9:06

(Slovenia, Drama; 2009. 71 minutes.)

Director : Igor Sterk
Producer : Igor Sterk, Frenk Celarc, Christoph Thoke
Language : Slovenian with English subtitles
Editor : Petar Marković
Production company : Gustav Film, Mogador Film
Screenwriter : Igor Sterk, Sinisa Dragin
Cinematographer : Simon Tansek
Music : Jure Ferina, Pavao Miholjević
Cast: Igor Samobor, Labina Mitevska, Silva Čusin, Pavle Ravnohrib

Synopsis : This first-rate psychological drama, directed with masterful precision, takes us to Ljubljana, where police inspector Dusan (in a terrific performance by Igor Samobor) investigates an unusual suicide case. His investigation gradually turns into obsession, and he surreptitiously moves into the apartment of the deceased, delving deeper into the man's life and gradually assuming his identity. As the narrative develops, the film becomes an exploration of life, obsession, and the cold cruelty of death. Slovenia has one of the highest suicide rates in the world, which gave this project a special significance to its director who stated after a screening of the film in Montreal, “At least 20 people in Europe took their lives just as we were watching my film and a further 100 people elsewhere in the world. Each year 1.2 million people commit suicide. The suicide rate in my country is so high that in a group photo of any high school class in Slovenia there is at least one [student in the] picture who will commit suicide eventually."

Additional info :

Director: Igor Sterk

Born in 1968, Igor graduated from the Ljubljana Film School in early 90’s. His films were shown in competition at the Rotterdam Film Festival, Karlovy Vary and most recently at the Venice Film Festival. 9:06 is his fourth feature film.

Igor Sterk was born in 1968 and graduated from the Ljubljana Film School in the early nineties. In 1989, he crossed the Atlantic with his father in a small sailing boat only 6.5 metres long. After three student short films (the documentary “Postcards” won the best screenplay award at the Yugoslav festival of short and documentary films in Belgrade 1991), he directed his first feature film “Express, Express” in 1997. It was first presented at the Mannheim Film Festival and then to be followed by many other film festivals. “Express, Express” received 15 international awards. It was sold to several TV stations (including Australian SBS) and it was successfully distributed theatrically in Germany by NeueVisionen FilmVerleich.

Sterk’s second feature film “Ljubljana” had an international premiere at the 2002 edition of the Rotterdam Film Festival in Tiger award competition section. The film was sold to the main Dutch TV station VPRO. The film was also presented at Seattle (in competition), Karlovy Vary, Moscow, St. Petersburg, Thessaloniki, Montpellier (in competition). His third feature film “Tuning” had a world premiere in competition at the Karlovy Vary Film Festival in 2005. The film received grand-prix for the best feature film at the Mannheim-Heidelberg film festival in 2005. It also received a “Vesuvio award” for the best feature film of Napoli Film Festival. It has been shown in many other film festivals, including Montreal, Chicago, Edinburgh, Buenos Aires, Ghent (in competition), Montpellier (in competition), Denver, Cleveland… 
His short film “Every breath you take” (2008) was selected for competition at the Venice Film Festival.

Filmography : Every Breath You Take (2008) Tuning (Uglasevanje) (2005) Ljubljana (2002) Gone With The Train (Ekspres, Ekspres) (1996)

Film source :

Slovenian Film Center