Hidden People

by Miha Hočevar

Skriti ljudje, fiction
In preproduction

SI, RS

Guti (35, Slovenian) and Sig (50, Icelander) wake up naked and handcuffed to one another on a riverbank near Ljubljana. Sig suffers from memory loss, while Guti recalls a fight with skinheads Sid drunkenly participated in and Guti tried peacefully to intervene in. Sig has no passport or any clue about his identity—the skinheads have taken everything he owned. Guti is trying to build a new home for himself on a river raft after losing his house to the bank and his life to his ex-wife. He introduces Sig to his friends—suburban misfits, who remind Sig of a legend of the hidden people. The film is a fairy-tale dramedy about new beginnings. It is also a self-ironic story about small countries and nations (Slovenia and Iceland) in the “big” Europe; about the unexpected connections that can help us find our place under the sun and continue with our lives. Finally, it is also about a vast number of invisible people who feel like “internal refugees” in the European societies they are a part of.

screenwriters
Srdjan Koljević, Miha Hočevar
director
Miha Hočevar
producer
Danijel Hočevar
co-producers
Igor Kecman, Jelena Mitrović
director of photography
Simon Tanšek
production designer
Neža Zinajić
key make-up artist
Mojca Gorogranc Petrushevska

cast
Blaž Šef, Ana Urbanc, Barbara Ribnikar, Igor Samobor, Luka Marčetić, Gregor Gruden, Janez Hočevar

production
Vertigo
co-production
RTV Slovenija, Backroom Production
in collaboration with
Film Studio Viba Film
co-funding
Slovenian Film Centre, Film Center Serbia, Re-Act, Creative Europe - MEDIA

VERTIGO
www.vertigo.si

Danijel Hočevar
info@vertigo.si

Miha Hočevar (1963) created and directed hundreds of commercials—including certain TV commercials that have been very successful and popular. He writes scripts too. So far, he directed five features and several shorts. Three of his features – Going Our Way 2 (2013), Going Our Way (2010), and Fuck It (2000) – were major box-office successes in Slovenia and are second and sixth biggest Slovenian box-office hits of all time.

Vertigo is a Ljubljana (Slovenia) based production company with a distinctive track record and extensive working experience in international co-productions and tight-budget films. It was established in 1994 by the film producer Danijel Hočevar and film directors Damjan Kozole and Metod Pevec. Vertigo has produced and co-produced more than forty internationally acclaimed features, including Reconciliation (2021, M. Zidar; DOKUDOC: Best Documentary; TIFF: Best Documentary Award; FSF: Best Documentary, Best editing and FIPRESCI Prize; MakeDOX: Young Onion Special Mention Award; DokuFest: Best Documentary Award), Small Body (2021, L. Samani; Cannes World Premiere: Critics' Week in Competition; BFI: Special Commendation; Montpellier Cinemed: Students' Award for Best 1st Feature; FSF: Vesna for Best Co-Production; Seville European FF: Extraordinary Stories Award; Annecy Italian FF: Audience Award; Villerupt Italian FF: Special Jury Mention; Thessaloniki FF: GOLDEN Alexander Award; Liffe: FIPRESCI Prize; Cairo FF: Silver Pyramid (Best Director Award); REC FF: Best Debut Film and Special CineClub Jury Mention), Father (2020, S. Golubović; Berlinale Panorama: Audience Award and Ecumenical Prize; European Film Awards: Best Actor Nomination for Goran Bogdan), God Exists, Her Name is Petrunya (2019, T. Mitevska; Berlinale Competition: Ecumenical Award and Guild Prize), Half-Sister (2019, Karlovy Vary IFF Main Competition), Nightlife (2016, Karlovy Vary IFF’s Best Director Award), Slovenian Girl (2009, Toronto IFF), and Spare Parts (2003, Berlinale Competition), all directed by D. Kozole, An Episode in the Life of an Iron Picker (2013, D. Tanović; two Berlinale Silver Bears), Alexandrians (2011, M. Pevec; Best Documentary at the Trieste Film Festival), and Bread and Milk (2001, J. Cvitkovič; Venice FF’s Lion of the Future Award).