Maja Weiss is making a live-action short, The Hanging Bridge

Since Saturday, director Maja Weiss has been shooting her new live-action short, titled The Hanging Bridge, at various locations in Goriška Brda, Nova Gorica, Gorizia, and Solkan. The film explores a longstanding rift and attempted reconciliation within a family that split in 1947, when the inhabitants of the Gorizia region were separated by an impassable national border. The events are triggered by two young artists: Martina from Gorizia and her peer Mark from Ljubljana. Although they are related, they did not know each other before. They made contact via social media and are now arranging a meeting between Boris, Mark’s grandfather, and Giulia, Martina’s grandmother and Boris’s niece. The family, torn apart for decades, is reunited by its third generation of descendants – a generation free from cultural, linguistic, and ideological barriers.

Starring Boris Cavazza (Boris), Lučka Počkaj (Giulia), Lara Komar (Rosa), Aleksander Cavazza (Mark), Giada Fantoma (Martina), Nataša Konc Lorenzutti (Ana), Gaj Črnič (Aleksander), Artur Cocetta Komar (Rocco), Adriano Giraldi (Paolo).

The screenplay was written by the director and writer Nataša Konc Lorenzutti. At the start of the film shoot, Maja Weiss stated:

“It’s wonderful to be making a live-action film again after so many years. My last fiction project dates back to 2008, but now I am returning to the beautiful Goriška Brda hills with a story that has profoundly touched the large Slovenian-Italian cast. The film explores the story of borders and the cities of Gorizia and Nova Gorica, as well as family, and how memories and secrets intertwine across three generations. It examines bridges, Slovenian and Italian identities, generational divides, and the desire to unite despite differences, alongside the theme of family reconciliation. Although it contains a bitter line that “Europe is a pile of shit”, the overall narrative conveys a message of hope, positivity, and the possibility of a shared future.

The story focuses on a family lunch where three generations come together. Two young artists, who have connected on social networks through the surname Komel, unexpectedly find out that they are related. During this process, they also stumble upon long-hidden family secrets that lead to the reunification of a once-divided Slovenian-Italian family. As it happened, a brother and sister were separated by the border between Gorizia and Nova Gorica, established in 1947. After many decades, the younger generation reunites the family through the internet and their own curiosity.

We wrote the script together with Nataša Konc Lorenzutti, drawing inspiration from the environment of Gorizia, the real-life stories of the area, and the idea behind the GO25 project.

The live-action short The Hanging Bridge will be approximately 15 minutes long and is being shot in a modern, nearly experimental style – including the use of mobile phones and technology that young people use daily. In this sense, the film is not only a family story, but also an artistic project of its young protagonists.”

The film features the work of the directors of photography Valentin Perko and Jernej Perko, editor Peter Braatz, production designers Dušan Milavec and Dejan Filipović, costume designer Polonca Valentinčič, and makeup designer Aljana Hajdinjak. Produced by Ida Weiss from the Bela Film production house with the financial support of the Slovenian Film Centre and Viba Film Studio.

Maja Weiss is a pioneer of Slovenian film: she was the first Slovenian woman to direct a live-action feature, Guardian of the Frontier, in 2002. She is also an educator: at a very young age, she began running film workshops, and some of her students have gone on to become established filmmakers. She has made sixty films, mostly documentaries, sparking important and much-needed social discussions.

Source: Slovenian Film Centre