After the screening of History of Love at the Kinodvor Cinema, the 29th Ljubljana International Film festival cinema-goers were addressed by director and screenwriter Sonja Prosenc and cinematographer Mitja Ličen, who worked together also on Prosenc’s previous film, a socially critical coming-of-age The Tree. During a Q&A with Tina Poglajen the director explained that the music of Silence (Boris Benko and Primož Hladnik) greatly influenced her new film, especially its theme, the composition Concert for Guillotine and Tired History. This recurring melodic element runs through the film like a leitmotiv, heightening and developing through the interspersed sections of orchestra rehearsals under the baton of Erik, played by Dutch actor Kristoffer Joner. The sound is not only an important motif, but – according to the filmmaker – prominently features on various levels: narrative (serving to ground the back and forth time-shift), tactile and – ultimately – the subjective experience of the main character. These levels further overlap: the subjective sense of loss is represented through the fragmentariness of narrative time.
As Sonja Prosenc and Mitja Ličen are both business and romantic partners, the moderator inquired whether this had any influence on their work. We learnt that their creativity blended seamlessly with their private life. As artists they feel safe and free in this relationship, as “he knows what I want to say with a certain picture, and I know that he’s going to enhance it”.
History of Love is a unique Slovenian-Italian-Norwegian co-production, and the first Slovenian film financed by the Norwegian Film Institute. In concluding, Sonja Prosenc and Mitja Ličen revealed that they were working on a new film, a grotesque dark comedy.
Andraž Jež
Photo Iztok Dimc
