GRAVEHOPPING – (Odgrobadogroba)
Color, 102 min, 2005, Drama; Slovenia/Croatia
In Slovenian with English sub-titles

Written and Directed by: Jan Cvitkovič
Producers: Jan Cvitkovič, Janez Burger
Executive Producers: Petra Bašin, Jožko Rutar
Production Company: STARAGARA
Co-production with: Propeler film Zagreb, TV Slovenia
Cinematographer: Simon Tanšek
Music: Aldo Ivančić
Cast: Gregor Baković, Drago Milinović, Sonja Savić, Mojca Fatur, Nataša Matjašec

Pero, thirty-something funeral speech writer and orator, lives with a colorfully dysfunctional family in a small Slovenian village. His eulogies are more about him than the deceased, as he tries to woo a local girl, help his suicidal widower father, and live a simple life. Things around him, however, are far from simple, and the film raises the bar from comic mood to violence, leaving Pero, and us, to contemplate far more fundamental issues than what to say at a village funeral.

 

Awards
Grand Prize, Cottbus Film Festival of Young East European Cinema, 2005
Special Mention, Ljubljana International Film Festival, 2005
Best New Director, San Sebastian International Film Festival, 2005
“No Man’s Land” Award for Best Balkan Film, Sofia International Film Festival, 2006

Director Jan Cvitkovič
One of the founders of Staragara production company, Cvitkovic, born in 1966, spent his youth in Tolmin, the site of his first feature, Bread and milk, and Idrija. After a short travel with no fixed destination (through Israel, Egypt, East Africa), he studied archeology and graduated in 1999. He began his film career shortly after with his directorial debut, ‘Bread and Milk’ which was highly regarded by critics.

Filmography
Bread and Milk, mid-length feature, 2001
The Heart Is a Piece of Meat, feature, 2003

DVD Source:
Jozko Rutar, Producer
jozko.rutar@staragara.com
www.staragara.com