The terrible war in former Yugoslavia has made daily headlines across the world, but few Westerners understand what it is like for those actually involved. New York journalist and photographer Michael Benson acknowledges these people. Having lived in the old Yugoslavia during the 80s, he experienced the Slovenian struggle for independence first-hand.

Moreover, he was the first US journalist to report on the underground Soviet rock-scene (for the US magazine Rolling Stone).

In his documentary Predictions of Fire, Benson focuses on the work of the group of Slovenian artists known as NSK (New Slovenian Art).

This consists of the Irwin Painter's Group, the Red Pilot theatre troupe (aka No-order) and the industrial-rock band, Laibach, whose heavy duty songs deal with their country's political and cultural problems.

But although Predictions of Fire concentrates on the NSK collective within the context of Yugoslavian history, it is not only about artists. Benson's film offers startling insights into the Yugoslavian conflict, as well the trauma of generations of East and Central Europeans who grew up under the yoke of totalitarian regimes.

"In certain ways," writes the Slovenian newspaper, Dnevnik, "Predictions of Fire is the Slovenian answer to Kusturica's Underground."

Bernd Teichman

Prod co: TV Slovenia Arts Programme

Prod/Dir/Scr: Michael Benson

Ph: Teodoro Maniaci Ed: Nika

Lah Music: Srecko Bajda

Narrator: Matej Rus

Running time: 90 mins

International sales: Kinetikon Pictures

Screening: 23 June, 17.30, Praha

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