Rok Biček’s “The Family” is an observational documentary film which follows a relatively complicated life of Matej Rajko and puts the concept of a family into a much wider context than the notion of a traditional family.
The film was produced by Cvinger film, Centre for Cultural Activities and co-produced by Radiotelevision Slovenia. It is worth noting that Biček had already celebrated a victory at FSF four years ago with his full-length film The Class Enemy.
This year’s “Vesna” Award for the best full-length film went to “Ivan”, which was filmed in production with Staragare and co-production of Propeler Film Zagreb and RTV Slovenia. Directed by Janez Burger, the film offers a complex depiction of a woman in a mental crisis. As could be expected, the excellent Maruša Majer was awarded for best female role. The authors of “Ivan” - Srdjan Koljević, Melina Koljević, Burger and Aleš Čar - also received the “Vesna” for the best screenplay.
Hana A. W. Slak was awarded the “Vesna” for best film director of “Rudar” (The Miner), and the main actor from this film, Leon Lučev, was awarded with best male role.
Recipients of awards were named by two three-member international expert juries. The first jury, which awarded the feature film category (fiction, documentary, animated and minority co-production fiction films), was composed of film director Jasna Krajinovič, professor and film historian Peter Stanković and programme director and film publicist Zlatko Vidacković. The second jury presented awards for documentary films and consisted of actor Nataša Barbara Gračner, film selector Maja Malus Azhdari and producer Rok Sečen.
97 films took part in the festival. 52 of them competed for “Vesna” Awards: 16 full-length films, 32 films in the panorama programme and 13 films as part of the accompanying programme. The latter introduced a new section composed of 7 films called Youth Wing and 6 films in the Tribute section. The competition programme consisted of not only 16 full-length films but also five medium-length films, 21 short films, eight student films and two minority co-productions. A record number of films had applied to participate in this year’s -- 186.
