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FILMS Slovenia / North Macedonia / Croatia

Mother Europe through the eyes of a Balkan child

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- A lyrical and historical documentary about South-Eastern Europe as seen by a six year-old girl

Mother Europe through the eyes of a Balkan child

Mother Europe, the second directing effort of Slovenian-born writer, director and producer Petra Seliškar is a humorous, playful, but also lyrical view of the continent through the eyes of her six year-old daughter Terra. The film screened in the documentary competition of the Trieste Film Festival.

Terra was born in the Balkans, and learned of the borders very quickly as she immediately started traveling with her mother and father (and DoP of the film) Brand Ferro, a Cuban-Macedonian, with a Macedonian passport. This meant waiting in humiliating lines at embassies for Schengen visas and a bunch of contrasts that the child was exposed to in her short life: like the one between the Balkans, a land of borders, and the borderless EU.

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This road documentary takes Terra from Skopje to Trieste, through - former Yugoslavia, where she meets various remarkable characters with fascinating stories. One of them is Barich, born in Izola (today in Slovenia) when Trieste and the surrounding area was proclaimed Free Territory and split into two zones by a treaty because of territorial claims between Italy and Yugoslavia.

Even more fascinating is the life of noted Slovenian author Boris Pahor, now 100 years old (an age Terra cannot even comprehend), born in Trieste while it was a part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and survivor of six different concentration camps in the Second World War- for which he was first drafted into the Italian army to fight in Libya. His life deserves an epic documentary film of its own.

Terra also meets young people, such as Macedonian punk band Bernays Propaganda, who have to struggle with visas and bureaucracy every time they want to play in the EU. They belong to the generation who suffered the most as they grew up in the war-torn Balkans in the 90’s.

Seliškar skillfully combines interviews and fascinating archive material with parts in which Terra and her understanding of the world are in focus. Often visually lyrical and childishly humorous, these sections take the film into today's perspective and finely counterpoint the historical angle.

Co-produced by Slovenia's Petra Pan Film Productions, Restart Slovenia, Restart Croatia and Slovenian National Television, Mother Europe next goes to Rotterdam's U-29 section, with current plans for distribution in Slovenia and Benelux.

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