Our earliest influences play an integral role in the shape our future takes – and reflecting on these influences enables us to identify vital parts of ourselves, and how these may be intrinsically linked to those who inspire and mold us. Inviting a sense of self-awareness often lost to fast paced modern lifestyles, filmmaker Jan Vrhovnik pays tribute to his formidable grandfather – a hero in the eyes of his childhood self – in narrative short, Edi.

Throwing a cinematic lens on Edi’s daily exploits in Slovenia – with his non-actor grandfather cast in the role of himself – Vrhovnik employs hyper-saturated tones and elements of Yugoslav nostalgia to shape an image of the man who served as his leading source of fascination, and the landscape that defined his formative years. Set over the duration of a sun-scorched summer, Edi considers the idea of influencers in their purest form, employing a humorous observational style and a soundtrack of Yugloslavian synth beats to deify a humble figure, and the domestic existence made remarkable through his appetite for life – mirroring the profound admiration felt by an 8-year-old Jan.

Against the backdrop of post-Yugoslavia Slovenia – an environment founded on new independence and the promise of opportunity – Vrhovnik draws parallels between childlike wonder and the state of a nation undergoing renewal. A saccharine portrait of youth and nostalgia, Edi explores how moments of mundanity can hold great significance in retrospect, encouraging viewers to consider the energy that gives life to our vision of the future, and the unlikely heroism applied to figures in our direct line of sight.