Slovenian Women's Union of America NYC

Several members and friends met in September to say good bye and good luck to Sonja and her husband Hoon who are moving to Seattle. Sonja and Hoon plan to stay connected with the branch and continue their work on our website.

We also watched Slovenian film Rezervni deli (Spare Parts). This is a daring, powerful and provocative film – an uncompromisingly harsh and downbeat social drama – by Slovenian writer-director Damjan Kozole. It takes a cold, realistic look at many facets of modern life, from illegal immigration and industrial pollution to what people are willing to do to get money, and our constant search for love and friendship.

While the film makes no pretenses about what the horrific trade in illegal immigrants involves, in an extraordinarily daring step Kozole invites the viewer to sympathize with one of the smugglers. Without seeking to diminish the evil for which he is responsible, the film makes the lead character a complex, weak, fallible human being and he becomes human and almost likable. By not taking sides, and by refusing to outright demonize characters who in other films would be depicted as villains, the director has rightly implicated all of us in the various ills of society with which the film deals.

As Lynn wrote in our branch report, Slovenian movies offer the chance to hear the Slovenian language, to see Slovenians on screen, to see Slovenian locales, to see films created and produced by Slovenians and to see Slovenian names in the credits. Slovenian films in the U.S. are subtitled in English. Contemporary story lines put us into the present, life as it today for "our cousins" across the ocean. Check your local libraries, Slovenian movies can be found there! We hope to offer the movie Ode to Preseren in February for Kulturni Dan (Slovenia's Culture Day) and to celebrate the fifth anniversary of our branch reorganization. The tentative date is Sunday, February 5th.


New York City Branch of Slovenian Women's Union of America