Shooting of feature film »TEAH« by Hanna A. W. Slak finished
The film is Slovenian-Polish-Croatian co-production and the second feature film for the director. The producers are Frenk Celarc from the production company Gustav film and Dunja Klemenc from Studio Maj.
Co-producers of the film are SPI International from Poland and Jadran film from Croatia, and the associated co-producer, SCCA from the production company Pro.ba from Bosnia and Herzegovina. The film is co-financed by the Film Fund of the Republic of Slovenia – a Public Fund within the 2006 programme, it has also obtained means of the European film fund Eurimages, and the Ministry of Culture of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Polish Film Institute also invested public means through the co-producers. Project got financial support on open call for MEDIA developement for single projects.
The film is a family adventure and a fairy tale about friendship and human fight for preserving innocence, hopes and dreams. Teah, the little refugee meets a boy Martin who knows the secret life of tress and feels at home in the forest. Martin, who up to now lived in the peaceful home of his eccentric but loving family, and under the protection of the magic forest, is suddenly confronted with a cruel true story of refugees, war and the deep wounds it leaves on people. A humorous story about friendship carrying the universal message is taking place in the fairy beauty of ancient forests. Fiction and reality are inseparable in the forest, where small people fight for their place on the earth.
Most of the film story was shot in wonderful natural environs of Slovenian forests. The shooting was quite demanding due to the chosen locations in the deep forest being hard to approach. For a year the director Hanna A. W. Slak together with the set designer Katja Šoltes searched for suitable locations in Slovenia. Foresters from all over Slovenia helped them. Many scenes were shot on Kozjak, in Sveti duh na Ostrem vrhu, in the forest Trnovski gozd – in Smrečje and in the natural park -, on Trdinov vrh, in Rakov Škocjan, and Èrna jama. Shooting as well took place in Viba Film Studio in Ljubljana and in one of the houses at the foot of Rožnik Hill. The set designer Katja Šoltes made the house look as if from a fairy tale.
Starring: Nikolaj Burger as the boy Martin and Pina Bitenc as the girl Teah, featuring Marko Mandič (Samo), Aleksander Krošl (Deda), Manca Dorrer (Alenka), Tanja Šojiæ (Veljka), Senad Bašiæ (Zlatan) and Žan Marolt (Elvis) from Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Teah is the result of the cooperation of the international film crew; filmmakers from Slovenia, Poland, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Belgium etc. Director of photography is Karina Kleszczewska from Poland, set designer is Katja Šoltes (Estrelita, Well Tempered Corpses, Ruins, Beneath Her Window), make up artist is Tina Šubic Dodočiæ (No Man's Land, Vladimir, Pretty Village, Pretty Flame – the Golden Mimosa Award for make up, Burlesque Tragedy – Crystal Prism Award for make up, Well Tempered Corpses); costume designer is Bjanka Ursulov, sound engineer is Dirk Bombey from Belgium (11'09''01, Antonia), and the production manager is Petra Vidmar.
Hanna A. W. Slak is a director who has a track record of international prize winning films for her feature film and short films. For her feature debut »Blind Spot« she was awarded Best Director at the 7th Sofia International Film Festival in Bulgaria and Manca Dorrer was presented the award for the Best Actress for the same film at the 43rd Thessaloniki International Film Festival in Greece. »Blind Spot« also won the award of the Ecumenical Jury »Don Kihot« at the 12th Cottbus Film Festival in Germany. The film saw its premiere at the Locarno International Film Festival and went on to the festivals in Chicago, Rotterdam, Edinburgh, Ghent etc. She is the author of several internationally recognised short films; her first film »FREAKquencies« (Brez štroma) was awarded the prize for emerging young director at the Munich Film Festival of Film Schools and the short film A. M. (Zjutro) won the prize for Best Student Film at Slovenian Film Festival in Portorož. In 1999 she was named the Most Promising Young Slovenian Filmmaker. She was born in Warsaw in 1975 and graduated at the Academy for Theatre, Radio, Film and TV (AGRFT) in Ljubljana.
In 2004 the feature film project »TEAH« received one of two main awards of the CineLink – the Sarajevo Film Festival co-production market for feature films. Within the »North by Northwest« programme at the 55th Berlin International Film Festival in February 2005 the film was represented to the interested international producers and potential investors. With this project Hanna A. W. Slak also participated in some other international workshops and programmes, where she aroused interest of the international film public. Among others she participated in the Nipkow Programme, Berlin-based fellowship programme, designed to assist film and television professionals, supported by the Media East of Eden, a »North by Northwest« development programme.
More about the film in our film database.