| PAGES FROM A WARM ISLAND : Izola film festival "day six" |
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| Tuesday, 31 May 2005 | |
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official site : KINO OTOK the second Izola film festival Slovenia, 25th - 29th May 2005 Monday 30th May 10.48 : last notes before home Flashback to Sunday: After the pizza breakfast/lunch with Jan Cv. in Gust pizzeria the heat becomes oppressive and I don't feel up to participating in the Guests vs Crew footy game. Hence retire to my cool bed and after reading some more of my book (Graham Greene's episodic travelogue-ish memoir Ways of Escape) lie with a towel over my eyes to screen out the glare from the sun outside. Earplugs in (somebody is always hammering something in Slovenia, or else playing raucous Balkan music). Result is a placid three hours' kip from 4.30 until 7.30 when I'm woken by my ringing mobile phone. It's young writer-director Mitja Okorn, whose youth-comedy Here and There is this year's biggest moneymaking Slovene movie. He's in town and I say I'll meet him at the press centre after I've showered. Problem: no hot water. I make do as best I can and head off into town, meeting Mitja shortly after eight. As Mitja walks up I'm chatting to Charlie Cockey (Brno resident, originally from San Francisco). I tell him about Mitja's box-office success and he whispers "this kid?" with bemused incredulity. Mitja is in his mid-20s but with his baseball cap on could easiy pass for 17 or 18. As folks pass I hear reports about the footy game (crew vs guests) through which I slumbered. 2-2 the final score, with Argentinian auteur (and party-animal) Lisandro Alonso getting both goals for the guests. Mitja, Charlie and I repair to the Izola town centre's most noted restaurant, Ribic ("fisherman") where I get stuffed squid with rice. The squid matches expectations. Service, however, does not, with our middle-aged waitress visibly impatient with her troublesome guests. She's so rude, however, that the experience quickly tips over into comedy and adds to rather than detracting from the mood of our table. The service is also slow, which means I have no chance of catching the closing ceremony just around the corner and thus very audible from Ribic's outdoor table. Much cheering and clapping, while I count the number of cats which stroll through the restaurant premises as if they own the place. Later we are joined by festival head Vlado Skafar, to whom I apologise for missing the closing ceremony. White wine is quickly poured and we all toast Kino Otok 2 and look forward to Kino Otok 3. The cats continue their nonchalant promenade between the table in search of scraps as the (great-sounding) music from closing-night film The Terrorist echoes around the walls of the town. The cats of Izola (and what a cat town it is) are not biddable creatures and Charlie reckons that they are at least semi-feral. Another memorable feature of what has been a very memorable week. One that has felt rather more like a month, if truth be told, but a good month. No outstanding films and several very so-so ones, but a great atmosphere and no shortage of interesting folk to talk to in the town, and out on La Punta headland at the post-midnight parties. Tonight (ie Sunday) proves no exception, less wild than Saturday (when it seemed half of Ljubljana had come to visit) but with a triumphant valedictory air. Slovene director Igor Sterk has been in demob-happy mood all week now that he's finished his new film Tuning (screened and went down well at the Cannes market last week, I'm told) and we have several chats about cinema, footy and sundry other topics. After 2am he translates for me a speech by hospitality organiser (and animated-film programmer) Igor Prassel. What I take to be a jokey routine about Kino-Otok is in fact an impassioned defence of Metelkova, the raucous squat-cum-nightlife complex which has occupied a former barracks near the centre of Ljubljana for over a dozen years and is now (oh so predictably) threatened with demolition by the newly-elected right-wing Slovene government. It's almost exactly the same as the recent situation with Christiania in Denmark, and Sterk says plenty of people will offer themselves as "human shields" in order to frustrate the bulldozers. Things start winding down as the first rays of dawn are visible over beyond Koper to the right (can that be east?). I cycle home, and once again when I hit the sack it's light enough to read in my room without putting the light on. My trusty Scott Yecora (mountain bike) is propped up against the wardrobe. It's now 11.18 and the bike has to be back at the hire-place Ritosa (just up the road) at noon, whence I'll be picked up by one of the festival drivers and taken back to Ljubljana and thence to Brnik airport, destination London Stansted. I write this final report in the KT2 internet cafe opposite the fruit market - when I bought bananas for breakfast just now, the young bloke took my accent for German/Austrian when giving me my change ("zwei hundert" etc). Two bananas for 100 tolars, 0.33 euros or about 20p. Izola is very good value. Thanks to Jan C, Jurij M and Vlado S for inviting me, to Matevz K for the conversation (per se), and to mon frere Raso G for giving me many chances to improve my functional French. And thanks to you for reading these fragmented, sometimes weirdly punctuated reports (the delights of Balkan keyboards...). Keep checking Jigsaw Lounge for more conventional reviews in the future, and I'll maybe see you here on the Island again next year. Until then: auf wiedersehen, goodbye, and adijo. Neil Young click here to go back to the first report, from Wednesday  |
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