Ivan Cankar, the first Slovene professional writer, is the main character in this full feature documentary film. He was a public intellectual, who never remained silent. He liked to argue, insult people, spit, sometimes even on his own people. In most cases these actions were justified, as the people were ethically questionable. He was an eternal rebel, in eternal debts, constantly without money, he kept on borrowing, begging for payments, most often for books he had not written yet. He would sell his drawings and manuscripts to raise some money. He spent a lot of his money on drinks. And of course, there were women, fictitious and real. In literature he praised them , in life he felt contempt for them. He ran away from them, in the same way as he ran from his responsibilities. The only responsibility he acknowledged was for his fictitious characters. An artist. After his death Cankar became a mythological being, similar to Kurent a musician who sold his soul to the devil. A myth. Already during his lifetime Cankar was believed to be an outstanding artist, similar to Kurent people were always fascinated when they heard the genius of one or the other. They were all so appalled, especially when they sobered up. Cankar wrote Kurent during his stay in Sarajevo, where he also wrote The Farmhands, both merely a few years before the successor to the Habsburg monarchy was assassinated. Kurent destiny, the destiny of an artist in general persecuted, despised, misunderstood, just like today – haunted Cankar throughout his life. On the symbolic level this ended with the disintegration of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the formation of Yugoslavia. He died a death unworthy of a great writer. The film shows, through Kurents story, all essential components of Cankars literature. The story about his work and life is told by France Bernik, writer Alenka Puhar, Manca G. Renko, PhD, Mateja Ratej, PhD and many other aficionados of his exceptional opus. Fragments from the story Kurent are interpreted by Jurij Souček, and the film also includes fragments from the contemporary version of Kurent, the musical Rok Kurent. A special characteristic of the film can be found in the animated sequences, which show the time before and immediately after World War I, when the writers turbulent life ended in a still unexplained death.
Producer: |
Friendly Production |
Director: |
Dušan Moravec |
Script: |
Matjaž Pikalo |
Camera: |
Matjaž Mrak, zfs |
Editing: |
Jurij Moškon
|
Director of photography: |
Matjaž Mrak, zfs |
Others: |
Costume design: Zarja Predin
Mask designer: Anita Ferčak
The author of the animated parts of the film: Anka Kočevar
Composer: Dejan Učakar
Music performers: Simfonični orkester Glasbene šole Krško |
Dušan Moravec (b. 1964, Ljubljana) is a director and screenwriter of many Slovenian documentary films. In his youth, he was a member of the famous Idrija punk rock band Kuzle, and later worked as a journalist for many years. From 2000 onwards, he devoted himself exclusively to the creation of documentary films as a director and (co)-screenwriter. He is the author of 24 bio documentaries produced by numerous Slovenian independent production houses or by RTV Slovenia. Many of the films were presented at international film festivals and some of them won awards.
Award for the best film DORF Vinkovci 2013, Croatia
Award for the best film Grossman Wine and Film Festival 2014, Slovenia
The award for the best film and the gold medal of Belgrade - Short and Documentary Film Festival Belgrade 2015 Serbia
Award for the best film Dorf Vinkovoci 2016 Croatia
Filmography
CORNERED, documentary film, 58 min, 2003
AT FIRST GLANCE, documentary film, 70 min, 2007
THE STORY FROM IDRIJA, documentary film, 52 min, 2008
THE CITIZEN OF DIARRHEA OR WHO IS TOMAŽ LAVRIČ – documentary film, 50 min;
THE REAL MAN FOR CAPITALISM, documentary film, min, 2013;
ELECTRICAL DREAMS documentary film, 75 min, 2017;
STEEL BIRDS OVER IDRIJA documentary film, 75 min, 2018