Film festivals

Film festivals in Slovenia

The Slovene Film Fund organises the annual Festival of Slovene Film in Celje and co-funds accompanying seminars. The Ljubljana International Film Festival (LIFFe) and the International Documentary Film Festival are organised by the Cankarjev dom Cultural and Congress Centre. The Cineast Cultural and Artistic Association ran up to 2006 an annual Festival of Independent Film and Video. The Ljubljana Gay and Lesbian Film Festival has run since 1984 and is the oldest gay and lesbian film festival in Europe. New festivals emerge constantly - recent examples include the Politically Incorrect Film Festival (PI-FF) at Metelkova mesto Autonomous Cultural Zone and the Kino OTOK - Isola Cinema Festival, which focus on the cinemas of Africa, Asia, Latin America and Eastern Europe. The most important regional initiative with international scope is the Grossmann Film and Wine Festival organised in Eastern Slovenia.

Presentations of Slovene film abroad

The Slovene motion picture industry was presented and received awards at various international film festivals, including the Berlin Film Festival and the Austrian National Film Festival in Graz. Classical retrospectives of Slovene film have also taken place in Barcelona, New York, Rome, Stockholm and Cannes. In 2006 the Slovene Film Fund organised presentations of Slovene film in Bradford, Katowice, Budapest, Siena, Helsinki and Milano.

Festival touring of Slovene films

Recent individual touring activity involving Slovene films shows the international scope of the film sector.

The film Spare Parts by Damjan Kolzole was shown at the 4th Belfast Film Festival of 2004, continued to the 'Vilnius Spring' in Lithuania, and was also presented at the Philadelphia Film Festival. Together with Cheese And Jam, this film was also invited to a festival in Sofia.
Within the framework of the EU cultural programme, the films Sweet Dreams and Ekspres Ekspres were shown in Paris.
(A)torsion, which was nominated in 2004 for an Academy Award in the section for short films, was shown at the international festival Cinequest in San Jose, USA, and at the international short film festivals in Lille, France, in Algarve, Portugal, and at the Station Transition event in Munich.
Blind Spot by Hanna W Slak was presented at special screenings in Leipzig, and then in Buenos Aires in the 'Woman & Film' section.
Peterka: the Year of Decision, a documentary by Vlado Škafar, was shown in Budapest at the Festival of Central and Eastern European Films, had a good audience response at the Torn Curtain Festival in Rome, and won a prize at the Milano Festival of Sport Film in 2004.
The Austrian Film Archive prepared a retrospective of the new member states and Slovenia was represented by Cheese and Jam, Ljubljana and Ekspres Ekspres (both by Igor Šterk) and In the Mountains. In the Mountains had its American premiere in the competition section of the Cleveland International Festival, where it received a warm welcome from expatriate Slovenes. It was also shown at the renowned Valencia International Film Festival in Spain.
The first feature film by writer, director, and above all video artist, Ema Kugler received the Gold Remi Award at the Worldfest Houston festival. It was also shown at the New York International Film and Video Festival (NYIFVF), and also in the Narrative Film in the Spirit of Moondance category of the Moondance Festival in Colorado.