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Nekoč v Posočju (Once Upon a Time in Posočje)
Description
Writer and director: Ema Kugler
Directors of photography: Lev Predan Kowarski, Dejan Ulaga
Music: Robert Jiša
Sound design: Boštjan Kačičnik
Editing: Ema Kugler
Chief animator: Matej Lavrenčič
Cast: Ivan Peternelj, Aino Aalto, Matija Vastl, Blaž Šef, Klemen Kovačič, Kristjan Guček, Zdravko Duša, Sebastjan Starič, Dušan Teropšič
Voices: Ivan Peternelj, Romana Šalehar, Andrej Rozman - Roza, Janez Škof, Ivo Barišič
Production: Zavod ZANK
Distribution: DEMIURG
The film tells the story of pre-Christian beliefs in Slovenia’s Posočje region, the origins of which are uncertain. The only documented piece of information reveals that in 1331, the new religion (Christianity) was brought from Cividale del Friuli (Čedad), thus ushering in a long era of extremely violent Christianisation in Posočje.
The old pagan temples were destroyed, the believers persecuted, and many killed. In consequence, the old faith practitioners took a vow of silence, and the faith was passed down from generation to generation only through oral tradition.
When Pavel Medvešček began collecting this oral tradition, it took him a long time to gain the trust of strici (uncles)*, who considered him a forešt and – as he was told – “not one of us”, even though he lived locally.
Medvešček collected the oral tradition between 1953 and 1975, which means that until that time the belief had been kept alive and practised in complete secrecy. Nobody knows whether the faith is still practised today. The film is based on the book Iz nevidne strani neba, published by Pavel Medvešček in 2015.
The biggest problem in making this film was how to shoot an hour and a half of footage when nothing that is described in the book exists anymore. Moreover, it would be unethical to interpret anything that is said/written in the book; because this faith was sacred to them, and their oral tradition must be respected – it is sacrosanct. How does one make a documentary then? There was no answer, we were not looking for the truth, we were making a film that takes us back in time, to days of yore, when humans still lived in harmony with nature.
In those days, it was believed that the forest could speak. When people wanted to fell a tree, the tree spoke out: 'Not me, cut down another one!' Once upon a time, everything would speak, everything had a voice.
Ema Kugler
Source: https://www.cd-cc.si/en/culture/cinema/nekoc-v-posocju-once-upon-time-in-posocje
Directors of photography: Lev Predan Kowarski, Dejan Ulaga
Music: Robert Jiša
Sound design: Boštjan Kačičnik
Editing: Ema Kugler
Chief animator: Matej Lavrenčič
Cast: Ivan Peternelj, Aino Aalto, Matija Vastl, Blaž Šef, Klemen Kovačič, Kristjan Guček, Zdravko Duša, Sebastjan Starič, Dušan Teropšič
Voices: Ivan Peternelj, Romana Šalehar, Andrej Rozman - Roza, Janez Škof, Ivo Barišič
Production: Zavod ZANK
Distribution: DEMIURG
The film tells the story of pre-Christian beliefs in Slovenia’s Posočje region, the origins of which are uncertain. The only documented piece of information reveals that in 1331, the new religion (Christianity) was brought from Cividale del Friuli (Čedad), thus ushering in a long era of extremely violent Christianisation in Posočje.
The old pagan temples were destroyed, the believers persecuted, and many killed. In consequence, the old faith practitioners took a vow of silence, and the faith was passed down from generation to generation only through oral tradition.
When Pavel Medvešček began collecting this oral tradition, it took him a long time to gain the trust of strici (uncles)*, who considered him a forešt and – as he was told – “not one of us”, even though he lived locally.
Medvešček collected the oral tradition between 1953 and 1975, which means that until that time the belief had been kept alive and practised in complete secrecy. Nobody knows whether the faith is still practised today. The film is based on the book Iz nevidne strani neba, published by Pavel Medvešček in 2015.
The biggest problem in making this film was how to shoot an hour and a half of footage when nothing that is described in the book exists anymore. Moreover, it would be unethical to interpret anything that is said/written in the book; because this faith was sacred to them, and their oral tradition must be respected – it is sacrosanct. How does one make a documentary then? There was no answer, we were not looking for the truth, we were making a film that takes us back in time, to days of yore, when humans still lived in harmony with nature.
In those days, it was believed that the forest could speak. When people wanted to fell a tree, the tree spoke out: 'Not me, cut down another one!' Once upon a time, everything would speak, everything had a voice.
Ema Kugler
Source: https://www.cd-cc.si/en/culture/cinema/nekoc-v-posocju-once-upon-time-in-posocje
Genres
Film,
Historical film
Historical film
Contacts
Work time
10:00-20:00
Social networks
"Cankarjev dom" on the map