In 2007, three artists decided to change their names. Each took the name of then-Prime Minister of Slovenia Janez Janša. One of them is this film’s director. Starting from personal experience, the piece was developed in the form of a documentary-investigation.
Among various cinematographic references (from Spartacus by Stanley Kubrick, to Romeo e Giulietta by Franco Zeffirelli) and interviews with ordinary people, artists, historians and communication experts (such as Jan Fabre and Antonio Caronia), actor-narrator Dražen Dragojević guides us in a vast investigation on the value of a name, examining famous and lesser-known cases of homonymity and name-changes.
In particular, the film dwells on the links between one’s name, identity and persona, illustrating the absurd consequences of the “multiplication” of Janez Janša, such as the apparent disappearance of the biographical information of the three new Janšas, following the substition of their original names. Full of exhilarating scenes, My Name is Janez Janša ends with an unexpected coup de theatre.
