Branko Miklavc

The first days of war in Ljubljana. The young hero Niko experiences the bloody and violent transition from childhood to manhood. Based on the novel by Beno Zupancic.

Two partisan miners are entrusted with the task of honor to transfer safely three orphan children from a dangerous zone of fighting to the safe liberated territory. In the beginning the two miners feel humiliated because they would like to engage in more important action, but later they become big friends with the children, especially with Peter, the youngest one.

A married couple living in a remote farm find themselves in the midst of war, where many different sides walk through the area. They attempt to save their lives and stay neutral despite accusations of being traitors that every army brings upon them.

The feeling of being incapable of controlling your own life and general uselessness make people want to escape the world around them. In spite of the feeling that they possess some creative force, they still feel they waste their time and lives.

This video features no words, only music and images. Ema Kugler describes the moving images as: “They are like a dark, surrealist dance of everyman with his own death. I have seen all these images. They came from the darkness of my subconsciousness, colonized me and obsessed me.” The video shows images, which together with the accompanying music give an impression of the infinite and the divine and being sucked into an abyss from where there is no return. The images bring us to the edge of our existence and twist us in the darkness of the subconscious and inevitable oblivion. There are no words or speech in the video, only music and images but the storyline is clear nevertheless. The images are silent witnesses to our imprisonment in the world of automatism – bureaucracy and authority – god and ruler who lead us into pointless wars, killing and death. Individuals are helpless prisoners of these forces.

The film is a portrait of the Novak family: the results of the marriage between the farmer Novak and a townswoman of German descent, their children and their tragic fates and the life of Andrej - the Novaks' only surviving child. Andrej recalls the days of his youth and the wartime years, in which the family slowly breaks up due to different political beliefs and world-outlooks. In addition to the loss of many members of his family, Andrej must also face the fact that his father has disowned him and his girlfriend left him. Despite all, however, he keeps alive his hopes of a better future, which, to him, is embodied by the beautiful Iza.

A world between the dreams and reality, between commonsense pragmatism and madness, between earthly gendarmes, priests, fair organizers on one hand, and children of God, to whom all our smartness is crazy, on the other.