Sports Day

by August Adrian Braatz

Športni dan, 2023, fiction, digital DCP, 1,33:1 (4:3), 24, c, 22 min
Finished

Lucijan (13) wants to fit in. He doesn’t want to be ridiculed, so he decides to go skiing for his school’s sports day even though he can’t ski at all. One lie leads to another, and finally to a flurry of untruths that put Lucijan in an unbearable situation he can’t escape.

screenwriter
August Adrian Braatz
director
August Adrian Braatz
producer
Ida Weiss
director of photography
Peter Perunović
music composer
August Adrian Braatz
film editor
Nik Lavrič
production designer
Maja Šavc
costume designer
Pia Gorišek
key make-up artist
Eva Uršič
sound designer
Samo Jurca

featuring
Emil Kulović, Tilen Kolbe, Robert Prebil, Lina Godnov, Ana Facchini, Blaž Valič

production
Senca Studio
co-production
Adrian film, Gliser, NuFrame, 001
co-funding
Creative Europe - MEDIA, Slovenian Film Centre

SENCA STUDIO
Ida Weiss
info@senca-studio.si

August Adrian Braatz was born in Berlin in 1993. He graduated in film directing at Ljubljana academy AGRFT. During his studies, he directed short documentary film “Laughter” (2015), which successfully travelled the world festival circuit. His graduation film “Robbed Soul” was screened at number of festivals and received a special mention at LIFFE-International film festival of directing. In 2019 he produced, directed, and wrote the experimental short fiction film about the refugee crisis” The Vacation”. During lockdown, he produced and directed short experimental film “Separation-19” which also successfully traveled film festivals. “Future Nostalgia” is another self-produced experimental short film, made in the summer 2021 and premiered at the Festival of Slovenian Film. He also works as a music composer. His music credits, among others, include two feature films: Good Day's Work by M. Turk (premiere Busan IFF 2018) and Familienleben by R. H. Ziegler (premiere Berlinale-Panorama 2018). He directs music videos and works as an assistant director. He is a member of the Directors Guild of Slovenia.

“The film is autobiographical because Lucian’s decision in the script was actually mine. Since the accident, which left not physical but rather long-lasting psychological consequences, I have been asking myself why the classmates laughed at and ridiculed someone who was involved in an accident. I dusted off this story and decided to write the script after seeing a montage of epic fail videos. I’ve been wondering why we like to gloat at other people’s misfortunes and why our society desperately craves videos where we can witness serious injuries.”

Awards:
Special Mention ------- (Košice International Film Festival, 2023)