Private Project

School for life / Šola za življenje

Mihaela and Boštjan come from the south-eastern region of Slovenia. They have four children. Mihaela decided to be a stay-at-home mother and quit her job as a primary school language teacher after the birth of her first daughter, Hana. The first birth changed her life and her vision for the future. Since 2019, she has been homeschooling her children, became a doula and is also a strong advocate of home births. Together with her husband, an electrical engineer, she tries to live in harmony with nature, to be more ecological, sustainable and self-sufficient. For Mihaela, learning and education are deeply embedded in social and everyday activities, family life and food production, depending on the child's interest and willingness to learn.

Film School for Life follows different pedagogical and educational approaches in homeschooling over five seasons, influenced by Covid-19 and her husband's one-year paternity leave. The film is a part of a PhD thesis Visual Ethnography of Housewives' Everyday Life in Slovenia, founded by Slovenian Research Agency, research core funding No. P6-0088.

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Mihaela z možem Boštjanom in štirimi otroki živi v manjši vasi v Beli krajini. Kot učiteljica slovenskega pouka na osnovni šoli, je po rojstvu prvorojenke Hane ostala doma, svojih otrok od takrat ni dala v vrtec ali v šolo. S Hanino šoloobveznostjo je v raziskovanju naravnih porodov na domu in alternativnih načinov izobraževanja začela s formalno obliko šolanja na domu, izobrazila se je za obporodno spremljevalko oz. dulo. Skupaj z Boštjanom, ki je redno zaposlen kot elektrotehnični inžinir, skušata živeti ekološko, trajnostno in samozadostno.

Film Šola za življenje sledi vsakdanjemu življenju družine, s poudarkom na vzgoji in izobraževanju, ki sta prepletena z gospodinjskimi in vrtnarskimi opravili družine. Ker Mihaela izobraževanje razume kot dolgoročen in fluiden proces, je ta odvisen predvsem od spontanih trenutkov pripravljenosti otrok za učenje in sodelovanje, pogosto med igro in delovnimi opravili, kot preplet vsakdanjih aktivnosti, učenja in družinskega življenja.

V filmu spremljamo družino skozi pet letnih časov, zaznamovanih z epidemijo Covid-19 in Boštjanovim enoletnim starševskim dopustom. Film je nastal v okviru doktorske naloge
Vizualna etnografija gospodinj v Sloveniji oz. raziskovalnega programa št. P6-0088, ki ga je sofinancirala Javna agencija ARIS.

  • Manca Filak
    Director
    Tobacco memory, Lukomir, my home, Young Hopefuls
  • Audio Visual Laboratory Institute for Slovene ethnology Slovene scientific research centre
    Producer
  • Project Title (Original Language):
    Šola za življenje
  • Project Type:
    Documentary
  • Genres:
    Ethnographic
  • Runtime:
    1 hour 2 minutes 47 seconds
  • Country of Origin:
    Slovenia
  • Country of Filming:
    Slovenia
  • Language:
    Slovenian
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
Director Biography - Manca Filak

Manca Filak is a PhD student at the Department of Ethnology and Cultural Anthropology at the University of Ljubljana and a Young Researcher at the Research Center of Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts (Institute of Slovenian Ethnology) in Ljubljana. Since 2012 she has been active in the field of visual anthropology as an author of ethnographic films and documentaries screened at various film festivals in Europe and abroad. As a part of Audiovisual Laboratory she is a co-organizer of Days of ethnographic film festival and Summer School of Visual Ethnography in Ljubljana.

Filmography, screenings and awards:

- Odnesel te bom na morje / I will carry you to the sea side (2012):
Days of Ethnographic Film Ljubljana (SI, 2013), Asterfest International Film Festival Strumica (MK, 2013) - Second prize SILVER horseshoe;
part of permanent exhibition I, we and others: Images of my world in Slovene Ethnographic museum (Ljubljana).

- Kapitan in njegov Petek / Captain and His Friday (2013):
Days of Ethnographic Film Ljubljana (SI, 2014), Festival of Ethnological Film Belgrade (SRB, 2014), Etnographic Film Festival Kratovo (MK, 2013).

- Zvonko in Ivanka / Zvonko and Ivanka (2015):
Etnofilm Festival Rovinj (HR, 2016) – SPECIAL MENTION, Festival of Ethnological Film Belgrade (SRB, 2016), Etnographic Film Festival Kratovo (MK, 2016), Days of Ethnographic Film Ljubljana (SI, 2017), Sguardi sui territori: Antropologia visuale ed ecomusei - Gemona del Friuli (IT, 2017).

- MLADA NADA / Young Hopefuls (2016):
Grossman Fantastic Film and Wine Festival Ljutomer (SI, 2016), DOKUDOC International Documentary Film Festival Maribor (SI, 2016), Festival of independent film Ljubljana (SI, 2016), DORF Documentary festival of rock film Vinkovci (CRO, 2017), Jamnarkult Motavun (SI, 2018) - BEST FILM OF THE FESTIVAL (MAIN JURY & AUDIENCE AWARD).

- Заграбване на земята / Land Grabbing (2017):
Sjón International Film Festival Copenhagen (Denmark, 2018), International conference ORGANIC FARMING IN BULGARIA: MORE INNOVATIONS FOR BETTER RESULTS (Bulgaria, 2018), Sofia Biting Docs (Bulgaria, 2019).

- Lukomir, moj dom / Lukomir, my home (2018)
Days of Ethnographic Film Ljubljana (SI, 2018), SEFF International Ethnographic Film Festival (CRO, 2018), NAFA Nordic Anthropological Film Association (ROM, 2018), Society for Visual Anthropology Film and Media Festival (USA, 2018), European Association of Social Anthropologists (Biennial Conference: Staying, Moving, Settling) (SWE, 2018), International festival of ethnological film (SRB, 2018), Kratovo ethnographic film festival (MK, 2018), Festival Gorniškega filma (SI, 2019), World Film Festival (EST, 2019), International Society for Ethnology and Folklore (SIEF): Track Changes: Reflecting on a Transforming World (ES, 2019), 7th Congress of the Portuguese Anthropological Association (APA) (PORT, 2019); ETNOFF (MK, 2019), Kathmandu Mountain Film Festival (NEPAL, 2019), (Göttingen) International Ethnographic Film Festival (GER, 2020) - MANFRED KRUGER STUDENT AWARD.; Golden Tree International Documentary Film Festival (Bejing – Paris 2021).

- Etnologija, antropologija, folkloristika / Ethnology, anthropology, folkloristics (2018), short documentary.

- Tradicionalna reja in vzreja lipicancev / Traditional breeding and raising of Lipizzan horses (2019).

- Tobačni spomini / Tobacco memories (2020)
Days of Ethnographic Film Ljubljana (SI, 2021); Rising Gardens Film Festival (Asia 2021); SIEF2021: BREAKING THE RULES? POWER, PARTICIPATION, TRANSGRESSION; SEFF Student Ethnographic Film Festival (CRO, 2021) - THIRD PLACE; 8th International Degrowth Conference (NL, 2021) – “Feminist and Decolonial Naturecultures”; Cinema and You International Film Festival (UKR, 2021) – NOMINATION Documentary Film Students; Kratovo Ethnographic Film Festival (MK, 2021); International festival of ethnological film Belgrade (SRB, 2021); ETNOFF Skopje (MK, 2021); Vizantrop engaged ethnographic film festival (SRB, 2021) Serbia; Society for Visual Anthropology Film and Media Festival (US, 2021); IUAES 2021 Yucatan Congress: INDIGENOUS AND ETHNOGRAPHIC FILM EXHIBITION (Mexico, 2021); The International Ethnographic Film Festival of Quebec (Canada, 2022); Festival neodvisnega filma (SI, 2022); Festival neodvisnega filma (SI, 2022); EASA2022: Transformation, Hope and the Commons (Belfast, 2022); 8th Congress of the Portuguese Anthropological Association APA (2022); KIEFF - Korea International Ethnographic Film Festival (2022); ETNOFILM ČADCA (Slovakia, 2022) - ETHNOLOGIST BEHIND THE CAMERA AWARD.

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