April 8, 2025

The shooting of the debut feature Uncomfortable Beings by the director Maja Križnik begins

The shooting of the debut feature Uncomfortable Beings by the screenwriter and director Maja Križnik started yesterday. The film will be shot over 29 days in April and May at the following locations: in Gorizia, Grado, and Lignano in Italy and Ljubljana, Šempeter, Strunjan, and Škofja Loka in Slovenia.

The director says the following about her debut: “I started writing Uncomfortable Beings as a film about people who search fiercely for a way to understand this thing called living. The ‘living’ bit can only happen through relationships – with a sister, neighbour, shop assistant, nature, or a puppy – because people by themselves, when they do not interact with others, are merely floating dust, lost in their own importance. Perhaps the most life has to offer is just a quiet Saturday afternoon in the company of people who can see you.”

Starring Nika Rozman (Ema), Jana Zupančič (Megi), Janja Majzelj (Rubi), Goran Marković (Marko), Dejan Spasić (Igor), Isabel Gradišnik (Lara), and Julijan Cvet (Vito). Also featuring Marjana Brecelj, Ksenija Marinković, Ivo Ban, Mateja Pucko, Timon Šturbej, Jure Henigman, and Mina Antonina.

Uncomfortable Beings tells the story of three sisters who relearn how to be a family. The youngest, Ema (37), needs to sell the family house, while her two slightly estranged elder sisters are hesitant. When the three siblings learn that the middle sister, Megi (45), has succumbed to the same illness that took their mother’s life years ago, Ema temporarily takes care of her nephews, as the eldest sister, Rubi (49), is too busy with her carefree life. In the family house, which should be emptied, Ema finds old tapes containing her childhood conversations with her mother. This triggers a bout of delayed grief in her, which, as she keeps spending time with her nephews, makes her face the simple truth that sometimes the most important things in life are also the simplest. When Megi finishes her treatment, life returns to the family house, while Ema realises that sometimes you can find your true ‘tribe’ within your own family.

The film features the work of the director of photography Fabris Šulin, editor Matic Drakulić, production designer Adrijana Furlan, costumes designer Gilda Venturini, and makeup designer Lija Ivančič. Produced by Lija Pogačnik and Vlado Bulajić from the production company December and co-produced by Marta Zaccaron from the Italian production house Incipit Film. The producers stated the following as the shooting started: Uncomfortable Beings, the screenwriter and director Maja Križnik’s first film, was developed at the EAVE PW workshop, and the project was presented at Sofia Meetings and Baltic Event in Tallinn.” The film is co-produced by RTV Slovenija and Incipit Film from Italy.

Co-funded by the Slovenian Film Centre, Viba Film Studio, Creative Europe MEDIA, the Friuli Venezia Giulia Audiovisual Fund and the Friuli Venezia Giulia Film Commission.

The screenwriter and director Maja Križnik was born in 1986. After graduating in Comparative Literature and Philosophy in 2012, she continued her studies at the Academy of Theatre, Radio, Film and Television in Ljubljana, where she specialised in film and television directing. She won the Vesna Award for Best Student Film at the 19th Festival of Slovenian Film for her graduation film Little Fish (2016) and the student Prešeren Award for the same film together with her graduation short Zoo (2016). Uncomfortable Beings is Križnik’s first live-action feature.

Source: Slovenian Film Centre

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