Experiencing Interruptions?

Digna

The movie is dedicated to the life of the Roman empress Iulia Aquilia Severa, the wife of the emperor Elagabulus (218.-222. AD), who was the priestess of the cult of the goddess Vesta. The cult of Vesta was one of the oldest and most appreciated ones in Rome, and the girls who pledged were „condemned“ to a lifetime of chastity, life in silence, and caring for „The eternal fire“ which represented the permanence of the family union. Vestals themselves were the housewives of the empire hearth.
The loss of virginity entailed the death penalty, but the blood of the vestals couldn`t be spilled. Decadent acts of the emperor Elagabalus drew hatred upon himself for representing everything that is destroying their rigid reality. Simultaneously he strived to change religion, singling out the eastern god Heliogabalus as the supreme deity. Marrying a vestal symbolically represented the union of the two religions, and the beginning of New Rome because he alluded to the relationship of the goddess mother Rea and the god Mars in which Romulus and Remus were conceived. However, the reality was different and Rome was not ready for this turnover. The emperor has been executed, and the empress, for not being mentioned by the sources anywhere, has been deleted from history.
Every 15th of May Vestals participate in the ritual of throwing straw puppets, which had the aim to purify the Romans of their sins. It is presumed that the puppets symbolized an ancient custom from the time when human sacrifices were offered to the gods.
Iulia Aquilia Severa – although her fate is held by others, decides to have all the sins of the imperial line upon herself.

  • Milica Slobodan Stojanović
    Director
    5 Julia
  • Milica Slobodan Stojanović
    Writer
    5 Julija
  • Aleksandra Gedeon
    Key Cast
    "Julija Akvilija Severa"
  • Milica Slobodan Stojanović
    Producer
  • Project Title (Original Language):
    Digna
  • Project Type:
    Documentary, Experimental, Short
  • Runtime:
    1 minute 6 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    April 28, 2023
  • Production Budget:
    30 EUR
  • Country of Origin:
    Serbia
  • Country of Filming:
    Serbia
  • Language:
    Latin
  • Shooting Format:
    HD 1280 x 720
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Black & White
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
Director Biography - Milica Slobodan Stojanović

Name: Milica (Slobodan) Stojanović
Birth date: 23. February 1979.
Education:
• High school – School of design, industrial design and interior
• Belgrade University- Faculty of Philosophy, master degree in Archaeology
Title: Archaeology curator
Work:
From 2016. Start working as a volounteer in National museum in Smederevska Palanka
From 2018. I work as archaeology curator and i am in charge for antique and numismatic collection
Programs and exibitions:
2016. Archaeology forum „ Arheologija i Vi na ti“, as one of the authors and hosts. It is a series of lectures on the preservation of cultural heritage
2017. Exibition about roman culture in vicinity of Smederevska Palanka under the name „Aut augustus aut nihil“- as one of the authors
2018. Event „Mesta na kojima smo ranije bili...“ (Places we had been before... ). Marking fiftieth anniversary of the discovery and first research of the sites Medvednjak and Selevac- Staro selo. Exibition and documentary film – one of the authors
2021/2022. Work on the proclamation of site Medvednjak (Vinča culture) as an immovable cultural property as well as on the publication of accidental finds from this site- the first publication of the archaeological department on this topic.

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Director Statement

For centuries, women have fought for their place under the Sun. Many died because of it, but they left behind a lesson that influenced future generations.