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    • NTC Award Ceremony
      New Talent Competition gives young filmmakers from Central, Eastern and Southern Europe the opportunity to present their outstanding debut or second film to the public. Join us on Sunday 1 December at 19h
    • Music at ENFF
      The Eastern Neighbours Film Festival welcomes special musical guests each year to enrich our program. For this 16th edition, we’re thrilled to present two talented young musicians: guitarist Antonio Peršak (CR) and violinist İdil Yunkuş (TR). Together, they will perform a traditional Balkan dance and folk song, highlighting the beauty of this music through the… Read more: Music at ENFF
    • Masterclass with Janez Burger
      This masterclass presents a unique opportunity to explore Burger's distinct storytelling style, genre use, and exploration of contemporary social issues. Join us on Saturday 30 November at 17h - Room 5
    • Panel Discussion: Exploration of individual and collective memory in cinema
      Panel Discussion: Exploration of individual and collective memory in cinema on Friday 29 November at 18h

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.

ScreeningThursday, April 21 at 5 PM in Filmhuis Den Haag