Max is a charming, ever-smiling New Age healer drowning in debt. He is convinced he will somehow muddle through as always, but his troubles are catching up with him. His only friend and landlord, Samo, is threatening eviction; local loan sharks are threatening his life; and his ex-partner is threatening to ban him from seeing their ten-year-old son, Val. When Max takes Val to visit a wealthy new client, she becomes convinced that the boy can save her life with his touch. Word of the miracle boy spreads rapidly among Ljubljana’s spiritual elite, and Max seizes the chance to finally make his dream of a better life for himself and his fractured family true.

The main cast includes Matevž Sluga, Anvar Nikolenko (who was selected from among over 600 children), Nataša Barbara Gračner, Sara Klimoska, and Grega Zorc.

"There is something tragic, yet naively beautiful, about people who lose themselves in hope. Max is constantly chasing something we know he will never attain, yet he neither can nor wants to give up on his dreams. That is precisely why we follow him. Even though we sense where this will lead, we want him to succeed, perhaps because we, too, need something impossible to believe in," says director and co-writer Lun Sevnik.

The screenplay was written by Lun Sevnik and Atila Urbančič, who developed it within the TorinoFilm |LabScriptLab 2024 programme. The development of the film was supported by RE-ACT, the FVG Audiovisual Fund, the Croatian Audiovisual Centre, Film Center Serbia, and Creative Europe – MEDIA.

The Healers is produced by Rok Biček through Cvinger film in coproduction with Slovenian coproducers RTV Slovenija, Nosorogi and MB Grip, North Macedonian PPFP, Czech Nochi Film, Croatian Woodz Production, and French Kinoelektron. The film is supported by the Slovenian Film Centre (with the amount of 700,000 EUR), RTV Slovenija, and North Macedonia Film Agency, while the technical support is provided by FS Viba.

“The budget is estimated at 1.3 m EUR,” producer Rok Biček told FNE, adding that he has followed Sevnik from his student age and recognised his unique talent as a filmmaker: “I knew he possessed that quality which cannot be taught: a feel for atmosphere and for situations you sense before you even understand them.”

The 30-days shooting took place in Ljubljana and its surroundings, and in the Croatian coastal town of Split.

The film is expected to be finished in 2027.

Born 1992 in Ljubljana, Lun Sevnik has studied film directing at FAMU in Prague. He received two Vesna awards at the Festival of Slovenian Film Portoroz for his short films Voyage (2018) and Playing (2019), which premiered at the Karlovy Vary IFF (KVIFF).

Production Information:

Producer:
Cvinger film (Slovenia)
Ana Lampret: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Coproducers:
RTV Slovenija (Slovenia)
Nosorogi (Slovenia)
MB Grip (Slovenia)
PPFP (North Macedonia)
Nochi Film (Czech Republic)
Woodz Production (Croatia)
Kinoelektron (France)

Credits:
Director: Lun Sevnik
Screenwriters: Lun Sevnik, Atila Urbanič
DoP: Kryštof Melka
Editor: Hrvoslava Burkišić
Production designer: Maja Šavc
Make-up artist: Goran Ignjatovski
Costume designer: Mia Ventin
Sound designer: Martin Vovk
Cast: Matevž Sluga, Anvar Nikolenko, Nataša Barbara Gračner, Sara Klimoska, Grega Zorc