09/05/2006 - Jožko Rutar • Producer Producer on the Move 2006 – Slovenia

Born in Slovenia in 1970, Jožko Rutar began working as a producer of cultural events and performances after graduating from the Faculty of Economics in Ljubljana. He collaborated for five years with the famous Slovenian contemporary dance company En-Knap, focusing on the production of contemporary dance performances and dance films.
In 2004, Jožko joined Stara Gara Production, which was established by the award-winning filmmakers Janez Burger and Jan Cvitkovic, where he worked as a producer and managing director.
Last year, Jožko produced Cvitkovic's Gravehopping which premiered in the official selection at the San Sebastian International Film Festival and received the Altadis Award. The film has since won 13 domestic and international awards, including Best Film prizes in Turin and Cottbus, and was named Best Slovenian Film at the 2005 National Film Festival in Portorož.
Gravehopping was also short-listed for the nominations at the 2005 European Film Awards.
2005 also saw Jožko producing a medium-length dance film with the En-Knap Dance Company, What Are You Going to Do When You Get Out of There? by Sašo Podgoršek which won the award in the category of Best Slovenian Short and Medium-Length Film in Portorož and received its international premiere in Rotterdam this year.

Cineuropa: Stara Gara’s first project was the feature film Gravehopping, which was very successful and won numerous awards at various festivals. What convinced you to produce this film?
Jožko Rutar: I didn’t have to be convinced at all. I was just invited by director Jan Cvitkovic to join the production and soon after we made an agreement.

Can you tell me a little bit about the upcoming projects you’re developing?
We are developing a slate of three projects, two of which are by director Janez Burger, who is preparing a feature film Circus Fantasticus. He wrote a very unusual script that has no dialogue, so we want to shoot a film without it, where the camera and silent acting will say more then the dialogue between the film’s characters. The second film by Burger we’re developing is an intimate drama entitled Driving School. It deals with a relationship between a driving student and her instructor. We are planning to shoot the entire film in a car. I am also developing a new feature film by Jan Cvitkovic, entitled Block of Flats. It will be built on emotions and sequences and will try to show audiences a different perspective and approach than they’ve been used to so far. I can’t tell you more than that right now.

At Cannes, EFP will have the task of facilitating contact among young European producers. Do you think that co-productions are an effective model for developing Slovenian cinema?
I think that co-productions are basically a very interesting instrument to close a film’s budget. But when we prepare films we’re not interested in making compromises that will change a film’s idea because of some co-producer’s financial input. I’m trying to find partners that have the same feeling and feel for the art of film, and not investors who are only interested in profit. I believe in our projects and we want our potential partners to believe in them 100%. Like a sort of tribal feeling, if you know what I mean.

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