The Ordinary Eli
Director: Lavinija Sofronievska
Country: Macedonia
Duration: 15’43”
Year: 2022
Short parallel between the people who are silent in everyday life and the fishes that live in silence and closed in an aquarium.
The whole story is a description of the inside state of the main character – Eli, a woman in her 50s who works in a museum as a security guard. She is very introvert and almost never talks. She secretly smokes, and her hobby is looking at touristic destinations and daydreaming about them. She has a pet fish. Every day she practices at home and gets ready to quit her job. Eli has a resigning speech prepared for her boss Milan, but doesn’t have the courage to speak up.
The loneliness of the modern man, the framed life, as living in a fish ball and the internal cry for freedom are the main motives of this short film. But the question is are they enough of a motive for Eli to leave her workplace and start living her life.