THE MINER
Hanna Slak| Director | Hanna Slak |
| Writer | Hanna Slak |
| Camera | Matthias Pilz |
| Editor | Vladimir Gojun, Hanna Slak |
| Cast | Leon Lucev, Marina Redzepovic, Zala Djuric, Tin Marn, Boris Cavazza, Nikolaj Burger, Jure Henigman. Boris Petkovic |
| Producer | Sinisa Jurecic, Miha Knific - Nukleus film (Sl); Michel Balague – Volte (DE) |
| Screening | Saturday 10 November | 21:45 hours | Filmhuis Den Haag Sunday 11 November | 16:15 hours | Filmhuis Den Haag |
| Original Title | RUDAR |
| Year | 2017 |
| Length | 102 min |
| Country | Slovenia/Germany |
| Subtitles | English |
| Section | EXCITING, CURRENT CINEMA |
A powerful film based on a true story of a miner who risked everything to uncover one of the darkest secrets of Slovenian history.
Synopsis
In 2007, a Slovenian miner of Bosnian origin was sent to break into a sealed mine and report on what is inside. After 2 years of risking his life working in extremely dangerous conditions, he discovered a hidden mass grave of 4000 war refugees killed after the end of WW2. This discovery was a shock to the Slovenian society. The miner, Mehmedalija Alic, was made redundant for insisting that the victims be brought out of the mine, identified, and buried.
The director Hanna Slak met Alic in 2010 and helped him to pen his story. In 2013, Alic’ autobiography A NOBODY (Nihče) was published and soon sold out. Slak subsequently adapted it into THE MINER, a fiction film with thriller elements about the miner and his family, his work in the abandoned mine, his persistence to dig out the truth, and his strive for social justice.
THE MINER was the Slovenian entry for Academy Awards 2018, and has been awarded 20 different awards at international film festivals so far, including 3 Awards for Best Actor Leon Lučev.
Festivals & Awards (selection)
Festival of Slovenian Film, 2017 – Best Director, Best Editing, Best Actor | Warsaw IFF, 2017 – Special Mention, Ecumenical Jury award | SEE Fest Los Angeles, 2018 – Best Cinematographer | Trieste FF, 2018 – Young Jury Award | Cleveland IFF, 2018 | FAJJR International Film Festival, Teheran – Film Conveying Message of Peace, Circle of Iranian Critics Award, Best Actor | Orenburg IFF, Russia – Best Actor | Film Festival della Lessinia, Italy – Audience Award | Tuzla IFF – Best Film | Al Este IFF Buenos Aires – Best Film | Slovenian entry for the 2018 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film
Director's bio
Hanna Slak, Slovenian, born 1975 in Warsaw, based in Berlin, is a film director, multimedia artist and writer. She glides between the visual and the textual and between several native languages. She has written and directed feature films for the big screen (Blind Spot, 2001; Teah, 2007; The Miner, 2017), as well as documentary films and experimental shorts. She also creates video installations and video design for the stage. Her poems have been published in Slovenia, her plays in English and German have been staged at the Maxim Gorki Theater in Berlin. Her films are screened at festivals such as Cannes, Berlinale, Rotterdam, Locarno, and others.
Among the awards for her work are the Silver Bear for Short Film for the experimental documentary ‘Laborat’; Jury Prize at Weimar Short FF for the poetry film ‘Standard Time’; Best Director at Sofia FF and Don Quijote Prize at Cottbus FF for feature film ‘Blind Spot’; Best Camera, Best Sound and Critics’ Award for Best Film at the Festival of Slovenian Film for children’s feature film ‘Teah’.