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Kopanje (Diving-In) |
Now PlayingKopanje (Diving-In)
Directed By
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A man, who caused a tragedy which hurt his and his family's lives, wants only one thing: That the people he cares most about give him one last chance.
I wanted to explore the complex yet fragile relationship of a once happy family, now torn apart because of a tragedy – which could happen to anyone – that was caused by one of the heads of the family. I wanted to show the thin line between love and mercy, how the parents wish that nothing like this had ever happened. At the same time they cannot look each other straight in the eye and cannot establish a trustworthy relationship. This of course is the reason the father and daughters don’t see each other for over a year and at such a young age, the girls experienced this whole trauma for themselves and through the eyes of their devestated mother, which caused total alienation between them. This film chronicles their first day together after the tragedy.
Born on July 18th, 1990, in Postojna, Slovenia, where he spent most of his time on his skateboard, filming his friends, playing drums and having fun. Later on he graduated in Film and TV directing at the Academy for Theatre, Radio, Film and Television in Ljubljana, Slovenia and since then he started working on various Film, Video and TV projects. He is also an active musician and drummer for the bands The Canyon Observer and Blaž + Simon, among other.
Festival of Mediterranean Film Split
Split, Croatia
June 8, 2014
World Premiere
Balkan Film Food Festival
Pogradec, Albania
Fuencaliente Rural Film Festival
Fuencaliente, Spain
Best Fuenfiction Film (Best Short Fiction Film)
Cucalorus Film Festival
Wilmington, North Carolina
North American Premiere
Festival of European and Mediterranean Film
Piran, Slovenia
Slovenian Premiere
Bridge Film Festival
Mitrovica, Kosovo
Kosovo Premiere
Novella Showcase
Michigan, USA
TV Broadcast
International Student Film Festival NEW WAVE
Sofia, Bulgaria
Bulgarian Premiere
Film won the Grand Prix
International Children’s Film Festival Bangladesh
Dhaka, Bangladesh
Asian Premiere
International Film Festival ZOOM – ZBLIZENIA
Jelenia Gora, Poland
Polish Premiere
Boston Independent Film Festival
Boston, USA (online)
Frame by Sound
Online (USA, Dominican Republic)
SEE a Paris
Paris, France
French Premiere
Tlanchana Fest
Metepec, Mexico
South American Premiere
Alicante Film Festival
Alicante, Spain
Islantilla Cineforum Film Festival
Islantilla, Spain
Film Miami Fest
Miami, USA
South USA Premiere
Pink City International Short Film Festival
Jaipur, India
Bangalore International Short Film Festival
Bangalore, India
Indian Premiere
Festival Alhama Ciudad de Cine
Alhama de Granada, Spain
Director: Simon Intihar
Scriptwriter: Simon Intihar
Producer: Jožica Blatnik
Cinematographer: Blaž Potokar
Editor: Blaž Gracar
Art Director: Simon Intihar
Sound: Peter Žerovnik
Music: Gašper Letonja
Music: Simon Intihar
Art Director: Dušan Milavec
Cast: Gaber K. Trseglav
Cast: Jana Zupančič
Cast: Juta Kremžar
Cast: Vita Kremžar
Cast: Matija Rupel
Color: Color
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
Sound Format: Stereo
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Rhiannon Wain
A short studying themes of family and forgiveness, Kopanje (Diving-In) really dives head first into emotion.
A father is looking at a family photo, a picture of three children. He is interrupted at the sound of the doorbell - it's two of children into the photograph and presumably their mother. After the frosty reception and hostile behaviour it's clear that this is not a family that spend a lot of time together. After the mum hesitantly leaves, warning the father that he better not leave the house, the daughters are bored. The father, despite knowing he shouldn't, decides to take them out.
Kopanje (Diving-In) is an emotional short that plays with the audience expectation, as it never does properly reveal what tragedy has torn this family apart. Through a series narrative devices i.e. the father's flashback in the car and the conversation between mother and father at the lake, the audience can presume that there has previously been a car crash, which proved fatal for their third child Mihec. And judging by the the mothers attitude to the father, she still blames him.
The performances are particularly strong in Kopanje. The fathers breakdown at the lake is particularly poignant - a desperate father begging for the forgiveness of his ex-partner and daughters. The dire need to be close to his family again pulled at my heart strings and I was fully convinced by the performance and the sorrow of the character. The decision to end the film with a family not fully together but on the repair means the film never falls into the overly sentimental category.
The photography of the short is warm, full of natural light and natural hues; almost like the father's love for his children is so strong it oozes into the frame. The aesthetics are stronger in the exterior shots down to the stunning lighting and idyllic surroundings, each frame is delicate and beautiful.
An emotional short, which knows when to say just enough, Simon Intihar's Kopanje is subtle yeah brilliant.
Galina Maksimovic
Besides dealing with difficulties of overcoming a family tragedy, “Kopanje” also depicts the obsession of modern world that something bad will always happen.
Father has caused an accident where his family has lost a child. Today, he cannot build a normal relationship with his daughters, due to mother's worries that he will get the kids in trouble again. Their compass of fears is lost. Everything represents a reason to worry. Father's guilt cannot be justified in mother's eyes. She cannot think of the accident as something that could be caused even by her. Her character is a great representation of modern days anxiety, that kills rationality and even human will to forgive.
Although the father is the protagonist, mother seems like the more complex character. Father has already lost everything and he can only get it back. Mother, however, is torn between keeping the unity of her family by providing her children a chance to be with their father and keeping her children safe.
Toni Garden
Open to the sound of a jail cell door being slammed and cut to a man, alone and cradling a picture of three children. His wife and children arrive at the sound of the doorbell, startling him from his moment with the picture. The mother is cold and unforgiving, the children, silent and subdued. The young girls are unreasonable and fierce with their father, blocking him out with their mobile phones, a testament to a lost connection between a parent and child. Is this just the growing pains of single fathers and their daughters or is there more?
Diving In is an honest representation of family tensions and the fragility of grief. It also touches on the subject of blame. Can a family ever truly forgive an accident?
The final scene sees the girls throwing their father off of the diving ledge, akin to an executioner, punishing the guilty. Perhaps grief can only be fully expunged when someone has paid for their sins, no matter what the circumstances were. A strong cast convey unyielding grief in this family drama, offset with some beautiful and distressing shots from its director, this makes for a strong piece of cinema.
Ozge Ozduzen
The family still remains as the dominant unit in modern society, despite the physical and psychological abuse in addition to tragedies in its own walls. In Kopanje, Intihar turns his camera to one such tragedy within the walls of a former family. The reason behind the tense emotions throughout Kopanje lies in the previous loss of a child, reasons and history of which are unknown to the spectators. The film deals with the institution of family as the material cause of the tragedy; the loss of a child.
The woman’s fear of her remaining children’s encounter with ‘public spaces’ and her tendency to 'keep' them in the domestic space of the home reveal the conservative nature of family. When the father and the kids encounter with public spaces, the tense atmosphere of the film is consolidated through the possibility of car crash and drowning. These scenes communicate us the underlying dysfunctionality and traumatic existence of this institution. Touching on a personal family tragedy, Kopanje uses the natural landscape as a source of identification, rather than the individual members of the family.
Stefanie Ritch
What could a father have done that is so unforgiving he is denied a year of contact with his two daughters, whose mother is adamant they cannot be let outdoors? Filmed in sepia hues, the stop-go action is complemented by what we hear and experience largely from a protective parent’s perspective: the recurring sound of children’s laughter is interrupted by the alarming ring of a door buzzer or insistent mobile phone ring. A man so seemingly innocent, goofy and loving struggles to do the right thing and his young daughters’ manipulation is at first heart-wrenching to watch, their noncommittal attention to their mobile phones and insistence that even a few hours with him is a bore. Dad’s suggestion of going swimming changes the tone dramatically and there is suddenly hope in the girls’ change of heart, while the constant threat of the mother’s phone calls constantly irks the viewer to question the sanity and competence of the dad. It is this quality played to great effect which allows us to experience the former happiness and sudden plight which will forever cause a friction and panic between close family members. Touching and especially unnerving throughout, this is a film which makes great use of short time and with brilliant performances.
Cansu Şimşek
In the very first seconds of the film it provides a stressful and an unrestricted music which is undermined with fall of a case that seems to be belonged to the protagonist. After that we see his face in a touching situation which is giving a clue of being regretful. Then the door bell interrupts his immerse and turn both him and the spectator to the cruel realities. In a low angle we see he and his family greet each other. The frame is dark and shadowy telling about there is a mystification. The next scene welcomes us with a clear and bright frame of the mother’s face. It is an important clue of being clean-cut. When the camera turns to the father the chiaroscuro effect continues to create shadowy happenings feeling. In the other stages the spectators notice an alienation among the family members. The girls’ gazes directly press on their father with an interragator manner. The mother’s authority absolutely reveal the father’s impotency. This impotency is supported by the positions of the camera. The spectator is placed by the camera as an investigator, the gaze is directed to look behind the characters and encored to search for the truth. In the next stages the girls’ apathy is increased. They seem like very intimate strangers in a prison. While they are making their plan to go swimming, the frame shows two girl in mid-close up and the father’s hand –as apart from his body existence- seems in a divine like position. So it can be said that he literally gives his hand. The director never give a conventional shot, unlike she makes the spectator always looking from ‘holes’, like a voyeur. Especially in the car, we watch them from the rear-view mirror. At the same time they begin to play a game which is related with “spying”. The father draws a character who is contrasting with conventional father idea. He does not behave like bravehearts, he cries, he is totally lost and weak and guilty. Another supportive frame is comes from through the last scenes; the mother’s point of view. For the first and only time we see from her eyes. It means the mother is right and has the control. But it is frustrated with the last sequence of the father; by being emersed on the water.
Viorella Manolache
An overdose of emotion is felt from the first frames of the film (empty, filmed from bellow, insisting on the father`s grievance), illustrating the personal and familial raging, produced by a tragic event (Mihec`s death). The same emotion can be felt also in the moments of embarrassment, of boundless pain and inner tension that mark the meeting between the father and his lost family. It exists a sensible acting and interpretation, very expressive, mostly of the main character.
The camera takes act of two profiles, presenting parts and states/ contradictory reactions - mother, apparently, tough, overly careful and concerned about her daughters and father trying to reintegrate, marked by guilt and grief. The film speculates the role of inducting/ indirect explanation of the main plot. Eluding the interdict of leaving the flat, of renouncing the protection space, the adventure of the father and daughters at the lake become a true change of familial reunification. The limits/situations are shocking, the consumed incidents having a deep emotional impact: a possible new accident is avoided doubled by the final scene of the long minutes spent underwater, in a gesture of choosing or refusing death.
Giorgos Cirisafakis
That is a good movie!!! Very well handled, with delicacy and care. Very well played by the actors too.