Gora se ne bo premaknila
- Documentary Feature Film
- 94'
- 2025
- Slovenia, France, North Macedonia
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Synopsis
Each year, three brothers - Zekir, Zarif, and Zani - spend several months in the Macedonian mountains, looking after their family’s flock. The older brothers, Zekir and Zarif, lead the sheep in the upper pastures, while the younger, Zani, stays in a lower hut and takes care of the cows. At an altitude of 2,400 meters, far from any community or society, the brothers live a free yet precarious l
Each year, three brothers - Zekir, Zarif, and Zani - spend several months in the Macedonian mountains, looking after their family’s flock. The older brothers, Zekir and Zarif, lead the sheep in the upper pastures, while the younger, Zani, stays in a lower hut and takes care of the cows. At an altitude of 2,400 meters, far from any community or society, the brothers live a free yet precarious life, filled with hard work, simple games and innocent joy. Aside from their two much younger siblings, whom Zekir tries to teach the trade, and a younger sister who occasionally visits Zani, the boys’ only companions are their numerous shepherd dogs. One of them, Belichka, Zarif’s favourite dog, is held captive by a breeder from the city who made a dubious agreement with the boys. As they come of age, many questions arise in the brothers’ minds: who are they, individually and in relation to each other? Can they manage a sustainable life as shepherds? What lies ahead for them in their future? As tensions grow between Zekir and Zarif, the latter becomes eager to change his life.
Director
Director's statement
In order to touch this disappearing world, you have to become part of it, and that is what I was interested in. To hear a thunderstorm on a mountain where there is nowhere to hide can only be described by sound.
Gallery (65)
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The filmmaker Petra Seliškar has created an unforgettable documentary about a disappearing way of life. Her direction combines stunning landscapes with carefully observed personal details, creating a film that is both epic and intimate, and which could be described as one of the most beautiful films about boys ever made.
With a keen sense of rhythm and detail, The Mountain Won’t Move, an observational documentary by Petra Seliškar, provides an unvarnished yet poetic insight into the pastoral existence of three young brothers in the mountains of North Macedonia, where routine becomes both happiness and space for doubt. Against the backdrop of an apparent idyll, a deeper narrative of meaning, closeness, and transience emerges, only to ebb into the quietly poetic inevitability of existence. Throughout the film, the director keeps gently encouraging the audience to reflect on who is actually more “removed” from the concept of life.
The editing in The Mountain Won’t Move shifts between being contemplative and exciting, just as the daily life it shows, thereby allowing the audience to experience the events in the same way as the protagonists. It is a perfect example of the so-called invisible editing, one which achieves its purpose without drawing attention to itself.
Film subtilno in premišljeno prikazuje življenje treh bratov v gorah Severne Makedonije, nastal pa je v koprodukciji Slovenije, Francije in Severne Makedonije ter nosi pečat intimnega dokumentarnega opazovanja vsakdanjega življenja. Vsako leto trije bratje — Zekir, Zarif in Zani — preživijo več mesecev v gorah, kjer skrbijo za družinsko čredo. Starejša brata vodita ovce po višjih pašnikih, najmlajši ostaja v spodnji koči in skrbi za krave. Njihov ritem je določen z delom, ki se ponavlja iz dneva v dan, a med tem ostajajo trenutki za igro, smeh in pogovor.
V tej odmaknjeni pokrajini se bratje soočajo z vprašanji odraščanja: kdo so kot posamezniki, kaj jih povezuje kot brate, in ali je v tem načinu življenja mogoče najti stabilnost, svobodo ter prihodnost. Film izstopa po občutljivem opazovanju, vizualni poetičnosti in čustveni iskrenosti, zaradi česar je žirija prepoznala njegov poseben prispevek k sodobni dokumentarni produkciji.
Montenegrin: Redateljica je oblikovala majstorski čist dokumentarni film koji podjednko fascinira pričom i estetikom. Meditativno dokumentarističko putovanje daje fascinantan uvid u život četvero braće obiteljskom tradicijom određenih za život pastira izoliranih na Šar planini. Film nameće pitanja o vrijednosti drevne povezanosti čovjeka i prirode te održivost tradicije stavlja pred ogledalo suvremenog trenutka.
Screenings
Extended data
Dežela Šara (Slovenian) (working title)
The Mountain Won't Move (English)
Dežela šarplaninca (Slovenian) (working title)
Technical data
Financing
Budget
All financial information is obtained from official sources. I.e. producers or organizations which provided the financial support.
Comitee: Vojko Anzeljc, Matjaž Ivanišin, Haidy Kancler Explication
Zarif je petnajstletni ovčji pastir iz družine Zekirov, ki živi v tradicionalni vaški skupnosti Jabolčište ob vznožju Šarplanine v Severni Makedoniji. Če ga vprašaš, ali razmišlja o odhodu, te pogleda naravnost v oči in reče: “To je najlepši kraj na svetu. Tu sem srečen. Če bom odšel od tod, se ne bom nikoli vrnil." Dežela Šarplaninca je film, ki govori o zelo mladem fantu in njegovem zelo posebnem času odraščanja. Gre za izjemno zgodbo. Komisijo je še posebno navdušilo nadaljevanje zgodbe, ki je presenetila same avtorje dokumentarca. Zarif je med pripravo na snemanje in observacijo namreč odrasel postal polnoleten in pobegnil iz planine v širni svet. Dobesedno se je zgodil film.
Avtorica iz dokumentov nakazuje svoj subtilni pristop k liku, njegovi intimi in zmožnosti prisluhniti njegovi zgodbi. Zgodba je neverjetna in zelo slikovita.
Gre za film, ki je za mednarodno občinstvo morebiti celo bolj zanimiv kot za domače, zaradi tega pa daje slovenski kinematografiji neko dodano vrednost.
Comitee: Maja Weiss, Igor Palčič, Goran Vojnović, Simon Tanšek (alternate), Polona Petek (alternate) Explication
Dežela Šarplaninca je dovolj zanimivo zasnovana kot celovečerni dokumentarni film, da si zasluži sredstva za nadaljnji razvoj. Univerzalnost in relevantnost teme ne tičita toliko v njenem osrednjem motivu otroških pastirjev kot v njegovih širših implikacijah: gre za arhetipski prikaz človekovega harmoničnega sobivanja z naravo, h kakršnemu se v zadnjem času, upravičeno ali ne, vse bolj obrača in o njem ponovno premišljuje zahodni človek v iskanju bolj pristnega, minimalističnega življenjskega sloga, ki bi manj obremenjevalo tako njegovo lastno zdravje kot dobrobiti narave. Film sledi trem pastirjem, ki živijo visoko v gorah, odmaknjeno, kot da razviti svet z vsemi svojimi sodobnimi komunikacijskimi sredstvi sploh ne bi obstajal. Družijo se zgolj med sabo ter s čredo svojih ovac in ovčarskih psov. Zasnova projekta in mladost osrednjih likov odpirata mnogo možnosti za razvoj junakov. Kaj se bo zgodilo, ko se v njih prebudi seksualnost? Kaj bi lahko načelo načeloma idilično življenje v gorah? Ali bodo zdržali v svoji odmaknjenosti? Vse to so izzivi, ki jih odpira projekt, poleg osnovnih vprašanj, ki zadevajo vse nas: je res življenje v skladu z naravo tako pravljično? Gre tu morda za izkoriščanje otrok zaradi revščine?
Čeprav je avtorsko stališče v vlogi nekoliko pomanjkljivo ubesedeno, je iz priloženega vizualnega gradiva razvidno, da so tako junaki kot lokacija zelo slikoviti in ponujajo zanimivo, izvirno zgodbo, ki se tiče vseh nas in odpira večne dileme: kdo smo, kam gremo in kaj na poti izgubljamo. S tega stališča ocenjujemo, da bi utegnil biti film relativno privlačen za mednarodno občinstvo.
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