WORLD CINEMA COLUMN | Slovenian Cinema and "Rooster's Breakfast"

In 2007, "Rooster's Breakfast" became the most successful Slovenian film of all time, third in seats only to "Troy" and "Titanic." (176,807 admissions and counting.) Yet it has virtually no presence outside the ex-Yugoslavia area: appearances at FilmFest Munich and a small Madrid festival aside, its success is a perversely insular affair, built around engagements in Sarajevo, Croatia and the like. If dank, depressing Romanian films can conquer the film festival world, why not a leisurely, ingratiating portrait of small-town life built around drinking hijinx and a low-key romance? (Variety didn't even review it.) Showing tomorrow and Saturday as part of a Slovenian retrospective organized by Lincoln Center and the Slovenian Film Fund, the most commercially successful film in Slovenian film history is barely a blip on the international radar. Director Marko Nabersnik has a few explanations for both why it's domestically successful and internationally a little inert, and why the Slovenian film industry generally remains below the radar.
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P.O.V. Doc Series Gears Up For A Diverse 19th Season

PBS will kick-off the 19th season of its P.O.V. doc series on June 27, with Helene Klodawsky's "No More Tears." P.O.V., the longest running independent documentary series on American television, will air documentaries every Tuesday night from June through October at 10 p.m. This year's lineup addresses a number of timely themes from worldwide politics and poverty in America, to the growing phenomenon of baseball in Japan. The series opener "No More Tears," is set in Sri Lanka in the decades it was plagued by ethnic conflict and profiles the life of renowned human rights activist Dr. Rajani Thiranagama. Dr. Rajani, who was assassinated at age 35, was also a courageous mother and professor.
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Film Forum to Screen U.S. and International Debuts in Fall/Winter Line up

New York's Film Forum recently announced their fall and winter premiere screenings, which include a wide-ranging assortment of U.S. and international films, with a strong focus on documentaries. Screenings will include Deborah Koons Garcia's "The Future of Food," Jacques Richard's "Henri Langlois: Phantom of the Cinematheque" and Jeppe Ronde's "The Swenkas," among others. "Documentaries have always been a mainstay in what the Film Forum does," said Karen Cooper, director of Film Forum to indieWIRE Friday. "I am pleased that the public is more aware of them and open to seeing them than in years past."
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