29-09-2020

FNE at Festival of Slovenian Film 2020: Antigone – How Dare We!

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    Antigone – How Dare We! by Jani Sever Antigone – How Dare We! by Jani Sever

    LJUBLJANA: Jani Sever's Antigone – How Dare We! / Antigona – Kako si upamo! will be screened in the competition of the 23rd Festival of Slovenian Film in Ljubljana (6-11 October 2020). This political docudrama is based on the play The Three Lives of Antigone, written by a well-known and controversial Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Žižek.

    Antigone seems to be a convenient ideal for the present age, praised as the heroic rebel against state power. But is Antigone truly an emancipatory hero – or is she a part of the problem? The film lays down the premiss that it is time to lay bare the “disgusting murmur of life” in the world of right-wing fundamentalism, climate change, and stark inequality.

    Slavoj Žižek is a Slovenian philosopher, self-described as "radical leftist" and a "communist in a qualified sense." He is a researcher at the Department of Philosophy of the University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Arts, and international director of the Birkbeck Institute for the Humanities of the University of London.

    "The analysis of the three fates of Žižek’s Antigone and the crises of today is based on the premise that sooner or later we will have to quit the system we live in. But isn’t every revolution merely a desire for a new master? I wanted to present this dilemma through some parallels between the play Antgione and the everyday dramas of our lives," says the director Jani Sever.

    The cast includes many of Slovenian most recognisable and acclaimed young film and theatre actors, among them Anja Novak, Primož Bezjak, Jure Henigman and Matej Zemljič.

    The film is produced by Jani Sever and Nina Jeglič through Sever & Sever in coproduction with RTV Slovenija and supported by the Slovenian Film Centre with 80,000 EUR, while Viba Film provided technical support valued at 15,679 EUR. "The total budget is 173.679 EUR," producer Nina Jeglič told FNE.

    The shooting took place in Ljubljana in March and May 2018.

    The film is planned to be shown at some international film festivals, so the domestic release is not scheduled yet.

    The sales agent is Irena Taskovski through Taskovski Films.

    Production Information:

    Producer:
    Sever & Sever (Slovenia)

    Coproducers:
    RTV Slovenija (Slovenia)

    Credits:
    Antigone – How Dare We! by Jani SeverDirector: Jani Sever
    Screenwriters: Jani Sever, Stojan Pelko, Miloš Kalusek
    DoP: Mitja Ličen
    Editor: Miloš Klusek
    Production Designers: Lara Štefančič, Tina Kolenik
    Costume Designer: Tina Kolenik
    Make-Up Artist: Lija Ivančič
    Sound Designer: Julij Zornik
    Cast: Primož Bezjak, Anja Novak, Matija Vastl, Žan Perko, Jure Henigman, Doroteja Nadrah, Matej Zemljič, Gregor Prah