A Fight For
A month after the Wall Street occupation, a number of protesters follow their example and set up their tents in front of the Ljubljana stock market. The protesters are united in the critique of representative democracy and global financial capitalism under the slogan "nobody represents us". Their organisation is based on the principles of direct democracy. In absence of other social alternatives, a community starts to emerge in the camp in front of the stock market where everyone has an equal say, and everyone is united in their diversity. After the initial euphoria the great idea of direct democracy clashes against the contemporary individual; antagonisms surface, similar to those of the system which the protesters fight against. The story about the Slovenian version of the "occupy" movement is portrayed with the stories of a a few of protagonists who, despite several defeats, do not lose hope in a different world.
Here before us stands a man…
At first glance, the film begins as a lyrical, arabesque journey through the Gorizia-Gradiška region of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, seen through the eye and lens of photographer Milan Klemenčič. From the year 1836, through World War I, and up to 1934.
A journey across three countries witnessing bloody clashes and shifting borders, where history converged to shape ordinary lives.
Through his photographs, this versatile artist also tells his intimate story of the man behind the camera. He speaks of his family, fellow villagers, friends. Captures their faces, their despair, sorrow, joy-sometimes indifference or simple happiness at the village market…
His documentary photographs bear witness to the social life of the time, landscapes and people, without words, in the most direct way. Through the camera’s viewfinder, Klemenčič unknowingly photographs his own life. In these “photo diaries,” nothing is “lost in translation." And it is precisely in the purity and simplicity of Klemenčič’s gaze that I find the greatest beauty of this film.
Above all, this is, for me, a deeply personal and intimate story of a boy orphaned at seven, who longed for the childhood and parents he lost. Throughout the creation of his magical worlds, he sought to reclaim everything that had slipped to him away.
That is why he created enchanting puppet worlds—timeless and unaging—and capturing eternal moments through photography. Worlds where time does not exist, where it stops forever… Because as a child, this time was stolen from him.
A story of the miraculous power of human imagination and creativity, in which he found solace.
A journey across three countries witnessing bloody clashes and shifting borders, where history converged to shape ordinary lives.
Through his photographs, this versatile artist also tells his intimate story of the man behind the camera. He speaks of his family, fellow villagers, friends. Captures their faces, their despair, sorrow, joy-sometimes indifference or simple happiness at the village market…
His documentary photographs bear witness to the social life of the time, landscapes and people, without words, in the most direct way. Through the camera’s viewfinder, Klemenčič unknowingly photographs his own life. In these “photo diaries,” nothing is “lost in translation." And it is precisely in the purity and simplicity of Klemenčič’s gaze that I find the greatest beauty of this film.
Above all, this is, for me, a deeply personal and intimate story of a boy orphaned at seven, who longed for the childhood and parents he lost. Throughout the creation of his magical worlds, he sought to reclaim everything that had slipped to him away.
That is why he created enchanting puppet worlds—timeless and unaging—and capturing eternal moments through photography. Worlds where time does not exist, where it stops forever… Because as a child, this time was stolen from him.
A story of the miraculous power of human imagination and creativity, in which he found solace.