{{ mainName }}

{{ newsTitle }} {{ newsVisible ? '✦' : '✧'}}

    • New Talents Open Call
      Eastern Neighbours Film Festival (ENFF) began in The Netherlands in 2008 with the idea to offer Dutch and international audiences a unique glimpse into the cinema of their neighbors from Eastern and Southern Europe. This annual event presents the most recent, exciting, and thought‐provoking films, from countries with small, but often powerful film industries, that… Read more: New Talents Open Call
    • ENFF 2023 On Demand!
      Unable To attend the festival in person? No problem! From November 27th to December 3rd, we’re thrilled to bring you a curated selection of this year’s films available for online viewing! Catch our captivating Opening Film Ivan’s Land, or the touching Closing Film Seventh Heaven. Or explore a collection of shorts from the New Talents Competition! Follow along… Read more: ENFF 2023 On Demand!
    • What’s up in Slovak Cinema? A conversation with Monika Lostakova
      We talked with Monika Lošťáková about contemporary Slovak cinema.
    • ENFF and the Eastern European Film Festival Network!
      The Eastern European Film Festival Network brings together five film festivals dedicated to promoting and showcasing Eastern European cinema, alongside one partner organisation.
    • Masterclasses
      Through these masterclasses we approach two memory in film from different angles: memories from a personal or collective recollection through archive material.
    • Work in Progress
      In Work in Progress, emerging filmmakers and artists will present their works in development to the audience and engage in discussions with Dutch experts.
    • Festival Timetable Available!
    • Check out the catalogue for our 2023 edition!
    • Music at ENFF
      Every year, ENFF brings special musical guests who bring beauty to the program and further represent the rich cultures of their countries to a Dutch audience.
    • Film Marathon
      Join us for the Film Marathon, a new concept in which we merge two components, Short Films, Big Stories, and New Talents Competition into a whole-day screening of short films!

Stefan Pavlovic: the Film Allowed Me to Think of My Stuttering as a Creative Space

Author: Sandra Selakovic/Mama u Zemlji lala

The filmmaker Stefan Pavlovic was born in the Netherlands, but his origin is from Bosnia. Growing up surrounded by multilingualism, Stefan lost touch with his mother tongue and began to stutter as a child.

His poetic documentary Looking For Horses is a part of the Eastern Neighbours Film Festival special program The Power of Your Story. It is a homage to a friend and friendship, writes online magazine Mama u Zemlji lala. The story follows the birth of the relationship between the director and fisherman Zdravko, a war veteran who lost his hearing almost completely during the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and later partially lost his sight. Out of the desire to overcome the gap in communication between them, Stefan Pavlovic is experimenting, using a camera, which this time is not only an objective observer who only records events, but also enters the field of the intimate.

In one of the most translated books ever published, we can read that “It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.” To what extent did the lack of common language with the surroundings force you to develop additional communication techniques?

We didn’t lack a common language; we had a different grasp of this language but shared motivation and honesty to spend time together. We made it work. I am not sure what additional communication techniques there are, but I believe that outside of the rigid and closed space of (academic) articulation lies a lot of room for understanding and gentleness. Listening, giving attention, silence, eye contact, and of course the camera, all became important communication techniques.

From your earliest childhood, you have been surrounded by very different languages. Is knowing the same language a prerequisite for a better understanding of each other’s needs?

In a way yes, of course. Understanding the words and sentences someone is speaking towards you, and being able to respond and ask questions in that same language creates a certain type of understanding, a daily understanding to avoid minor miscommunications. I do think there are deeper and different levels of understanding, outside the illusion of articulation. At the same time, understanding is also a type of illusion. Who knows what it is that we understand? And how do we know for certain that the person we speak to understands what it is we mean?

Your film is a poetic story of friendship and an attempt to overcome obstacles in connecting with others. Was art, as a universal language, the only way for you to alleviate anxiety and alienation?

I’m not sure whether art is a universal language. I am also unsure whether it should be a universal language. Through art, we can get a glimpse of the different (and similar of course) lives we all lead. The film, and more so the camera, was absolutely how Zdravko and I came together and created a common goal: finding the horses. The film also allowed me to think of my stuttering as a creative space, as a space to explore the themes of language, history, and trauma; it was not a disability anymore.

Screening: Thursday, April 21 at 5 PM in Filmhuis Den Haag