The docu-drama “Cankar” introduces the private life of the greatest Slovenian writer in several acted scenes.
The story starts in November 1899 when Ivan Cankar rents a room at the Löffler family in Ottakring, Vienna. He stays with them for almost 10 years and here he writes most of his works.
Attentive reading of his works reveals details from his life. In almost film-like descriptions we recognize spaces, and portraits of those closest to him and contemporaries. Many scenes he wrote in his literature came true later in his life.
Protagonists speak in dialogues from Cankar’s prose. In the thoughtful interlacement of the dramatized, animated and documentary parts, his legacy, manuscripts and letters, are weaved in.
The film opens the question how the myth of the greatest Slovenian writer formed in the last 100 years. The impressive opus of novels, stories, sketches, poems, essays, political speeches, articles and letters offers a vast field of interpretations. In the documentary part of the film we meet people who passionately uncover the overlooked sides of the writer’s work. We are sure we learned everything about Cankar in 100 years time, but in reality we only superficially know his work.