Under the warm rays of the sun, the protagonists become living still lifes, resting on benches, chairs, and deckchairs. In the quiet embrace of nature, they wait, reflect, and remember. This cinematic group portrait delves into the legacy and creative spirit of Vilko Filač, the Slovenian master of film photography, celebrating the enduring mark he left on the world of cinema.
From 1977 to 1991 an image of Slovenia as a green, demilitarised and peaceful country of diligent people reigned in Yugoslavia, a country where differences are not only allowed, but also desired. This period ends with a ten-day war, when the identity turns from peacefulness, modesty and diligence into courage and a fighting spirit. The film documents the changes in Slovenia and its inhabitants, which have in recent years brought us to a completely different understanding of national identity, different from the one which was true in Slovenia as well as abroad twenty years ago.
The film was prompted by the fact that in the capital of Slovenia, one of the republics of the former socialist state of Yugoslavia, a magazine was published that saw nine bans or confiscations – more than any other newspaper in the communist Europe. A thorn in the side of the authorities for thirty years, this student magazine brought together young intellectuals who detected possible democratic shifts in the public sphere. Never strictly political, their rebellion invariably had to do with culture and its latest practices in the more liberal countries.
