13/02/2003 - The Slovenian film focuses on refugees' desperate attempts to get into the European Community

Videointerview

Another film to lead us “Towards Tolerance” at the 53rd Berlin Film Festival is Rezervni Deli, (Spare Parts) by Slovenian director Damjan Kozole. Screened in competition this morning, 13 February, Rezervni Deli is another film about the odyssey endured by illegal immigrants crossing the former Yugoslavia to enter the EC bloc. Most of the action takes place at night and was photographed in tones of sepia that only emphasise the drab desperation of these hapless unfortunately.
This story is told from the point of view of those unscrupulous men (and women) who run this tragic racket and earn enormous sums of money from people desperate enough to try anything just to get to Italy. The film makes an important point: both the victims and their traffickers share the very same lonely desperation.

Kozole began his career making independently produced films, the most recent of which, Porn Film (2000), was a small hit in Slovenia. “I began with small productions and my independent status allowed me to focus on issues that interested me. The turning point came with Rezervni Deli, which was made with a medium-to-high budget,” Kozole tells us.

The film was produced by Emotionfilm of Lubiana with support from the Slovenian Film Fund.
“60,000 people are stopped each year in Slovenia alone,” continues Kozole - an exodus of Biblical proportions. “I used the means that were put at my disposal to tell a true story about just how tough and brutal this world of ours can be, and about the extreme fragility of life.”

(Translated from Italian)