Ljubljana - President Borut Pahor hosted on Wednesday the creators of the first feature film in independent Slovenia, Babica gre na jug (Grandma Goes South), saying that the reception in the Presidential Palace sent a message that the period of independence efforts had also been the time of major cultural events.

The team that made the 1991 comedy drama was received as part of a series of events hosted by Pahor to mark the 30th anniversary of Slovenia's independence.

The president noted that he had already hosted many receptions in this context that recalled ground-breaking political and military events related to the independence and creation of Slovenian's own state.

"It is interesting, attractive and necessary" to receive the team that made the first feature film in independent Slovenia, to note that the years of democratisation and independence were also the time of "exceptionally precious moments culture-wise."

The president added that the 1990s had been full of hope, and that the decision to make a Slovenian film was a "bold business decision, and at the same time a bold directing and production decision, which turned to be ground-breaking in many aspects."

Pahor thanked the director, screenwriter, producer and score composer Vinci Vogue Anžlovar for daring to make 30 years ago a "beautiful film, a watchable film, a film that impressed the audience."

The film starring Majolka Šuklje, Bojan Emeršič and Nataša Matjašec is a story about a free-thinking grandmother who escapes a nursing home and hitch-hikes her way to the sea coast, meeting a saxophone player driving an old Mercedes convertible along the way.

Anžlovar assessed "without false modesty" that the film certainly deserved an honourable mention, as it was the "only Slovenian film fully financed by foreigners", as well as an entertaining film whose story "said that everything is possible."

While the shooting of the film started exactly 30 years ago, it premiered in Cankarjev Dom in Ljubljana on 17 December 1991, with Anžlovar remembering the immense interest for the screening.

"It seemed to me already at that time that we had created something important," added the director, who is currently working on a sequel of sorts to the cult film, entitled Grandpa Goes South.