04/05/2018 - Slovenian producer Rok Sečen, of Ljubljana-based outfit Monoo, is taking part in the 2018 Producers on the Move and talks to us about it

Slovenian producer Rok Sečen broke out on the international scene with Sonja Prosenc's The Tree [+see also:
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trailer
film profile] when it world-premiered in Karlovy Vary's East of the West in 2014. He has almost completed Prosenc's new film, History of Love, the first co-production between Slovenia, Italy and Norway ever (read news), and is now working on two more feature films and one short through his Ljubljana-based outfiit Monoo. Sečen is part of EFP's 2018 Producers on the Move at the 71st Cannes Film Festival.

Cineuropa: Which is the film you are most proud of and why?
Rok Sečen: I am proud of all Monoo's productions starting with The Tree, but the last one, History of Love by Sonja Prosenc, is dearest to me. It's a story of a young hearing-impaired jump diver Iva, who after the death of her mother, an opera singer, begins to realize that she had had an affair. Although it is clear that Iva starts to follow the man and even finds an emotional equilibrium in him, and that her brother cannot overcome the need for revenge which brings the trio to a violent revelation, the film moves away from plot.

Instead of jumping from present to past with flashbacks, it is a meandering of memories and thoughts through evocative images but also evocative sound. This film really uses the potential of the film medium, taking visual cinema even further. In addition to subjective sound, determined by the main character’s condition, some storyline clues are expressed through sound. It is like a dream project for a sound designer. 

We have had a very strong team working on it. Riccardo Spagnoli (Italy) was joined with a Slovenian sound designer Julij Zornik (The High Sun [+see also:
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trailer
interview: Dalibor Matanic
interview: Tihana Lazovic
film profile] by Dalibor Matanić, winner of Jury Prize in Un Certain Regard 2015) and Gisle Tveito (who worked on Joachim Trier's Louder than Bombs [+see also:
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interview: Joachim Trier
film profile] and  Thelma [+see also:
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interview: Eili Harboe
interview: Joachim Trier
film profile]).

The way all three co-production countries collaborated in this project and first time in this constellation is also something to be proud of. Last but not least, cinematographer Mitja Ličen as he always does and actors, seasoned Kristoffer Joner and young Doroteja Nadrah and Matej Zemljič did a great job.

What are the challenges and merits of producing in Slovenia?
In general, Slovenian annual financial support for all films amounts to about an average budget of one French film. In addition to that (and I don’t want to repeat the gender equality story which brings us to even lower support for female directors), I will mention that financial support from Slovenia in the case of History of Love amounted up to around 30% of the final budget.

We made the film on the production level as we had envisioned it with much appreciated support from Norway, Italy, Eurimages and Creative Europe's MEDIA Sub-programme. But I believe things are developing in the right direction; an important new measure is the introduction of a cash rebate which is already bringing productions from abroad into the country.

What are your expectations in Cannes as one of the "Producers on the Move"?
I think it is a great platform for meeting potential partners for new projects we are developing, but timing for me is even more perfect because we are presenting History of Love, and the other the new film is the co-production Son by Bosnian director Ines Tanović, on which we have just started the production.

What are your next projects?
The first thing waiting for me when I get back from Cannes is principal photography of a short film written by Despina Ladi, Paradise, which is connected to the development of the feature Seventeen Moments of Summer. With the support of Slovenian Film Centre we are also developing the new feature film by Prosenc - Redemption. It is a dark comedy drama; a clinical study of a family, that examines the topic of the emotionally empty life of the modern elites.