There are few sights more beautiful than Slovenia in the autumn! Here are some photographs I took on a wonderful day out in Lake Bled, before attending the Alibi International Crime/ Noir Festival in Slovenska Bristrica. This was my first ever trip to Slovenia – but it certainly will not be my last!
As you may know, I have just spent a wonderfully creative weekend at the amazing Alibi International Crime/Noir Festival in Slovenia, which was the hosted and created by the very talented writer and creative advertising director, Renato Bratkovič. The festival is unique in its concept and originality, and so I was it was a real pleasure to catch up with Renato, to ask him he felt about this year’s event…
Alibi is a unique, noir festival, set in the beautiful Slovenian mountains. What was the initial inspiration for its creation?
Nino, our friend photographer, and I made the film about Gora pod lipo (http://www.gorapodlipo.com) back in July 2015. When the film was finished I realised, what a lovely place this was. I could imagine a bunch of writers writing there, eating, drinking, having fun … I told Lena (she runs the place with her boyfriend Primož) about the idea and she said, “Yeah, sure, create a concept and we’ll do something about it.” After two weeks I had this idea about inviting five writers for a weekend, let them draw titles for their stories, write them and present them in the end. The last weekend in September the first guests arrived.
This is the third year of the festival, how has it has evolved since the beginning?
We try to add little bits every year – the writing workshop concept, where participating writers get their titles and have to write the stories, is unique I believe, but I wanted a film night as well. The first Alibi happened so fast and the film I wanted to present (the first official Slovenian film noir Case: Osterberg) but I was travelling from festival to festival at the time, so we ended up with Michael Winterbottom’s The Killer Inside Me.
We hosted Case: Osterberg with the screenwriter and the producer last year, and this year we presented a film based upon my story and we invited my favorite director, Damjan Kozole, with his film Night Life.
What are your feelings about this year’s event?
Well, it seems I’m lucky to choose writers who form a brilliant team. And this year was no exception. But most of all, I’m happy I had more women than men this year. Women tend to write even darker stories then men, I think.
Alibi differs from many other literary festivals as the writers create their stories while in attendance – do you believe it is important to celebrate spontaneous creativity?
I believe we need this sense of accomplishment in the end. I mean it’s great if you’re able to visit a festival where you read your own work, but when you find yourself with a task of having to create something on the spot and present your work, you win twice: you get this beautiful feeling of having created something and you have one more story that year. I guess this is what drives my guests to come here and I’m happy about it.
How has the festival evolved over the years, and what are your future aspirations for Alibi?
Well, the workshop concept will definitely remain the core of the festival. In the future I’d also like to have Slovenian publishers as guest – maybe some collaboration between them and our participating writers might come out of it.
My story began with Bistrica Noir literary evening at our local library a couple of years ago, so I’ll try and find a way to get them involved in the festival. And I feel one film night is not enough.
As this was the third year, my plan is to have an anthology with 25 stories published every five years. So in three years, all the writers from the first five years are going to be invited to join us again for the sixth edition when we’re going to promote the book and have some real fun. But we’ll have to find some additional sponsors.
Thank you for your interesting insights Renato!
For more information on the festival why not visit the Website and Alibi FB Page?
For further information on Renato please visit:
Artisan advertising and publishing house.
The Invitation
I was very fortunate enough to be asked to the 3rd Alibi International Crime/Noir Festival in the beautiful surroundings of Slovenska Bistrica, Slovenia. It is a very special event with five guest writers invited to spend the weekend surrounded by stunning scenery in the mountains at the idyllic Gora Pod Lipo . The festival is organized in conjunction with Artisan advertising and publishing house and Tednik Panorama, media sponsor.
How was the experience?
Imagine the nicest place you have visited on holiday; then add some of the best cuisine you have ever tasted, a beautiful full-bodied red wine, named Alibi especially for this event, add a selection talented writers, a lovely, comfortable hotel in the mountains, (Hotel Jakec) and of course, a cool bar to hang out in when you are not writing (Bar Grega). It’s all true! I can assure you I am not exaggerating – this was a very special event!
What did you do?
On the Friday evening (after I had spent a lovely day at Lake Bled with advertising creative, writer, and festival organizer Renato Bratkovič, the five writers attended a dinner at Goro Pod Lipo, (where we were spoiled the entire weekend with excellent food and wine), and each of us drew a slip of paper with our story title ready for the following days writing.
Did we enjoy creating new stories?
Yes very much! Of course, there is a little extra pressure in writing a full short story to be read the following day, But as the guest writer, poet, and publisher Jaka Tomc observed, sometimes a little pressure can be a good thing for a writer…
Goro pod lipo has a warren of private rooms and secluded spaces and so we all chose our own areas, carefully, meeting up for coffee with German, thriller writer, Silvija Hinzmann . And Croatian radio presenter and fiction writer Andrea Žigić-Dolenec for delicious meals in the cozy, traditional style restaurant.
Where there any trips out?
On Saturday evening we all bundled into the minivan and headed down to the local cinema in Slovenka Bristrica. The first feature was a new film starring Igor Korošec, Jana Jeglič was created by Artisan, Final Focus, called Minus 1 – and very entertaining it was too. I loved the noir feel of the piece and the character- without revealing too much, was very dark and manipulative; but he did want to help…
The second film was called Nightlife, which was based on a real-life incident with a lawyer in Ljubljana. To say that this man exceeded the boundaries of taste and decency is an understatement. The lawyer’s wife seemed a little dubious too, she kept saying she didn’t understand what was happening, but I was never sure if that was actually true. Her attempts to hide evidence in her handbag while being questioned at the police station, were quite humorous, although I’m not entirely sure if this was meant to be the case. The film’s director Damjan Kozole, kindly answered our questions afterward.
After all of that hard work, what did you do to relax?
As if you need to ask! We all headed off to the very cool Bar Grega to drink more wine, local beers … and yes, eat a little extra, delicious food… more strudel anyone? (as I’m sure you can imagine being a writer is very thirsty work, and we have to keep our strength up by consuming as many calories as possible in order to produce our very best efforts!)
What happened on Festival Day?
After spending the morning editing our stories and drinking coffee (caffeine is also indispensable to the writing process) we prepared ourselves for the event. The five stories readings came first, followed by some questions from Renato, and then from the audience. It all went very smoothly, and the audience seemed to be engaged and entertained. There was a pleasant time spent socializing afterward with the audience members, quite a few of whom, we recognized from the bar and the cinema earlier.
So what happens next?
The stories will be translated so that they can be read in Slovenian and English and the will be posted on the website, and eventually, they will be included in an exciting anthology of stories with the writers of the previous years and future festivals. I will, of course, keep you informed of what’s going on and when the stories are posted for reading.
For more information why not visit the Website and Alibi FB Page?
Sonia Kilvington 