Embassy of the Republic of Slovenia in Paris

The Embassy of the Republic of Slovenia in Paris is the official representative body of the Slovenian Government in France. The embassy provides consular assistance and promotes bilateral political, economic and cultural relations between Slovenia and the French Republic.

The Embassy in Paris is additionally responsible for Monaco and, since September 2012, also for Morocco.

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Cultural cooperation

In 1993, the Agreement between the Government of the Republic of Slovenia and the Government of the Republic of France on Cooperation in the Fields of Culture, Education, Science and Technology was signed.

Slovenian artists are present in France on a regular basis. Artists are invited to the Paris Salons or residencies at the Cité internationale des arts, where there is also a Slovenian studio. The head of the artistic and cultural programme at this significant institution is Nataša Petrešin Bachelez, an international curator from Slovenia. The most outstanding presentation of Slovenian art in France remains the large exhibition of Slovenian impressionists at the Petit Palais in 2013.

The poster of the exhibition Slovene Impressionists and Their Time at the Petit Palais in Paris, co-organised by the National Gallery of Slovenia, 2013.

Musicians of all genres are regular guests at various French festivals. Among others, conductor Martina Batič led the choir of the French National Radio between 2018 and 2022. The Perpetuum Jazzile choir held a solo concert in Paris in 2016, and Vita Mavrič and Jani Kovačič interpreted Vitomil Zupan's Songs from Prison poetry hosted by the Patronage Laique Jules Vales Cultural Centre.

Slovenian design has been presented and noticed at several editions of Maison et Objet, a major French trade fair for interior design. In 2021, a comprehensive selection of Slovenian designers entitled Future of Living was featured as part of Paris Design Week.

In October 2022, on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of Jože Plečnik's birth, the Embassy organised an exhibition of Canadian photographer Geoffrey James entitled Social spaces – Jože Plečnik in Ljubljana at the UNESCO House in Paris. In 2016, Slovenian conceptual artist Marko Pogačnik was named UNESCO Artist for Peace for his contribution to healing the Earth. In 2017, he exhibited at the Musee Zadkin and lectured at the Beaux Arts de Paris. He has had several books translated into French, and his geoculture has taken hold in France, where several working groups operate.

The Department of Slovenian Language operates at the INALCO – the College of Languages, where one can pursue a PhD in the Slovenian language and culture. Other activities include a lectureship, regular exchanges of translation studies students, and cultural events. In November 2023, the poet and translator Boris A. Novak was invited.

Film

In autumn 2022, the Embassy, in cooperation with the Slovenian Film Center, organised the first Days of Slovenian Film in France. The 4-day festival in Paris presented five feature films and four short films, emphasising female production.

In 2023, Urška Djukić received the Cesar, France's highest film award, for her animated film Grandma's Sexual Life. Three films were regularly distributed in France: Slovenian Girl, Class Enemy, and Consequences, while films by Slovenian producers regularly participate in various festivals in France.

In May 2011, Slovenian and French ministers responsible for culture signed an agreement on cooperation in film production. The agreement clearly defines conditions and ways of cooperation in film production, film education, and information exchange. Under the new agreement, films with 20% Slovenian funding would be eligible for all the benefits that French films enjoy.

Literature

In 2019, Slovenian literature was presented comprehensively for the first time at the Livre Paris fair in Paris. The event was co-organised by the Embassy and the Slovenian Book Agency, and several accompanying cultural events and round tables took place.

Among the best-known Slovenian writers in France is Boris Pahor, who has a special status as a camp survivor and is considered the "beginner of autofiction" in university circles. French director Fabienne Issartel made a feature-length biopic entitled Boris Pahor – A Portrait of a Free Man. Drago Jančar, a Slovenian novelist who has had numerous translations published, is regularly reviewed in the press and invited to fairs and festivals. In 2014, he received the award for the best foreign novel for To noč sem jo videl (I Saw Her That Night). In 2023, his translator, Andrea Luck Gaye, was awarded the highest prize for translation work by the French Ministry of Culture. A prominent name is Brina Svit, who has received several awards, including the French Academy Award. Dušan Šarotar was the guest of honour at the largest literary festival, Etonnants voyageurs, in Saint Malo for his Panorama. Slavoj Žižek, philosopher and cultural theorist, is also widely translated. With the publication of Feri Lainšček's Halgato in French (2017), the synergy between the publishing house Phébus and Slovenian institutions led to the successful realisation of a trip of French journalists to Prekmurje.

Translator and publisher Zdenka Štimac founded the publishing house Editions franco-slovènes in Paris. Its rich catalogue also includes a bibliophile edition of the Slovenian legend Martin Krpan, some novels by Miha Mazzini and Marko Sosič, poetry by Srečko Kosovel, Tomaž Šalamun, Svetlana Makarovič, etc.

Only two Slovenian poets have appeared at the prestigious Maison de la Poesie in Paris, Dane Zajc (2005) and Aleš Šteger (2024). The latter, together with translator Guillaume Métayer, received the Alain Bosquet Prize 2024 for the poetry collection Au-delà du ciel sous la terre / Nad nebom pod zemljo (Above the Sky Under the Earth). The poetry collection translated into French was published in 2024 by Gallimard.

In 2016, an anthological evening of Slovenian poetry was organised at the Entrepôt in Paris by Liza Japelj Carone, and Katja Šulc interpreted the poetry turned into song.

Slovenian poets are regularly invited to the Marché de la poésie in Paris by the Antenne Slovène de la Maison de la Poésie, a house of Slovene poetry that opened in 2011 and is now settled in Charleville-Mezieres. The centre is run by Mateja Bizjak Petit, a Slovenian poet, translator, and puppeteer living in France.

External links

Embassy of Slovenia in France website (in English and other languages)
Useful data on the Slovene Government website
House of Slovene Poetry in Tinqueux programme

Gallery

The Embassy of the Republic of Slovenia in Paris, located in the 16th arrondissement (Passy) that stretches south-west from the Arc the Triomphe to the Bois de Boulogne, Paris.

Slovene Impressionism and their Time 1890–1920 exhibition at Petit Palais, Paris , 2013

Embassy of the Republic of Slovenia in Paris

Contents

Cultural cooperation

Film

Literature

See also

External links

Gallery

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