Goran Vojnović, a Slovenian film and television director, screenwriter, author and columnist, is considered one of the leading and best-known contemporary Slovenian authors. He published three novels – Southern Scum Go Home!, Yugoslavia, My Fatherland (both won the national Kresnik best novel prize in 2009 and 2013, respectively), and The Fig that won the Župančič Award in 2017. In October 2018 Yugoslavia, My Fatherland won the Italian prize Latisana per il Nord Est. Stage adapted by the author it was staged to great acclaim at the SNT Drama Ljubljana. His work for theatre includes also a comedy Tak.si. He directed four short films (Fužine Rulz, Season 90/91, My Son, a Sexual Maniac, and The Chinese are Coming) and two feature films (Piran Pirano and Southern Scum Go Home!). He co-wrote a script for Marko Šantić’s short film Safe Journey, Nedime, and a screenplay for Lights of the City, a short film directed by Klemen Dvornik.
In his essay The Migration Panic And Its (Mis)uses, Polish sociologist Zygmund Bauman accurately corroborates that we have become hostages of skilled media reporting on anxiety and fear, overflowing with references to the migration crisis overwhelming Europe and portending the collapse and demise of the way of life as we know it. In this atmosphere, regardless of the migration and refugee history of our lands, migrants are considered an aggressive and terrifying force that will destroy our identity and integrity.
Reisefieber combines the zeitgeist of the liberal world, advocating solidarity and philanthropy, while distancing us from it at the same time.
Saša is forced to take care of his sick mother. His friend Daša finds an extra carer for her and brings Saša a young refugee woman from a refugee centre. This immediately causes alarm and a surge of prejudice. Although Saša loathes caring for his mother, this serves him as a perfect excuse for not joining his girlfriend who has gone to study in London. A week becomes a month as his departure gets increasingly more remote. Dreams of a better life abroad are quickly dispelled by Saša’s realization that he will forever be an alien there since a foreign world is a world of exclusion, anxiety, loneliness and maladaptation where he will lose his sense of belonging.
Relationships in a family and among friends are presented in intertwining life stories. Sometimes love is nothing but an excuse for one’s immaturity and indecision, while charity is another name for selfishness and excuse for not being able to face one’s problems. What happens when our theoretical and even practical activism is called into question? What happens when we find ourselves in a situation where we must make decisions and when something that is alien to us becomes our present and reality?