Ivan Peternelj

This video features no words, only music and images. Ema Kugler describes the moving images as: “They are like a dark, surrealist dance of everyman with his own death. I have seen all these images. They came from the darkness of my subconsciousness, colonized me and obsessed me.” The video shows images, which together with the accompanying music give an impression of the infinite and the divine and being sucked into an abyss from where there is no return. The images bring us to the edge of our existence and twist us in the darkness of the subconscious and inevitable oblivion. There are no words or speech in the video, only music and images but the storyline is clear nevertheless. The images are silent witnesses to our imprisonment in the world of automatism – bureaucracy and authority – god and ruler who lead us into pointless wars, killing and death. Individuals are helpless prisoners of these forces.

A reflection of contemporary society through modified moving images. A satiric critique of the current social and political changes that are happening in Slovenia, in Europe and in the World aesthetically explored through (de)formation of landscapes and cityscapes. "Phony Sights" considers social and political issues and even science when searching for an answer to the questions: "Where are we?" and "Where are we going?"

The film tells the story of the Old Faith in the Soča Region. While the time of the religion’s origin remains unknown, the only documented fact about this is that in 1331, the bringers of a new religion (Christianity) came from Čedad, initiating a violent Christianisation of the Soča region. This was a long and extremely violent process.

A story of fragility, sexuality, monstrosities and geographical confusions. Everything, everywhere is the slogan of the nineties, a confusion of bodies, concepts and strategies, a kind of out of joint situation for the subject. And we find ourselves in all the media, in all the bodies in all the possible spaces at ones, but this deadly dance is not innocent. The video consists of the main part in which wives of the so-called totalitarian leaders as of the Rumanian dictator Cauceuscu (Elena) and of the former Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic (Mirjana Milosevic) are forced to dance. Focused on the portrait of Mirjana Milosevic (The story of Mirjana M.) a kitsch melodramatic Balkan saga of power, drama, pop-folk elements and evil/demons is constructed. The apathy of feelings is caught in the dramatic tango that is slowed down for the camera eye.