Peter Braatz: The Human Fish or the Discreet Charm of Chaos

The Human Fish, a documentary by Peter Braatz, was premiered on Thursday at 22.00 h in Kinodvor. The fact that the Slovenian version of the documentary tackling the circle of life and human interrelations (and not Peter Braatz, a German director, musician and photographer, who has been living and working in Slovenia for over ten years) was edited that same day, was revealed by Braatz during the after-screening Q&A session.

The Human Fish is an intimate view of Slovenia as seen by a foreigner, a straightforward examination of Slovenian character (“Slovenians are hard-headed and mulish…”). The film was shot in cooperation with 3sat, a German TV-station. It took him almost two years to write the rudiments of the script, while the final version was handed in this June. Braatz jokingly revealed that the shooting took so much time because 3sat wanted him to include an interview with Slavoj Žižek, who is incredibly hard to trace and this prolonged the matters for another year. Apart from Slavoj Žižek the film features a few celebrated Slovenians (Branko Završan as narrator, Janez Škof, Violeta Tomič, Mala Kline, the controversial Dr Rugelj et al.), while the shots of the family, home and friends lend an air of intimacy to the film.

If you are able to laugh at your own expense and would like to see yourself and your country through the lenses of Peter Braatz, see the film on 16 November at the Kosovel Hall of Cankarjev dom, and chat with the director after the screening.

Barbara Spreiz