I'm sitting in the lobby of another planet's hell, which isn't that far away
of this place where I am right now and saying these words, I am writing what I am reading to you in a language that those under twenty may not understand, but those dinosaurs of our time, among whom I myself belong, I believe that they receive my every word as recognizable in the language of that planet where Serbian is spoken.
I sit and hit the keyboard of my thoughts that I channel for days in the city that even the vagabond of our time, Bregović, depicted in Songs to my younger self brother.
City of Niš, city of Niš,
Ludwig Van, Fifth Symphony
You'll never get to heaven by shortcut...
Why do I start my story in Milena on the distant planet of Serbia in the populous city of Niš?
Because since the day of her departure from the environment of our longevity, wherever I look, thought, stone within the planet that speaks and understands this language of mine, wherever I step, Milena is waiting for me. And in Niš, look at the wonders... there under the stone walls of the ancient city, which they claim was once ruled by Alexander the Macedonian (another local patriotic fabrication), I confidently claim that Milena Zupančič lived there longer than Alexander the Macedonian.
How?
In 1973, Milena was Empress Teodora for the role in Autumn flowers
In 1976, he did not let Tsaritsa Teodora out of his hands for the main role in the film Idealist
In 1977 he won the Grand Prix for Widowhood of Karolina Žešler
1985 Empress Theodora as a hat trick for Inheritance
In 1986, another Empress Theodora for the film Christophoros
Jokes aside, because there are no jokes, Milena is one of the most awarded, if not the most
the most awarded actress at the Festival of Acting Achievements in its sixty-year longevity.
Her Empress Teodora, protected by her name, surpasses the unrealistic claims of the legend about the stay of Alexander the Great in Niš. The legend of Milena is a reality.
Milena is our reality. Not only Slovenian, or Yugoslav, but life, human, emotional, reality, mine, other planets from which I am writing this story about human incomparability, nobility, talent, diligence, tenderness and love. Yes to love, to unsurpassed love that doesn't just emerge from what we now call "roles" because its roles are not just roles. They are life itself, they are a walk through the history of our beautiful but also difficult lives, they are always an understanding of the other (partner) who is no longer a partner, who before her must become a living being born thanks to her. Milena's roles are not roles, they are life, and that's why for the last six decades, they beat us, hurt us, made us happy, brought tears to our eyes, tormented us with insomnia, gave us the strength to move forward and not back from tomorrow, poked at our conscience, her roles loved and hurt us - just like Milena loved and hurt us.
It hurts, Milena's departure, like an undeserved pain.
As if anyone deserved pain at all, least of all us, and even less or not at all
Milena.
My doctor, as I call her, but my doctor, she saved my life, that's why I call her that, she lives in Germany, after the end of my journey to life, she told me that the human body was created in such a way that it should live for 160 years, and that we did absolutely everything to shorten it. So, where did Milena's 80 years of ingenuity and modesty of a beautiful and over-creative life that stopped half way from what was possible and left us in the smile of her sadness with which she loved us so much, were given and stolen from the life.
You can endlessly list all the statistics of a great career here. We can only pretend that Milena was ours, not only the Tsarina, let Teodora be also, but the Tsarina and that even in the time of that former land of us dinosaurs that are disappearing, as well as the memory of that land, there was also a bird that flew so high that we could not follow it and that in its flight it collected the most Sterija awards, the most significant festival of our common theater history.
1971. — Cajetan, Conqueror Andreja Hinge
1975 — Sofia, The Prodigal Son Andreja Hinge
1979. — Franck, King of Betajnova Ivan Cankar
1985. — Anna, Ana Rudi Šelig
1990. —Lydia, Wall, lake Dusan Jovanovic
And finally, in 2005, Sterija's award for special merits in theater life.
Six Sterija awards, no one has that...
And we had Milena, and you still have her today, with the pride of a life that was so crazy, so creative, so wonderful and unsurpassed that neither my story, nor our adoration for him will ever reach him enough like the gentle smile on her face that always welcomed you and that can now accompany us only in our insufficient memory of the gentleness, warmth and love with which we are parting these days, and which will never, never, never be extinguished.
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