After the Tuesday screening of Home, the new film by Slovenian director and screenwriter Metod Pevec, a Q&A session followed at the CD’s Kosovel Hall. The filmmaker was accompanied by Izet Velagić and Kaja Skol, whose tragic fates are featured in the film, a heart-rending account of the plights of impoverished workers and young people from dysfunctional families who live in the dilapidated house that used to a workers’ residence. The lodgings represent a powerful symbol of the atrocities against the civilian population committed in the name of unrestrained neoliberalism. In Pevec’s opinion the worst thing is that nothing has changed for the better; the Vegrad Construction Company still owes 11 million EUR to the workers. The media construed image, which Pevec criticised fiercely in his film, conveyed the misleading impression of the situation, when it was obvious that the company’s deliberate self-interest was enabled by the lenient legal system with too many loose ends. Even though the Vegrad Construction Company has gone bankrupt the workers are still at the mercy of the labour market – “the workers are simply mistreated and exploited by a new set of employers”. It is appalling that a company with a 300,000 EUR debt and a blocked account can still hire workers from the Employment Service of Slovenia. “It is blatantly obvious that the workers will never get their wages and the social security and health insurance contributions will not be paid – while, nevertheless, the statistics is improving,” he concluded with a poignant admonition.

The filmmaker, who received a standing ovation from the genuinely touched audience, will be available for questions after the Wednesday’s screening of Home at the Kinodvor Cinema, to begin at 17.00.

Written by Andraž Jež

Photo Iztok Dimc
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