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Aleš Pavlin • Perfo Production

Producers on the move 2012 - Slovenia

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- After the success of Nejc Gazvoda's A Trip, Aleš Pavlin si currently producing Gazvoda's new film Dual

Young Slovenian producer Aleš Pavlin of the Ljubljana-based company Perfo Production started his film career in 2009 with acclaimed short film E-Pigs. He broke into the international scene last year, when his first feature film A Trip, directed by Nejc Gazvoda, had its world premiere in the competition of the Sarajevo Film Festival. The film later won five awards at the Festival of Slovenian Film in Portoroz and participated in 20 international festivals around the world, most recently winning four awards at Nashville. In Slovenian theatres, the film is nearing 15,000 admissions, an excellent figure for a local drama. Now Pavlin is preparing Gazvoda's second film, Dual.

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Cineuropa: When one looks at your Producers on the Move profile, it seems you moved very fast - from a short film in 2009 to a world premiere of a feature film in Sarajevo in 2011. That's far from typical for south-eastern Europe. So, how did you manage to do it?
Aleš Pavlin: I was working very hard. It is extremely difficult in Slovenia to get access to public money since it regularly goes to 'established' producers who work on the same pattern for many years. But they get highest number of points at all contest for public funding. So it is a vicious circle, as you can’t get these points if you don’t have a chance to finish a project. Therefore, I was preparing more projects in different stages and managed to acquire the micro-support of public funds for post- production of A Trip, which was basically a guerilla production. I also believe that the task of producer is not only facilitating the production process, but also being a creative support for talent and crew and always actively working on the two other basic stages of a film’s life - distribution and exhibition.

A Trip made quite a splash on the festival circuit, and proved to be very popular among young, more intellectual Slovenian audiences. What do you think is the reason for the latter?
I would be lying if I said that we didn’t expect a good response. But it was way beyond our expectations and, fascinatingly, at every festival we attended, the reactions were very similar. Therefore, I believe that the film resonates not only with Slovenian audiences, but works almost universally. It’s not just about the Slovenian society, it’s about the director’s generation aged around 25 anywhere Europe. We are going into regular theatrical distribution in Croatia on May 10, which is extremely rare for this market and proves that our film has international theatrical potential.

You're now working on Gazvoda's next film, Dual. What can you tell us about it and how far have you gotten in the production?
If A Trip was a micro-budget production, Dual will be low-budget. It explores the fact that whatever situation and life circumstances people are in, they always strive to make their love happen. The same goes for the two protagonists of this story who are not able to realize their love because life keeps throwing unpredictable obstacles at them. It will be a trilingual film, in English, Slovenian and Danish, with an international cast. Our co-producers are Denmark’s Beofilm and Croatia’s Studio Dim. We are now in pre-production and the shooting starts on August 27, 2012. I am extremely proud that Gazvoda will have made his second feature film already at 26 years of age, which is very rare for Slovenian film-makers.

What do you expect from Producers on the Move and do you have a concrete aim?
I expect to share experiences with colleagues from other countries, acquire some new knowledge and above all to broaden my horizons. It will be a good opportunity to establish contact with potential partners for future co-productions. And, of course, I’m looking forward to some good parties!

Producers on the move is an initiative of the EUROPEAN FILM PROMOTION

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