RESISTANCE CINEMA Presents “RUBBED OUT” A film by DIMITAR ANAKIEV, Director Dimitar Anakiev, Producer Alma Anakiev, Dimitar Anakiev Films; with support from the Jan Vrijman Fund, (2004, 50 minutes)
WHEN: Sunday April 17, 2011 1:15 pm
WHERE: Community Church NY Gallery Room 28 E. 35th st. bet Park & Madison Aves.
ADMISSION: Free, donations appreciated
SPECIAL GUESTS: DIMITAR ANAKIEV & ALMA ANAKIEV will lead a post screening Q&A
Kafkaesque |?käfk??esk| adjective: characteristic or reminiscent of the oppressive or nightmarish qualities of Franz Kafka's fictional world particularly his novels The Trial and The Castle, and the novella The Metamorphosis. - "marked by a senseless, disorienting, often menacing complexity: Kafkaesque bureaucracies" and "marked by surreal distortion and often a sense of impending danger: Kafkaesque fantasies of the impassive interrogation, the false trial, the confiscated passport "
Join Resistance Cinema for the American premiere of a film about a little known yet highly unusual episode in recent history: the “Kafkaesque” yet true story of ethnic cleansing in Slovenia in the 1990’s; achieved not by the sword but by the bureaucrat’s pen.
In 1992 the newly independent Republic of Slovenia erased from the register of permanent residence 18,305 inhabitants (1% of the population) that until then had enjoyed full citizenship rights. Prior to the secession of Slovenia these persons had been internal immigrants and citizens of the former Yugoslavia. With this erasure they were thus transformed into “illegal” persons and deprived of basic human, social, and political rights.
This administrative “killing” – performed as one would delete spam messages – created many personal tragedies. Without being notified the “Erased” lost their jobs, 
pensions, health insurances, the right to purchase apartments and lived in a constant fear of being deported. Many of the Erased were deported or left
the country understanding that there was no future for persons with the “wrong” ethnic background in the newly established “democratic” state. The majority of the Erased remained in Slovenia being subjugated to everyday humiliations and arbitrariness of the police and other state or local officials.
For ten years, the experiences and suffering of the Erased were shrouded in silence. Gradually the Erased started to self organize, to gain visibility and their struggle led to important victories. Aleksandar Todorovic, the main character in the documentary, founded the Society of Erased People of Slovenia to fight for their rights. Rubbed
Out follows the story of Todorovic at the height of their attempts to achieve justice and closure for these people.
The Constitutional Court ruled twice (in 1999 and 2003) that the act of the erasure was unconstitutional and that rights should be restored retroactively. Instead of complying with the Constitutional Court’s decision the Slovenian political class and especially right wing parties started to mobilize the Slovenian population against the Erased using xenophobic and racist attacks.
Dimitar Anakiev, an independent filmmaker, writer and poet, was born in Belgrade in 1960. He completed High Medical School in Niš, Serbia in 1986 and worked seven years as a Medical Doctor. He resided in Slovenia beginning in 1987 but shortly thereafter and without warning found himself among the victims of administrative ethnic cleansing ("Erased"). For 10 years he was compelled to live without personal documents (such as passport or personal identification), rendering him an invisible prisoner of the Slovenian democracy. The success of his films (including the Slovenian national film award) has made it possible for him to continue filmmaking as a producer, director and teacher. Anakiev is a founding member of the Slovenian Director Guild, and a member of the Slovenian Filmmaker Association.
Alma Anakiev (daughter of Dimitar Anakiev) was born in Ljubljana, Slovenia on October 9th, 1987. Alma got involved in filmmaking for the first time while in high school. She completed a 4 weeks workshop organized by two recognized Slovenian filmmakers (Dimitar Anakiev, Simon Oblecak) and directed her first documentary Pandelk (Monday) that won an award at the Student Film Festival in Kranj, Slovenia in 2004. She graduated from Eurodoc in documentary production and produced a documentary Citizen A.T. In fall of the same year she enrolled New York Film Academy Producing program where she worked on various student films and successfully graduated in May of 2010.
- Slovenian Film Festival 2004, official selection
- Politically Incorrect Film Festival (Ljubljana) 2004, official selection
- International Documentary Festival Amsterdam 2004, official selection
- Golden Apricot Yerevan International Film Festival 2006, official selection
- Amakula Kampala International Film Festival, Uganda 2006, official selection
- Doc Europa, Lisbon, 2009, official selection