Miner receives two special mentions at Warsaw Film Festival
Ljubljana, 23 October - Rudar (Miner), Slovenia's entry for the 2018 foreign language Academy Award, has earned two special mentions at the 33rd Warsaw International Film Festival, from the ecumenical jury and from the international competition jury, as the film made its international premiere.
Ljubljana
Film director Hanna Slak presenting her latest feature film Miner (Rudar) in 2017.
Photo: Tamino Petelinšek/STA
File photo
The film directed by Hanna Slak is a story about a Bosnian miner who discovered in 2009 the remains of victims of post-WWII summary executions in Huda jama, an abandoned mine shaft near Laško.
According to Slak, the interest in Poland for the film and the story on which it is based was "never ending", which she said was an excellent international start for the film starring Leon Lučev as the title character.
"This confirms that the values which our screen hero Alija is fighting for are of key importance at this moment not only for Slovenia, but also for others", the director was quoted as saying by the Slovenian Film Centre.
Based on an autobiographical novel by Mehmedalija Alić, the film, which emerged as one of the main winners at the 20th Festival of Slovenian Film, presents Alija as a man fighting for decent burial of victims of post-WWII mass execution.
Slak said that "we should fairly face the demons of the past and get rid of them once and for all, build our future on truth and stand against manipulation, corruption and greed".
The director believes that the film's international premiere was successful as it "resonated with the Polish audience", not least because they too "fight with an apparently unbeatable ideological divide in the country".
Slak, who was actually born in Poland, has also received several awards for her other films, including the Vesna award for her feature films Desperado Tonic (2004) and Tea (2007).