Franci Slak

The Birth of a Nation

directed by:	Franci Slak
producer country:	Slovenia
production year:	1992
duration:	13 min
sound engineers:	Hanna Preuss, Igor Laloš, Peter Potočnik
camera:	Rajko Bizjak
edited by:	Ana Zupančič, Zlatjan Čučkov
music by:	Iztok Turk
produced by:	RTV Slovenia
distributed by:	RTV Slovenia
co-produced by:	Bindweed Soundvision

Franci Slak completed his studies at the AGRFT in Ljubljana and Lodz, Poland. Screenwriter, director, producer of experimental, feature, documentary and TV films, videos and multimedia. Founder of the Bindweed Soundvision production house (1992). His films have been shown at many international festivals; in 1988 he got the Prešern Award for his TV film "The Laughing One". "When I Close My Eyes" won the award for the best film at the 1994 Film Marathon in Portorož, and this film was the first Slovenian candidate for the Oscar Award. In 2000, he completed the TV series "Prešern", which is also available as a cinema movie. His artistic opus is different in genre, from experimental to traditional forms, from thrillers to comedies, from documentaries to animated films. He gives lectures at the AGRFT in Ljubljana and at film schools in Philadelphia and Chicago.

Filmography

Feature film – Critical Time (1981), Eva (1983), Bumpstone (1985), Hudodelci (1987), When I Close MY Eyes (1993), Portrait of an Artist with His Double (2003); documentary/experimental film – Daily News (1979), Great Lakes Ghost (1994), Between the Earth and the Heaven (1997); short documentary, feature, animated film, video – Stanislav Lem (1986), Černigoj (1979), Texas-Osijek (1986), Drežniški pustovi (1990), The Birth of a Nation (1992).

Film plot

By using film images, he reversed history from the day when Slovenia became an independent state – June 26, till 1900.