In the Land of Bears / V deželi medvedov
country, year
Slovenia, 2012
genre
documentary
running time
72′
directed by
Nika Autor
language
Bosnian, Croatian, Serbian
subtitles
Slovenian
synopsis
In 2010 and 2011, the huge Slovenian construction sector, which employed more than 70,000 foreign workers, collapsed, leaving behind it debts, halted construction activities and exploited and unpaid workers. Most employed workers came from the territory of former Yugoslavia, especially Bosnia and Herzegovina. While the government silently watched the exploited, underpaid, unpaid and humiliated workers, the accumulation of wealth on one side led to the accumulation of indignation and resistance on the side of the exploited and those struggling against exploitation. Because the competent state bodies, the mass media and the broader public had failed, the self-organisation of workers was inevitable. They demanded better living conditions, the payment of unpaid salaries and social security contributions, equal opportunities, etc. Armin, Aigul and Esad take us through particular stories and specific areas of work (activism and the construction industry), making them general and universal.
http://www.obzorniska-fronta.si/newsreel.html
about the author
Nika Autor works in the field of contemporary art. She finished her studies at the Academy of Fine Arts in Ljubljana and is currently finishing her PhD in Practice at Academy of Fine Arts Vienna. The focus of her work is a research of the invisibilities/ inaudibilities, along that the question of the production of dominant representations, which are emerging on today’s social, political and economical grounds. She is part of the collective Newsreel Front ( Obzorniška Fronta / OF ). Her work has been presented in different galleries and festivals; Film d’actualites-l’actu est a nous /Jeu de Paume, Paris, France; Between Worlds II, Gallery Miroslav Kraljevič, Zagreb, Croatia; U3, 7th Triennial of Contemporary Art in Slovenia, Ljubljana; Shifts in Time: Performing the Chronic, Mumok, Vienna, Austria; Alternative film/video, Festival novog filma i videa, Beograd, Serbia.