THE SCREENING (February 1, 2011)
A full month into my last stay in Zagreb, I feel quite content with my life. The internal exile is working perfectly. Few people know who I am or what I do, and that suits me just fine. I can only hope things will stay like this for many years to come. There is one little worry, though. Last summer I took part in the making of a film about golf development, which was funded by one of the leading television companies in Croatia (“The Television Interview,” August 20, 2010). God knows why, it has not been screened yet. As I recently learned from the people from the television crew that had crammed my house in Motovun, they are facing all sorts of problems with the film. It is clear that golf development is a subject few people in higher places wish to be bantered about, let alone put into the limelight. Too many of them must have been involved in the scam. But the screening will take place sooner or later. And my anonymity will suddenly be compromised. People will be staring at me for a few days, if not longer. Although I have been promised to be informed about the screening, I feel uncomfortable every time someone in the Croatian capital gives me an unusually long look. “Has the film about golf been screened already?” it flashes through my mind. So far, so good. But I dread the day, anyhow. Even though I would wish the golf scam to be exposed at long last, my internal exile is still too precious at this stage.