Letter to a Child

  • 100'
  • Slovenia
  • 2008
Film can be simple. Just a document. It can just record what you see and what you hear. It can be pure. Why not? At least that seems to be what the maker here is striving for. Letter to a Child looks simple, but it's about all major issues such as happiness, love and death.
The Slovenian director Vlado Skafar interviewed ordinary people. Or maybe interview is the wrong word; he got them talking. It's a mistake to think that ordinary people say ordinary things. About happiness, for instance. About love. Or about death. Issues about which few people speak easily, but the people in Skafar's film do. Occasionally it looks as if he is only focusing on the sunlight falling on their face, and his question seems to be a sideline and without any importance. His partners in conversation remain amazingly calm and peaceful, even as they are saying the strangest things. As if the director really isn't listening. As if they are standing dreaming in front of the camera.
But the maker is not naive. He's a dedicated cinephile and knows what film can and can't do. He also knows what has been made before and realises that only absolute modesty and simplicity can make people forget all those masters who preceded him. (GjZ)

  • 100'
  • Slovenia
  • 2008
Director
Vlado Skafar
Premiere
International premiere
Country of production
Slovenia
Year
2008
Festival Edition
IFFR 2009
Length
100'
Medium
Betacam Digi PAL
Original title
Otroci
Language
Slovene
Producer
Petra Vidmar
Production Company
Gustav Film
Sales
Gustav Film
Screenplay
Vlado Skafar
Cinematography
Ales Belak
Editor
Vlado Skafar
Sound Design
Vlado Skafar
Director
Vlado Skafar
Premiere
International premiere
Country of production
Slovenia
Year
2008
Festival Edition
IFFR 2009
Length
100'
Medium
Betacam Digi PAL
Original title
Otroci
Language
Slovene
Producer
Petra Vidmar
Production Company
Gustav Film
Sales
Gustav Film
Screenplay
Vlado Skafar
Cinematography
Ales Belak
Editor
Vlado Skafar
Sound Design
Vlado Skafar