The Ruins
Janez Burger

Synopsis

The reckognised theatre director and author Herman is creating a new performance, which is supposed to be better than all of his successful projects until then. He invites all of his friends and the people he has worked with until then to participate, including his girlfriend, the actress Žana and his friends for many years, the actor Gregor and the set designer Miloš.

A spectacular performance, which is supposed to open a prestigious theatre festival, is to be performed in the open, and the manager of the theatre Lukman presents it to the audience of the festival, to the theatre critics and to guests from abroad with a magnificent reception.

As soon as at the reception and especially later at the rehearsals many secrets and manipulations start to get exposed, with which Herman wishes to bring to light and to make fun of the relationships between the performers in his performance. In addition to this it turns out that the drama text that Herman uncovered as a sensational discovery from medieval Iceland theatre is only one of the many Herman's mystifications.

director's statement

This film was my way of dealing with a certain question:
What is love like in our egocentric world?
Can love exist in a world in which everybody pays attention only to him/herself?

In this sense, The Ruins is a film about love; a film about people who would like to love, but are unable to. In a way, it is a film about emotional invalids. This film entered my life at a time of my personal crisis, when I was dealing with feelings of disappointment and discontent.

However, through the process of making this film I realised how ridiculous we can be, if we become preoccupied with our own problems. So, the film turned out to be both - sad and ridiculous, that is absurd and comical. Just like love. And just like life itself.

Janez Burger

Crew

director and screenwriter
producer
screenwriter
Ana Lasić
director of photography
editor
production designer
costume designer
Ana Matijevič
 
Aleksandra Gregl
make up artist
production manager
music by
sound recordist
sound mixer
sound designer
Script supervisor

Actors

Herman
Darko Rundek
Žana
Nataša Matjašec
Gregor
Matjaž Tribušon
Ema
Vojko
Milan Štefe
Marjana
Vesna Jevnikar
Aljoša
Rafael Vončina
Suzana
Višnja Fičor
Lukman, ravnatelj gledališča
Gregor Čušin
dramaturginja
Janja Majzelj
Miloš
Claudette
Ljiljana Kobal
Roberts
Alexander Brown

Data

Year
2004
Genre
feature
Film format 
35 mm 
Video format 
Digital BETACAM 
Lenght 24fps 
100 minut 
Length 25fps 
2800 metrov 
Sound 
Dolby Digital SR-D 
aspect ratio 
2,35:1 
color 
color 
language 
slovenščina 
translation 
english 
 
 

produced by

E-motion film

co-produced by

RTV Slovenija

Kolodvorska 2-4
SI - 1000 Ljubljana
Slovenija / Slovenia


with the participation of

Viba film

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