Fejos Postdoctoral Fellowship: Maple Razsa

We are pleased to present a trailer and abstract for Dr. Maple Razsa who received a Fejos Postdoctoral Fellowship to aid filmmaking on The Maribor Uprisings: An Interactive Documentary.

Trailer: The Maribor Uprisings: An Interactive Documentary.

The Maribor Uprisings: An Interactive Documentary

Fejos Postdoctoral Fellowship

In the once prosperous industrial city of Maribor, Slovenia, anger over political corruption became unruly revolt. In The Maribor Uprisings: A Live Participatory film—part documentary, part conversation, and part interactive experiment—you are invited to participate in the protests. Dramatic frontline footage from a video activist collective places you in Maribor as crowds surround and ransack City Hall under a hailstorm of tear gas canisters. As a viewer, you must decide collectively with your fellow audience members which cameras you will follow and therefore how the screening will unfold. Like those who joined the actual uprisings, you will be faced with the choice of joining non-violent protests or following rowdy crowds towards City Hall and greater conflict. These dilemmas parallel those faced by protesters everywhere as they grapple with what it means to resist. What sparks outrage? How are participants swept up in—and changed by—confrontations with police? Could something like this happen in your city? What would you do? What audiences see, the emotional quality of their experience, perhaps even whether they feel personally implicated in unruly protest, will all depend on the choices they make.

For more on The Maribor Uprisings check out the official website as well as POV Magazine’s in-depth review and IndieWire’s article about the nine independent films that deserve more attention in 2017.