news

The Casa del cinema – or Cinema House – is the central film theatre in Rome, located in Villa Borghese at the address named after the famous Italian actor Marcello Mastroianni. The cinema and, during the summer, also the open-air amphitheatre host many national cinema screenings.

The film in question is the sequel to the much-loved story of the brave and mischievous Gaja, a 2018 box-office hit. This week, the shooting of the youth romantic comedy Gaja's World 2 by the director Peter Bratuša began in Ljubljana. In the second part, the protagonist, now 14-year-old, will tackle teenage troubles in her own determined way. She will experience the hacking of her personal social network profile, help solve a crime, and show us that friendship is what counts the most – even though your parents are divorced, you live with a nasty older sister, and, on top of everything, your relationship with your best friend becomes complicated.

The first feature film Man Without Guilt by the director and screenwriter Ivan Gergolet was shot at the border area between Slovenia and Italy. The film is scheduled for release and distribution in March 2022. The story of personal revenge and redemption is set in Trieste, a city on the Adriatic coast, at the border between Italy and Slovenia. A 50-year-old widow working in a hospital discovers that her husband's former employer, who is partly responsible for her husband's death, has been admitted to the hospital because of a stroke. His son offers her a job as a caregiver, unaware of the connection between them. Seeking revenge, she decides to accept the offer.

After last year’s online edition, this year’s festival will once again take place live from 6 to 17 July. As we have already reported, two Slovenian minority co-productions have been selected for two different competition sections: Small Body, the Italian director Laura Samani’s debut film, will take part in the Critics' Week programme, while, Murina, Croatian director Antoneta Alamat Kusijanović’s debut, has been included in the Directors’ Fortnight (Quinzaine des réalisateurs) selection.

The Locarno Festival will take place between 4 and 14 August, and as many as three Slovenian films have been selected for three different competition programmes. Two shorts and a minority-production feature film will have their world premieres at this festival.

The debut feature film Morena by the Croatian director Antoneta Alamat Kusijanović, co-produced by SPOK Films and Staragara from Slovenia, Antitalent from Croatia, and RT Features from Brazil, will have its world premiere in the Directors’ Fortnight (Quinzaine des réalisateurs) programme of the Cannes Film Festival, taking place from 7 to 17 July.

Yesterday, Cannes unveiled the Critics’ Week programme, which includes the Slovenian minority co-production Small Body, the debut feature of the Italian director Laura Samani that has qualified for the competition programme of seven selected films.

This year, the 24th Festival of Slovenian Film returns to Portorož between 11 and 17 October. For the next three years, it will be headed by the film and television sreenwriter and director Bojan Labović, who said the following: “The final decision was based on the traditional affection that many filmmakers feel for Portorož as the Festival location and the willingness of the local community to enhance our cooperation.”

On Thursday, April 8, the shooting of the feature debut “Moja Vesna” by the award-winning Slovenian screenwriter and director Sara Kern, who has been living in Australia for several years, began in Melbourne and around. After the sudden death of her mother, Moja (a 10-year-old girl) becomes the unexpected grown-up of her fragmented family, immigrants to suburban Melbourne, seeking to reconcile her troubled, pregnant older sister, Vesna, and disconsolate father, Miloš.

This year’s 71st Berlin International Film Festival is a “hybrid event”, taking place in two stages – the online presentation of the official programme for the film industry representatives will last from 1 to 5 March; while the audiences will be able to see the selected films live between 9 and 20 June. Three Slovenians have qualified for the nineteenth edition of the Berlinale Talents, dedicated to discovering new film authors from all over the world: the producer Nina Robnik as well as the screenwriters and directors Darko Štante and Urban Zorko. These talents have been selected from among 3,000 applicants from 65 countries, while the motto of this year’s edition was Dreams.

The main international award at the most important short film festival went to a Slovenian film. On Saturday, 6 February, the 43rd Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival, which took place remotely as of 29 January, came to an end. The main international award at this most important short film festival went to a Slovenian film. The short film Sisters by the directress Katarina Rešek – Kukla, which also had its world premiere at this festival, participated in the competition programme consisting of 78 films.

On Tuesday, 26 January 2021, the shooting of the new Slovenian live-action feature Wake Me by the director Marko Šantić began in Jesenice. Because of temporary amnesia, the film’s protagonist Rok returns from an idyllic tourist town to the city where he grew up. He does not remember his girlfriend Rina or his problematic past. While striving to protect his younger brother Jure from bad company, he is forced to face his former life yet again.

For the first time, this year’s 73rd Film Market in Cannes will be held online from 22 to 26 June. The Slovenian Film Centre will present three Slovenian features at the virtual film market (Market Screenings 2020). The screenings are mainly intended for the festival selectors, who can ensure that the films have the best possible international festival premieres.

On Monday, 15 June, the shooting of the feature The Space Within Us by the director Rahela Jagrič Pirc, who also co-wrote the script with Darja Medić, began. The Space Within Us is a coming-of-age drama, set in the small town of Kostanjevica na Krki. The story revolves around a 14-year-old dark-skinned boy Toby, who accompanies his mother Kristina as she returns to her home village in Slovenia. Kristina, who has not visited for several years, surprises even her mother Gizela with her sudden arrival and big news about an exhibition in the local art gallery.