Observing

Lana is a young paramedic who encounters a case involving a young man who was brutally assaulted and beaten while the entire act was streamed live on social media. As she becomes more involved in the case, mysterious things start happening to her and her loved ones.

Renowned Slovenian director Janez Burger (Idle Running, Ruins, Ivan) turns his attention to a true story that occurred in Slovenia a few years ago, when a group of people in the centre of Ljubljana beat a man to death while hundreds of onlookers watched the event live and did nothing to intervene. Employing strong genre elements, Burger crafts a disturbing thriller intertwined with social drama that delves deep into questions about today’s moral and ethical landscape.

The screening on Saturday will include a Q&A with the director Janez Burger.

Enjoy a cocktail before the screening on Saturday 30 November at 14:30h.

OPAZOVANJE | Janez Burger | 2023 | Slovenia, Italy, Croatia, North Macedonia

FESTIVALS & AWARDS (SELECTION) 

Tallinn Black Nights Festival, 2023 – International Premiere | Festival of Slovenian Film, 2023 – Best Leading Actress (Diana Kolenc), Best Production Design (Vasja Kokelj, Spela Jelovcan), Best Sound (Julij Zornik, Igor Popovski) | Trieste FF, 2024 | Sofia IFF, 2024

DIRECTOR’S BIO 

Janez Burger was born in 1965 in Slovenia. He studied at the Faculty of Economics in Ljubljana and at FAMU in Prague, where he graduated in Film and TV Directing in 1996. For his films, he has won several awards at Slovenian and international film festivals. He also works in theatre and opera. He is a professor of Film Directing at the School of Arts, University of Nova Gorica and AGRFT, University of Ljubljana. He lives and works in Ljubljana.

DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT

I am talking about the empathy that is dying on a very intimate level of each individual. About elementary empathy. When you sympathise with another human being. When you feel the need for help in another human being and give it unconditionally as best as you can. Immediately. Sometimes an understanding look is enough, sometimes a word, sometimes a talk, sometimes a cry for help. Minimal effort is needed for this kind of empathy, but, in most cases, even that is too much. This is a form of passivity that is buried deep inside us. Mostly, we are not even aware of it, but it eats us up slowly, from within, and thus dehumanizes us. An intimate passivity with global dimensions. Without a shift in our heads, which will again define us as internally active sentient beings, we will not be able to turn the course of events causing the disintegration of our society and ruining humanity. This is the passivity I talk about in Observing.