Eye on Film Festival

The International Film Festival for Children and Youth Eye on Film was launched in 2015 by Vizo, an NGO intent on advancing the state of film culture amongst the Slovenian youth (and also adults). As its title implies, the festival presents a selection of feature, animated and short films appropriate for different audiences between the ages of 8 and 18 years. The name Eye on Film, is a translation of Film na oko, an untranslatable word game.

The festival is inter-regional with screenings taking place at about a dozen cinemas of the Art Cinema Network around Slovenia, from Ljubljana and Maribor to Idrija and Škofja Loka. In Ljubljana, some of the (either current or former) partners include the Slovenian Cinematheque, Cinema Bežigrad and also the Museum of Contemporary Art Metelkova (MSUM).

Film programme

The presented films are very diverse, ranging from archive pieces like Fellini's Amarcord (intended for the 15–18 years age group) to contemporary feature and animated films, different shorter pieces and works made by students of the Academy of Theatre, Radio, Film and Television (AGRFT).

In the festival's first edition, for example, the bigger part of the programme was of a European productions and only a small number of films – equalled by those from Asia and from South America – came from the United States. There were some 50 films, and about a half were shorts, culled from the programmes of the Anthropological Film Festival of Children and Youth in Ljubljana, Croatia's KIKI International Children's Film Festival and Animateka International Animated Film Festival.

The best film in the competitive section is chosen by the audience aged 6 to 12 years. The winner in 2015 was the Italian-French co-production Il ragazzo invisibile by Gabriele Salvatores.

Side programme

Additional screenings in primary and high schools around Slovenia are presented together with various film creators and experts, who lead the accompanying lectures and discussion on films. There was also a course and a competition on film criticism for young writers, prepared in cooperation with Ekran, Magazine for Film and Television and Kino! Magazine for Cinema and Cinematic Issues.

A post-screening discussion amongst highschoolers, taking place at Eye on Film Festival, 2015