Marko Pogačnik

Druga linija aka The Other Line is a product of many years of research of neo-avant-garde cultural and art scene in Novi Sad, Serbia (late 60s and 70s), which has been marginalized until today. This artistic movement was directly connected not only with important art centers of the former Yugoslavia, but also with existing flows of world art during its brief and productive activities (7e Biennale de Paris, 19th Berlinale). The cultural and artistic emancipation of that time had implied individual freedom of expression and strong reaction to established boundaries. This avant-garde movement had become threat to communist establishment, the authors' work were sabotaged, the films were sealed off, five artists were taken to trial, two were sent in prison. How is it that the retrograde mechanism of shutting down and removing the most creative and representative progressive impulses of our surrounding is still so current to this day?

From 1977 to 1991 an image of Slovenia as a green, demilitarised and peaceful country of diligent people reigned in Yugoslavia, a country where differences are not only allowed, but also desired. This period ends with a ten-day war, when the identity turns from peacefulness, modesty and diligence into courage and a fighting spirit. The film documents the changes in Slovenia and its inhabitants, which have in recent years brought us to a completely different understanding of national identity, different from the one which was true in Slovenia as well as abroad twenty years ago.