SAD SAM ALMOST 6

MATIJA FERLIN, PULA (CROATIA)

Totally absorbed by his game, a child teaches a class to a horde of animal figurines, giving them orders, encouraging them, snubbing them. Slowly trouble insinuates itself into this childhood scene. Growing up is not easy. The world of adults is maybe not so idyllic after all. A dynamic emerging performance artist in the Balkan avant-garde, Matija Ferlin conveys with impressive fidelity the discrepancy between a child’s viewpoint and that of an adult in Sad Sam Almost 6. This subtle, disturbing piece stands in sharp contrast to Sad Sam Lucky, another solo work presented at the Festival.