Ulysses' Shelter: building writers-in-residence network

organizes literary residences for young writers, translators and editors. The project will begin at the end of 2018 at three locations - in Ljubljana, Larissa and in Pomena on the island of Mljet, organized by Sandorf publishing house from Zagreb, in partnership with Slovenian Writers' Society (DSP) from Ljubljana and publishing house Thraka from Larissa. Each resident will spend three weeks on each location from December 2018 to October 2019, and the idea of the project is to gradually extend the network of partners to other European countries in the future and to bring together artists from around the world and expose the creative potential of various European locations. Tovar.hr is the main means of informing about the Ulysses' Shelter project - about the residents, their work, and events within the project (readings, workshops, conferences and social events with residents).

Ulysses' Shelter: Poetry in Nature

The idea for the Ulysses’ Shelter documentary came from the period of lockdown which almost completely stopped the project activities in the first half of 2020. It became obvious that the filming of what will come next will be a document of the collective struggle, and we wanted to make note of how the young writers, poets and translators were making effort to keep creating and remain active on the artistic scene.

From November 2020 till March 2022 each resident who came to the residency on Mljet was filmed by a four members film crew (Ivan Sršen, producer and the narrator of the film, Sergej Stanojkovski, director, Dario Domitrović, cameraman and editor and Daniel Golem, the sound engineer) for several days on different locations on the island.

The result of the filming is interviews with six writers who came to the Mljet residency in the time of the pandemic. With seven more writers who either came to Mljet before the pandemic, or couldn’t come at all because of the pandemic circumstances, online interviews were recorded and made a part of the film.

The documentary tells a story of the isolation, which is an integral part of writers’ daily routine, and it is also a specific of Sandorf’s Mljet residency, because its location is isolated from the inhabited area, about 2,5 kilometers from the nearest village, in the midst of the beautiful Mljet National Park. Above all, the self-isolation everyone went through in pandemic was a subject the film referred to and drew comparison to the usual lives of the writers, poets and translators and what messages and experiences they can share with the audience that would make everyone understand these times of pressure and constraint more easily.

The beautiful landscapes of Mljet contrast the subject and in that way enhance the message of endurance and understanding and culture and literature as a universal language.

 


IMPRESSUM

 

Sandorf - publishing house founded in 2008, engaged in Croatian literature and literature in translation, and in a wide range of books in humanities.

 

Center for Research and Promotion of Urban Culture (CIP) is a non-profit association that has existed for twenty years. Established in 1998, it operates in the areas of culture and art, urbanism, youth mobility and social dialogue.

 

Editor in chief: Ivan Sršen

Managing editor: Jana Smrekar

Editorial board: Matko Abramić, Thanos Gogos, Sena Zereyak
Graphic editor: Nikša Eršek

Website maintenance: Nabukodonozor d.o.o.

 

 




 

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