Nekoč v Posočju (Once Upon a Time in Posočje)

Writer and director: Ema Kugler
Directors of photography: Lev Predan Kowarski, Dejan Ulaga
Music: Robert Jiša
Sound design: Boštjan Kačičnik
Editing: Ema Kugler
Chief animator: Matej Lavrenčič 
Cast: Ivan Peternelj, Aino Aalto, Matija Vastl, Blaž Šef, Klemen Kovačič, Kristjan Guček, Zdravko Duša, Sebastjan Starič, Dušan Teropšič
Voices: Ivan Peternelj, Romana Šalehar, Andrej Rozman - Roza, Janez Škof, Ivo Barišič 
Production: Zavod ZANK 
Distribution: DEMIURG

The film tells the story of pre-Christian beliefs in Slovenia’s Posočje region, the origins of which are uncertain. The only documented piece of information reveals that in 1331, the new religion (Christianity) was brought from Cividale del Friuli (Čedad), thus ushering in a long era of extremely violent Christianisation in Posočje.

The old pagan temples were destroyed, the believers persecuted, and many killed. In consequence, the old faith practitioners took a vow of silence, and the faith was passed down from generation to generation only through oral tradition.

When Pavel Medvešček began collecting this oral tradition, it took him a long time to gain the trust of strici (uncles)*, who considered him a forešt and – as he was told – “not one of us”, even though he lived locally. 

Medvešček collected the oral tradition between 1953 and 1975, which means that until that time the belief had been kept alive and practised in complete secrecy. Nobody knows whether the faith is still practised today. The film is based on the book Iz nevidne strani neba, published by Pavel Medvešček in 2015.