- Filmed over a period of 20 years, Body is a sensitive and intimate exploration of the extraordinary life and intricate inner world of a woman who fights with her indomitable spirit to resist a series of rare auto-immune diseases.
- The latest feature-length documentary by the acclaimed Slovenian director Petra Seliskar, Body, filmed over a period of 20 years, is a sensitive and intimate exploration of the extraordinary life of her close friend Urska whose body has been invaded by rare auto-immune diseases. A professional piano player and a former fashion model, Urska had everything going for her before she was struck by the first illness at 28 years of age. Recovering from encephalitis, she had to get to know herself again and learn to live: to walk, to recognize her daughter, to understand - and love - her body that seems to want to destroy her. Years later, just when things were getting better and her life was reaching a semblance of normality, another, more mysterious and insidious disease attacks her. With support from her two daughters and husband, and from her parents with whom she's always had a complicated relationship, Urska navigates her difficult physical and emotional ups and downs, but never gives in. Despite all the challenges, her love for life is indomitable and the viewer will find themselves immersed in it. Urska and Petra have been friends since their teenage days and a wealth of video material has remained from all these years. As time went by and Petra became a film director, this footage started to get a more defined shape and is used in the documentary together with materials later filmed in Ljubljana and at Lake Prespa in North Macedonia. The intimate conversations between the two friends are interspersed with Urska's memories of the most difficult moments of her illness-ridden life. These daring, creative segments are guided by impressionistic images and complex, detailed music and sound design that immerse us in the inner struggle of the heroine. Body is an intuitive, visceral film about mysteries of the body that medicine still cannot solve, but that art can approach in a different way and offer an understanding that transcends factual obstacles. This documentary is a spiritual journey through the vessel that holds our essence.
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