In 1987, after he was rejected for a third time by the Ljubljana Film Academy, 22-year-old Damjan Kozole shot a no-budget, New Wave-influenced feature in protest: THE FATAL TELEPHONE, one of the first truly independent films in Yugoslavian history. Since then, Kozole has formed his own production company, working with a troupe of distinctive actors and setting box office records. In his films, some of the most raffish, funky--even sordid--characters discover their own humanity. By implication, too, they deal with the emergence of Slovenia after the breakup of Yugoslavia. Issues of immigration and painful integration into Europe recur in his work, often marked by dark humor. Join the director for the World Premiere screening of LABOR EQUALS FREEDOM on Friday. July 15, at 8:30.

Thanks to the Slovenian Film Fund, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Slovenia, EMOTIONFILM, and to Alissa Simon and Facets Multimedia, Chicago, for making this complete retrospective possible. (All films in Slovenian with English titles.)

Damjan Kozole In Person* for the WORLD PREMIERE screening of
LABOR EQUALS FREEDOM
[Delo osvobaja]

Europeanization stinks for machinist Peter Musevski. He's out of a job, and his wife--a classy civil servant who's become the family breadwinner-- is starting to stay out late. Even his frosty employment counselor unloads her problems on him. A tragicomic slice-of-life with terrific central performances.

DIR/SCR Damjan Kozole; PROD Danijel Hocevar. Slovenia, 2005, color, 71 min. UNRATED

Plus
EUROPA
Kozole's segment from omnibus film VISIONS OF EUROPE.

2004, 5 MIN. UNRATED

SPARE PARTS
[Rezervni deli]

In Krsko--the director's home town and site of Slovenia's only nuclear power plant--Aljosa Kovacic goes to work for an ex-speedway champ (Peter Musevski) helping to smuggle refugees. At first he's revolted by the human misery. But a job's a job, and he and the chain-smoking, cancer-bedevilled Musevski eventually become friends. Kozole addresses a major social problem--in 2000, police caught 36,000 illegal immigrants at the border--from an unusual angle. In Competition at Berlin in 2003, SPARE PARTS also won Slovenia's Best Film of the Year award.

DIR/SCR Damjan Kozole; PROD Danijel Hocevar. Slovenia, 2003, color, 87 min. UNRATED

STEREOTYPE
[Stereotip]

Tina Gorenjak is at a turning point. About to hit 30, she looks back on a decade with Max (pop star Roberto Magnifico, who won Slovenia's award for Best Actor), an artist who's always about to make it big. But then Slovenia is a country of would-be artists, including Peter Musevski's ubiquitous, lyrical cabbie and a theater director who stages mock violence to get material.

DIR Damjan Kozole; SCR Damjan Kozole and Luka Novak; PROD Danijel Hocevar. Slovenia, 1997, color, 90 min. UNRATED

PORNO FILM

Hefty brothel owner Primoz Petkovsek decides to make Slovenia's first homegrown porno film. But window-dresser Charlie (played by Slovenian stage director Matjaz Latin), the man chosen to oversee the project, gets caught up in his "artistic vision" and discovers real affection--even as Roberto Magnifico's hoods move in. Grand Prize, Best Actors, critics' and audience awards, Slovenian Film Festival.

DIR/SCR Damjan Kozole; PROD Danijel Hocevar. Slovenia, 2000, color, 80 min. UNRATED

THE FATAL TELEPHONE
[Usodni telefon]

Movie-buff roommates Vinci Vogue Anzlovar and Miran Sustersic are shooting their first film, a near random collage, on super 8mm. Then they decide it needs sound. One of them talks on the phone every day to an unknown girl. Kozole's debut has a sweet conclusion.

DIR/SCR Damjan Kozole; PROD Danijel Hocevar. Slovenia, 1987, b&w, 70 min. UNRATED

REMINGTON

Kozole's immensely assured second feature. With only five days to go in prison, punk rocker (and smuggler) Mario Selih breaks out and heads with his girlfriend for the coast, looking to board a ship. The trouble comes when they arrive too early for passage. Cop Jozef Roposa is on their trail--and maybe that red Chrysler they're driving is a little conspicuous.

DIR Damjan Kozole; SCR Damjan Kozole and Nebojsa Pajkic; PROD Danijel Hocevar. Slovenia, 1988, color, 80 min. UNRATED