Maja Weiss

Balkan Gunfighters, political western

written and directed by:	Maja Weiss
producer country:	Slovenia
production year:	1991
duration:	13 min
camera:	Rado Likon
costume design:	Jana Coh
scenography:	Duško Milavec
cast:	Gregor Bakovič, Grega Cušin, Severdan Amiti, Dušan Sandak, Clint Eastwood
produced by:	AGRFT and TV Slovenija

Maja Weiss is one of the most recognized Slovenian film makers. As early as during her studies at the Film Academy in Ljubljana her films received international awards and were often shown. Among other awards, her first feature film "Border Keeper" won the Manfred Salzgeber Award as the most innovative European film at the Berlinale 2002, and was officially nominated for the Fassbinder Award rewarded for the best European feature film in 2002. She is a member of the European Film Academy.

Filmography

Child in Time – feature (2004), New World – series for TV Slovenia (2003), Border Keeper – feature (2002), Nuba – Clean People – documentary (2000), The Road of Fraternity and Unity – documentary (1999), Adrian – feature (1998), Photo Film 2001 – documentary (1996), The Village Teacher – feature (1994), A Boy – Blood Relationship with his Brother Death – documentary (1992), Balkan Gunfighters – feature (1991)

Film plot

The film was shot prior to the disintegration of the SFRY, but it tells a story of the end of Yugoslavia. A gunfight among cowboys, who symbolize Yugoslav peoples and minorities, takes place at the railway station. This is the first rewarded film by Maja Weiss also "featuring" Clint Eastwood.