterk made his debut film "Express, Express“ almost without state aid but with a great deal of courage and passion. In his second feature film "Ljubljana“ (2002) he questions the dubious idyll of the Slovene capital city. The first and last image unmistakeably rips away the veil from the taboo of the country's high suicide rate. Damjan Kozole, who made an embarrassing speculative mistake with his "Porno Film“ (2000) provoked quite an amount of justifiable attention with his "Spare Parts“ in the competition of the Berlinale 2003. He tells the story of asylum seekers, refugees in Slovenia, whose internal organs (spare parts) are to be sold in Italy by native Slovene criminals for high prices. The film is made in an entirely non-sensational way, employs the necessary severity and is amazingly self-critical in many careful details. An important work. At present a film is being made that offers something promising for the cinema year 2005: a small village in the Slovene karst region, people, like everywhere else, afraid of death and the chaos that is called life, searching for a little security and warmth. Director: Jan Cvitković, working title: "Od groba do groba“ ("From Grave to Grave“). Anyone who knows Jan Cvitković and his films also knows that despite the sad-sounding title in his films there is always a shimmer of hope. pictures
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