Sebastian Korenič Tratnik

Idyllic images of landscape are disturbed by a persistent, irritating sound of the motorway that divides the old community of Gmajna. With a special sensitivity to the village population, the film is a subjective account of the history of a place that seems to be disappearing.

Making a feature-length student film is hard, and making a good feature-length student film is even harder. Sebastian Korenič Tratnik achieves nothing less than that. Gmajna provides a heart-breaking insight into life in Slovenian countryside, a life that modernity has literally cut in half, dehumanising and alienating it, reducing it to memories and anecdotes. The extraordinary sensibility of the director in giving the voice to people who have been unfairly pushed to the brink and relegated to the past, is more than enough reason to present the young filmmaker with a Vesna Award for Special Achievement.