OSADNÉ

Osadné: a small village facing big problems. The local birth-rate is falling steadily, and even the statue of Andy Warhol, whose parents originated from the region, has seen better days. The small village in the Slovakian Carpathians is on the eastern fringes of the EU. The bright idea to put Osadné on the tourist map comes from the priest Peter Soroka, the long-serving mayor Ladislav Mikulasko, and the PR manager and local journalist Feder Vico. They apply for EU funding to build a meditation centre that will gain their village some publicity. Aware that registered visitors not only receive a tour of the EU Parliament but can invite parliamentarians to visit their region, the men set out for Brussels, laden with typical local gifts. Confident that that an invitation to Osadné will win the EU deputies over to their plans, they spend the journey in conversation, or stare dreamily out the window, fascinated by the wide and glittering world. Presenting their project proves to be more difficult than they thought, but a camera plays an unexpectedly important part in the proceedings. After the success of OTHER WORLDS (2006), Skop does not shy from the challenge of avoiding the pitfalls of portraying “country hicks in the wide wide world”. Accompanying his earlier protagonists for a second time, he draws a differentiated portrait of the journey into the unknown world of EU politics. It is a journey of geographical and cultural distance between the suits in Brussels and the voters on the outer perimeters of the EU. (Best Documentary Award, Karlovy Vary, 2009.)