Slovenian

  • Joze Gale – Kekec (1951)

    1951-1960ClassicsJoze GaleSloveniaYugoslavian Cinema under Tito
    Kekec (1951)
    Kekec (1951)

    Kekec is one of those films people in Slovenia usually see in their childhood and keep it in their memories as a precious gift for the rest of their lives. It is a double memory: firstly, of one’s childhood, and seconly, of an environment that doesn’t exist in the modern world. In fact, the setting looks so ancient the things you see there could be taken straight from a museum – and this is not far from the truth, since every detail has been made with such accuracy it could also serve as a student’s book of ethnographic elements in rural Alpine settlements. Today, these mountains are suffering greatly from the global warming, and most of the green empty planes you see are filled with small tourist houses. All in all, a film as a memory par exellence!Read More »

  • Matjaz Klopcic – Sedmina AKA Funeral Feast (1969)

    Matjaz Klopcic1961-1970ArthouseDramaYugoslaviaYugoslavian Cinema under Tito
    Sedmina (1969)
    Sedmina (1969)

    Quote:
    Funeral Feast, the film with the unforgettable masterfully-edited seven-minute shoot-out in the Tivoli park, takes place in the spring of 1941, when the war engulfs the lives of the Ljubljana youth as well. The affairs of the heart result in a liaison with an enemy officer, while the rebellion leads to organized resistance.

    Like in the majority of Slovenian films, in Funeral Feast the actors from the other former Yugoslav republics were overdubbed by Slovenian actors: Boris Juh lent his voice to Rade Šerbedžija, Mojca Ribič to Snežana Nikšić, and Štefka Drolc to Milena Dravić.Read More »

  • Bostjan Hladnik – Pesceni grad AKA The Castle of Sand (1962)

    1961-1970Bostjan HladnikDramaYugoslaviaYugoslavian Cinema under Tito

    Plot:
    The film opens with a scene of Milena (Millie) running in a panic towards a wire fence. She slips through a hole in the fence and runs on. This is followed by a road-movie style odyssey of two young men, both trying to win Milena’s heart. The story reaches a peak by the sea, where Milena makes an attempt to subtly reveal which of the two young men she loves. She does this by building a sand castle on the beach, where the three of them can be alone, safe and free. Yet the police are close on their trail and the two young men must come to terms with a shocking realization…Read More »

  • Franci Slak – Hudodelci AKA Kriminalci AKA The Felons (1987)

    1981-1990DramaFranci SlakSloveniaWar

    Peter Berdon joins a group of Stalinists after his father is killed by the Nazis in this grim political drama. The film begins with his arrest and uses flashbacks to tell the events that led to his incarceration. His abuse is chronicled both in and out of prison after he falls in with a Bonnie and Clyde-like duo after the war is over.

    The first film for which Laibach composed a soundtrackRead More »

  • Goran Gajic – Laibach: Pobeda pod suncem (1988)

    1981-1990CultDocumentaryGoran GajicYugoslavia

    This film is about great Slovenian band Laibach (german word for Ljubljana, Slovenia). It depicts in pure “laibachian” style history of the group according to conditions of Slovenian history and political situation on the beginning of the 80’s. This film can be taken as a visual manifesto of retrogardist cultural movement called NSK (Neue slowenische Kunst – New Slovenian Art) presented here by Laibach.

    NSK is dealing with totalitarian principles of creating visual or performing art, but in these Slovenian guys living on the edge of germanic and slavonic cultures use a lot of humour, which can sometimes look little bit inappropriate, but really works.Read More »

  • Michael Benson – Laibach: Prerokbe Ognja AKA Predictions of Fire (1996)

    1991-2000DocumentaryMichael BensonSlovenia

    A visceral documentary focusing on the Slovenian collective art movement known as NSK (‘Neue Slowenische Kunst’) and its varied branches: ‘Laibach’, ‘Irwin’, and ‘Red Pilot’.Read More »

  • Zivojin Pavlovic – Nasvidenje v naslednji vojni AKA Farewell until the Next War (1980)

    Zivojin Pavlovic1971-1980DramaWarYugoslaviaYugoslavian Cinema under Tito

    Quote:
    “[…] by far the most ambitious, honest, bitter, and controversial Partisan film produced in the country that was about the collapse in flames and genocide only a decade later. Based on an equally uncompromising novel by Vitomil Zupan, the enfant terrible of Yugoslav literature, Farewell until the Next War continues the comprehensive deconstruction and demythologization of the official narrative of Partisan heroism, initiated by Pavlović three years earlier with Manhunt.” Jurij Meden, in: Retrospective o partigiano! Pan-European Partisan Film, Austrian Film Museum & Viennale, 2019.Read More »

  • Frantisek Cáp – Nas avto (1962)

    1961-1970ComedyFrantisek CápYugoslaviaYugoslavian Cinema under Tito

    Summary:
    A photographer decides to buy a car with the money he’ll get for his prizewinning photo, but the postman brings only a diploma instead of money. Being subjected to the ridicule of their neighbors, his family decides to buy an used Buick, in spite of being against it at first. That would turn out to be a huge mistake, since the breakdowns are more often that they can afford.Read More »

  • Matjaz Klopcic – Moj ata, socialisticni kulak AKA My Dad, the Socialist Kulak (1987)

    1981-1990ComedyDramaMatjaz KlopcicYugoslaviaYugoslavian Cinema under Tito

    Year 1945. The second World War is over and the soldiers from the sisbanded army are returning home. Yet there is still no sign of Joze Malek. His wife Mimika and their children Tincek and olga know only that he had deserted the German army and gone over to the Soviet Red Army. Mimika works a a hired hand for the farmer, Medved, who givesher bread and milk for her child instead of regular wages. This is not at all to the liking of her relative Vanc. One fine day, father Malek comes home and the family is happilly reunited. Vanc tells Jozeabout the agrarian reform, through which the Maleks even get their own plot of land. In exchange of this, they have to remove all the religious symbols from their home.Read More »

Back to top button