Mit - Index

Mit - UVK_Sinfo_2008_10_št.14 - Index

s o C i E t y
life, due to his own experience of the fragility and vulnerability of
human happiness and life itself.
Besides his creative work PavËek has pursued a number of
important tasks as an editor on the Slovene broadcasting
service, in publishing and at the Slovene writers association,
as well as participating in the process of Slovene's attainment
of independence. There are only a few people who have
contributed so many gifts to the development of Slovene culture
and society as Tone PavËek, with his indestructible energy and
human warmth.
SlOVeNe FIlMS at FeStIValS hOMe
aND abROaD
At the end of September, Slovene film was successfully presented
at the Eurofest 2008 film festival in Montreal, with the Slovene
director Janez Lapajne winning the 'Crystal Eye' award for the
best feature - 'Short Circuits' (Kratki stiki). There was a lot of
competition, with entries from nineteen European countries, as
well as Canada and the United States. The festival is dedicated to
the systematic promotion of Middle and Eastern European film in
Canada and the United States.
The 24th international film festival in Warsaw has begun - one of
the twenty leading European film festivals, where Slovene films are
regularly presented. This year's festival has a total of 153 feature
films and 87 short films from 55 countries. Vinko Möderndorfer's
feature 'Landscape no. 2' (Pokrajina št.2) was shown in the
competition section of 16 films, while Tomo Križnar's and Maja
Weiss' documentary 'Darfur - War for Water' (Darfur- Vojna za
vodo) was shown in documentary film competition program. Jan
CvitkoviË's 'I Know' (Vem) competed in the short film section. In
the non-competitive section entitled 'Masters Touch' this year's
Slovene Oscar award nominee 'Rooste’rs Breakfast' (Petelinji
zajtrk) by Marko Naberšnik, as well as Janja Glogovac's film 'L for
Love' (L kot ljubezen) were shown. In the 'Discoveries' section,
DjuriÊ's 'Tractor, Love and Rock'n'roll' (Traktor, ljubezen in
rokenrol) was presented.
Maribor hosted the 2nd Children's Film Festival with the well
known basketball player Marko MiliÊ as its first ambassador.
The films screened were from Belgium, Denmark, France, Latvia,
Holland, Spain, Switzerland, Thailand and Slovenia. Among the
most interesting were the Spanish 'Nocturna', which in Spain
won the Goya Award for best animated film, and the Belgian
'Gilles', which won an award in Belgium.
21St bIeNNIal OF INDuStRIal DeSIgN
OPeNeD ItS DOORS
One of the most well known Slovene cultural events which also
broke new ground in the European industrial design opened its
doors in the Architectural museum with an awards ceremony.
The jury awarded a Gold Medal for the funicular railway to the
Ljubljana Castle by the architects Miha Kerin and Majda Kregar
from the Ambient Company in Ljubljana. A gold medal also went
to the booklet '40ish sheets of paper' by Studio CuculiÊ from
Zagreb which brought together in a clever way the world of poetry
with a pragmatic commercial concern. An alternative family of
free-standing household appliances, Qube White by the designer
Tina Jerebek (Gorenje Design Studio), dinner set for hospitals and
retirement homes by the designer Gyula Mihaly from Budapest,
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3P trekking poles by Igor Ravbar, a boat for touring the Ljubljanica
river by Jernej Jaroslav Krope, and the Guardian system for the
safe disarmament of explosive ammunition components by Aleks
Komel all won BIO Quality Concept awards.
The jury, selecting from 128 entries, also awarded BIO Honourable
Mentions and an RTV Slovenia award for work by a student.
DRagO jaN»aR aND bORIS PahOR ON
the WRIteRS' tOuR De FRaNCe
Within the framework of the cultural programme organized in
the second part of this year by France, the presiding country of
the Council of the European Union, a well known Slovene writer
Drago JanËar was presented in the European Writer's Tour de
France with translations of his short stories collection 'Joyce's
Pupil' and the novel 'Northern Light'.
JanËar began his tour in Paris, where he read his work in the
famous theatre Chatelet and in the European House, followed
by appearances at the University of Touluse, at the literary café
in the same city and the book fair in Le Mans. In November,
another Slovene writer will present his work to French readers,
the Trieste-based Boris Pahor, who after becoming recognized in
Italy, is becoming more and more acclaimed in Western Europe.
Touring France with the two Slovene writers are also great names
such as Caludio Magris, Imre Kertesz, Colum McCann, Lidia Jorge
and Daniel Kehlmann.
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