ET(h)NOS Anche noi. Tudi mi

Script: Jože Dolmark, Boris Palčič
Direction: Boris Palčič
Director of Photography: Radovan Čok
Music: Aleksander Ipavec
Assistant Director: Mateja Zorn
Editing: Peter Samec
Technical Assistant: Kristian Miklus
Research: Giacomo Cavalli
Organizer: Vo Mauri
Producer: Aleš Doktorič
Production: Kinoatelje, 2004
Video Duration: 38 minutes

Documentary film (Fluvio Tomizza & Darko Bratina)

Border and Coexistence: Fluvio Tomizza, Darko Bratina

This documentary gives voice to Istrian writer Fulvio Tomizza and the founder of Kinoatelje, Gorizian senator Darko Bratina. It expresses the values of two men who were deeply rooted in localism yet believed in the global world. They viewed their own identity as complex and multi-layered. Both believed in dialogue and the interweaving of nations, rejecting ideologies and practices that emphasized nationalist isolation and led to tension and irrationalism, especially in interethnic relations. They both also felt a great deal of solidarity for the weaker members of society. Bratina was a politician who approached issues from sociological and general scientific premises, but he also followed the heart of a writer like Tomizza – a truth that cannot be reduced to any biased interest. Both were impartial, with Bratina being a member of a party; they stood against any form of homogenization, and this made them an intellectual tandem where both "wheels" were independent yet powerful. For Tomizza, Istria, with all its meanings, was in some sense like Bratina's world of cinema. In his symbolic universe, film created absolute reality, which in cinematic fiction could also be a possible truth. Tomizza was a researching writer, Bratina believed in the power of knowledge. Both sought the truth of deeper societal and human mechanisms, those long durations that could ensure sustainable coexistence and a better life for all communities who chose this border as their dignified home.

"Two great personalities, Darko Bratina (1942–97) and Fulvio Tomizza (1935–99), left their mark on this beautiful and historically tumultuous land. Both spoke with dedication about the shared life on both sides of the border, about coexistence of peoples and their different cultures, about mutual understanding and mutual tolerance. They believed that these were things people could touch, love, and cultivate together. They believed that human eyes should meet like two neighboring lakes. In the future common European home. To be together."

Statement by co-screenwriter Jože Dolmark

"The documentary walks through the spaces along the border that F. Tomizza and D. Bratina filled with their warm energy, their persistent desire to overcome differences and exclusion, to establish dialogue and coexistence between the different. Since their passing, these spaces, where history has left visible and lasting scars, have become poorer and emptier. Some would like to turn them into abysses."

Statement by director and co-screenwriter Boris Palčič