Genre
Synopsis
Film Živa (The Death of the Goddess Živa) is inspired by the Slovene national epic The Baptism on Svica (1836) by France Prešeren. Živa was a pagan goddess of love and prosperity. The meaning of her name is Life, Alive, Living. The poem about the violent Christianization of the Slovenes, depicts Živa as she is being replaced by Virgin Mary.
In twelve semi-abstract scenes the film introduces transformations of the goddess through her relationship to nature and historic events, suggesting the senselessness of wars. Despite the violent changes of Živa’s identity and heartbreaking love story between the pagan hero Črtomir and the priestess Bogomila, the spiritual dimension of the female principle at the core of the film remains the same: life, prosperity, love.
Bio
Slovenian born filmmaker and visual artist Nataša Prosenc Stearns earned her BA at the Academy of Fine Arts in Ljubljana. She moved to Los Angeles on a Fulbright Grant for her MFA at California Institute of the Arts. Her body of work ranges from single and multi-channel videos, video installations to short and feature films. She is known for creative use of non-gallery spaces and large multi-channel installations. Her films Souvenir, (released by Cinema Epoch), The Trial of Socrates, (collaboration of 23 filmmakers), Hotel Diary and others explore innovative strategies in storytelling and visual expression.
Nataša's work has been featured at the Venice Biennale, in Douloun Museum of Art in Shanghai, ARCO Fair in Madrid, Lancaster Museum of Art, Tel Aviv Museum of Art and in festivals such as SXSW, Films de femmes Paris, AVIFF Cannes, Brooklyn Film Festival, Chicago Independent Film Festival, Pacific Film Archives Berkeley, RedCat at Disney Music Hall in Los Angeles and others. She is a recipient of the Durffee and Soros Grants.
Nataša lives in Venice California and in Ljubljana Slovenia.
Screening History
Vienna Independent Film Festival 2022,
VASTLAB Experimental Film Festival 2022,
BIDEODROMO International Experimental Film and Video Festival 2023
International Art Film Festival 2023
Awards History
Vienna Film Festival 2022 - Best Short Film Award
Credits
Actor - Natasha Maidoff
