Pema Tseden, China, 2019, 102’

Two children playing with condoms, using them as balloons, upsets the harmony of their family and the community, which causes a series of embarrassments, dilemmas, and life choices. The family, especially the mother, face and confront the opposing dictates of nature, religion, spirituality, politics and free will.

More projections:
27. 8., 10.00, Art Cinema Odeon, Izola

Paulo Carneiro, Portugal, 2018, 70'

The filmmaker sets out for the remote village of Bostofrio, following the trail of his grandfather, who never admitted to having fathered his children. The director invites us into the reality of the villagers, who live in a close relationship with the earth, an environment untouched by modernity, personally, tenderly and with humour, often with shots from afar in which people are spontaneous and nature truly burgeons to the sky.

Jan Komasa, Poland, France, 2019, 116’

Distribution in Slovenia: Demiurg

After a string of coincidences and decisions, a 20-year-old starts impersonating a priest in a small Polish town. Vividly illustrating the firmly rooted manifestations of religion in provincial Poland, the film addresses devastating prejudice and social patterns, and the individual’s freedom of expression.

In collaboration with Kosovelov dom in Sežana.

More projections:
27. 8., 20:30, Sežana Cinema
27. 8., 20:30, Arrigoni Open-air Cinema, Izola

Oliver Laxe, Spain, France, Luxembourg, 2019, 85’

After serving time for setting a fire, a taciturn man returns to his home town (and the scene of the crime) in Galician hills. A wonderfully meditative, melancholic tale about everything that is at stake in a vulnerable ecosystem where man and nature have largely managed to stay untouched by the greedy hand of modern society.

More projections:
28. 8., 23:00, Arrigoni Open-air Cinema, Izola
30. 8., 12:00, Art Cinema Odeon, Izola

Anupama Srinivasan, India, 2019, 59’

The title question is relevant every day for teachers and children in rural schools of southern Rajasthan. In areas with many children from challenging backgrounds, how does one bring them to school and create an environment that motivates them to study?

More projections:
On www.cinesquare.net in September.

Rúnar Rúnarsson, Iceland, France, Switzerland, 2019, 79’

Comprised of fifty-six fiction, documentary or docufiction single-shot vignettes, the film provides an honest, darkly humorous insight into the lives of people of Iceland between Christmas and New Year. Keeping a vibrant balance between down-to-earth realism and downright fabrication, Echo crafts a nuanced portrait that is both intimate and collective – and universal enough for everyone to relate to.

Céline Sciamma, France, 2019, 120′

Distribution in Slovenia: Fivia –Vojnik

Brittany, 1770. Marianne is commissioned by a wealthy countess to make the wedding portrait of Héloïse, her daughter. But as Héloïse is a reluctant bride to be, Marianne must paint her without her knowing. Under the pretence of being her maid, she observes her by day and secretly paints her at night… A wonderfully elegant, mysterious drama about love, lust, art, and identity.

In collaboration with Idrija Cinema.

Zhu Shengze, USA, Hong Kong, 2019, 124′

Weaving together footage filmed and broadcast by Chinese live-streaming anchors, the film ignores glamorous influencers, focusing instead on people living on the margins of society. Straightforward and vibrant, the compilation raises far-reaching questions about loneliness, the importance of community, as well as about working conditions, gender issues, and the economic forces shaping today’s society.

In collaboration with Slovenian cinematheque as part of the campaign Mi smo #odprti za kulturo.

Ulaa Salim, Denmark, 2019, 120’

In 2025, a year after a horrific terrorist attack on the Copenhagen metro, an ultranationalist politician is about to win the election in Denmark. This causes a wave of hate crimes against the Arab minority by the far-right organisation Sons of Denmark. This provocative and suspenseful political thriller is pervaded with the question: how to stay calm when society ever more clearly succumbs to hate and fear?

More projections:
On www.cinesquare.net in September.

Shahrbanoo Sadat, Denmark, Germany, France, Luxembourg, Afghanistan, Qatar, 2019, 90’

In the late 1980s, teenage street kid Qodrat turns his love for Bollywood films into a business by reselling cinema tickets on the streets of Kabul. When arrested, he is put into a Soviet-run orphanage. A brutally realistic and tenderly poetic coming-of-age story told through the eyes of an adolescent.

Introduction: Anwar Hashimi

More projections:
29. 8., 20:30, Arrigoni Open-air Cinema, Izola
On www.cinesquare.net in September.

Ivana Mladenović, Romania, Serbia, 2019, 89’

An exciting bittersweet comedy about an actor on the verge of a nervous breakdown, who returns to her home town on the border of Romania and Serbia. An autobiographical tale with the director in the lead, the film is a witty chronicle of the intimate neuroses of an individual, a family, and a community.

Marko Đorđević, Serbia, 2019, 94’

A belated coming-of-age tragicomedy about a 30-year-old who finally starts (tentatively, though no less persistently) stepping out from under his parents’ wings. A story of a generation whose parents desperately tried to shield them from the harsh realities of adulthood. Vast emotions tearing down the walls of tight spaces.

Talk: Miloš Pušić

More projections:
29. 8., 13:00, House of Culture, Izola
On www.cinesquare.net in September.

Ivan Marković, Serbia, Germany, 2018, 48’

Sava Centar is a congress centre built in Belgrade, then Yugoslavia, in 1978. Made to host thousands, it is now almost abandoned. While the architecture of the building still communicates a past idea of the future, its materials speak of its current state. Through their relentless effort, the maintenance workers protect the remnants of the former vision.

Več projekcij:
January 2021 in Slovenian Cinematheque

Jóhann Jóhannsson, Iceland, 2019, 71’

Distribution in Slovenia: Fivia –Vojnik

Listen patiently… The famous composer Jóhann Jóhannsson, whose life was tragically cut short in 2018, creates a profound, lyrical rumination on the end of humanity, blending ethereal score and monumental, 16mm images of ex-Yugoslavia’s memorials. In voice-over, excerpts from Olaf Stapledon’s eponymous sci-fi novel are read by Tilda Swinton.

In collaboration with JEFF festival.

More projections:
29. 8., 11:00, House of Culture, Izola

Francis Alÿs, Iraq, 2019, 61’

Children from a mountain village near Mosul re-enact a century of Iraqi history from the secret Sykes-Picot agreement in 1916 to the Islamic State’s influence of terror in 2016. Using the simplest costumes and props, they evoke the story of history, revisiting their past to better understand their present.

More projections:
2. 8., 21:00, Silvan Furlan Open-air Cinema, Nova Gorica
On www.cinesquare.net in September.

In collaboration with Kinoatelje and Poklon viziji festival.

Eloy Domínguez Serén, Sweden, Norway, Germany, 2018, 88’

The Sahrawi people have been forced to live in refugee camps in the middle of a stony desert ever since they were expelled from Western Sahara forty years ago. A group of friends are separated from the homeland they know only from their parents’ stories by a minefield and the second largest military wall in the world. Their vigorous will to live keeps clashing with the constricting physical and political limitations of reality.

More projections:
On www.cinesquare.net in September.

Tamara Kotevska, Ljubomir Stefanov, North Macedonia, 2019, 85’

Distribution in Slovenia: Demiurg

An ode to the fragile balance between man and nature, a glimpse into a rapidly disappearing way of life, and a tribute to the resilience, vitality, and optimism of a woman, this is a film that makes a remote Macedonian village a microcosm of modern society.

More projections:
13. 8., 21:00, Arrigoni Open-air cinema, Izola (In collaboration with Center za kulturo, šport in prireditve Izola.)
28. 8., 18:00, House of Culture, Izola

Elsa Kremser, Levin Peter, Austria, Germany, 2019, 91’

From the perspective of stray dogs (and other animals) living in Moscow, the film offers striking insight into their lives today and throughout the history of space conquest, laying bare people’s deeply anthropocentric perception of animals, and of human progress, entertainment, and everyday life.

Talk: Elsa Kremser, Levin Peter

More projections:
On www.cinesquare.net in September.

Maya Da-Rin, Brasil, France, Germany, 2019, 98’

“Brazil is already in some kind of post-apocalyptic state,” said the director when commenting on her film. In it, she portrays indigenous Amazonians as torn between their source of income – the city – and their source of strength: the rainforest.

In cooperation with Innsbruck International Film Festival.

The film is available on Cinesquare.net from 15 to 21 September.

Federico Fellini, Italy, France, 1957, 110′

Cabiria is a plucky, spirited, tenacious prostitute hoping to find true love, only to find herself deceived by it time and time again. In one of his early films, Fellini juxtaposes the tenderness of undashed hope with the roughness of life in post-war Rome. A memorable performance by the glorious Giulietta Masina as Cabiria!

In cooperation with Primorski poletni festival, Slovenian cinematheque and Skupnost Italijanov Santorio-Santorio Koper.

Federico Fellini, Italy, France, 1963, 138′

Famous film director seeks a break after his latest hit, while everybody expects him to start working on his next masterpiece. Desperate and unable to deliver a new idea, he retreats into a world of reverie, his memories and fantasies merging with reality. Party autobiographical, the legendary filmmaker’s piece was immediately declared a magnum opus, losing none of its hypnotic charm and influence ever since.

Mark Jenkin, UK, 2019, 89’

Tourists shamelessly occupy a seaside town and drown out its fishing everyday life, while the locals have difficulty tolerating the unsolicited, but inevitable changes. Shot on 16 mm and developed virtually in the bathroom, this funny, chilling, violent film, full of love, addresses the viewers with quite unusual combinations of narrative modes taken from film history.

Več projekcij:
30. 8., 18:00, Art Cinema Odeon, Izola

Ema Kugler, Slovenia, 2019, 100’

The genetic code forces people to reproduce. Infants have no choice; as helpless beings, they are subjected to training in civilisational norms determined by those in power. The film’s artistic forcefulness and aesthetic artfulness lead the viewer to a spontaneous transformation in relation to ethics, society and the reception and perception of art.

Talk: Ema Kugler

More projections:
31. 8., 21:00, Kinodvor, Ljubljana

Matjaž Ivanišin, Slovenia, Croatia, 2017, 61’

A playful documentary slide of images, sounds, editing and dramaturgical stunts, but especially expressions, gestures, thoughts, shouts, actions and atmosphere is a gentle and powerful expression and description of men being enraptured by playing in the broadest sense of the word. Men have been playing games since the dawn of time and the film makes the camera, the filmmaker and, last but not least, the viewer also join in.

Anja Medved, Nadja Velušček, Slovenia, 2010, 63’

In its short riverbed, the Soča connects two very different landscapes, the Alps and the Mediterranean. It has two names: Soča and Isonzo. The Soča is water known for its emerald colour and the bloody front. In the places near the river, World War I ruined not only lives, villages and fields, but also people’s relationship with nature. The meetings along the Soča reveal the contradictions we live today in relation to nature.

Talk: Anja Medved, Nadja Velušček

Thomas Heise, Austria, Germany, 2019, 218’

Film was selected by Sabine Gebetsroither.

An examination of almost a hundred years of family history composed of personal correspondences, official documents, sound recordings, photographs and drawings reveals the history of (Eastern) Germany in the 20th century and the lively relationships between relatives and friends in the context of their socio-political circumstances.

Emanuele Gerosa, Italy, Switzerland, Lebanon, 2019, 83’

Film was selected by Nicola Falcinella.

Parkour is an art of overcoming obstacles, but in the Gaza Strip it means much more – it is a mode of survival. In a place confined by walls and obstacles, sport is one of the few things that can offer a sense of freedom.

Introduction: Nicola Falcinella, talk: Emanuele Gerosa

Michela Occhipinti, Italy, 2019, 94

Film was selected by Helmut Groschup.

Soon to marry the man her parents have chosen, Verida has to undergo a ritual in which she is fed to reach the weight of approximately 100 kg. Stoutness represents richness and health and the submission to the demands of the groom’s family. This film about the social imperatives regarding the appearance of girls and women is also a film about a world where men rule outside the home and women rule inside it.

Introduction: Helmut Groschup, Ute Mader, talk: Michela Occhipinti

Pedro Costa, Portugal, 2019, 124’

After her husband’s death, Vitalina Varela arrives in Portugal to see where and how he lived, where he refused to return from. Despite advice to come back home, she stubbornly persists and finds herself in a lonely and dark world of memories, longing, secrets and post-colonial despair shrouded in the eternal darkness of Costa’s characteristic dreamily poetical and yet directly documentary narrative.

Pedro Costa, Portugal, France, Germany, 1994, 105’

A nurse accompanies a comatose injured worker back to his home on the island of Fogo, Cape Verde. On arrival, however, no-one seems to know who he is. Her arrival in the island’s almost unearthly serenity causes a clash of historical memories haunted by the island’s dead dancing around the living.

Pedro Costa, Portugal, Germany, Switzerland 2000, 179’

Over the course of one year, the director follows Vanda, whose life is limited to a room measuring three square metres, where she is visited by friends and family, where she eats, deals and uses drugs. While Costa originally never intended to leave the room, Vanda’s visitors persuaded him to also point his camera at the rest of the life in the district of Fontaínhas.

Pedro Costa, Portugal, France, Switzerland, 2006, 156’

Ventura, an old man whose wife leaves him after 34 years of marriage, is uprooted from his home in the district of Fontaínhas and moved into an empty flat. Ventura wanders between his new and old homes, reconnecting with people from his past. A special kind of ghost story, this is a tale of derelict, dispossessed people living at once in the past and the present.

Pedro Costa, Portugal, 2010, 23’

We revisit Fontaínhas, thinking of Cape Verde, the country to which José Alberto Silva will be deported although he has never seen the islands before. This is controlled, hypnotic cinema, moving between life and death, reality and fiction.

Pedro Costa, Portugal, 2014, 103’

We are reunited with Ventura, the lead of Costa’s Colossal Youth, as he shuffles through the corridors and rooms of a psychiatric hospital, traversing a seemingly endless night populated by the ghosts of the past. A mesmerising, nocturnal contemplation of Portugal’s tumultuous past.

Júlio Alves, Portugal, 2019, 65’

Rather than a documentary about Pedro Costa or his filmography, this journey through the master’s films serves as a window on his cinema – on how it is conceived and perceived. The film bears the mark of Cape Verdean sounds collected by Costa and Olivier Varenne, excerpts from the soundtracks of five films, and Costa’s voice, which guides us through the transformations and the hidden aspects of his cinema.

Bruno Dumont, France, 2018, 209’ (49’+55’+56’+51’)

In a style that is equally, if not much more bizarre and hilarious, the sequel to the miniseries Li’l Quinquin (P’tit Quinquin, 2014) depicts life in a French village and its unusual inhabitants. This time, the bumbling detective Van Der Weyden and his sidekick Carpentier investigate an unusual mass falling from the sky and causing (an even more unusual) cloning of the population.

Več projekcij:
24. 8., 18:00 + 21:00, Kinodvor, Ljubljana

A programme of short films.

MARSOVA LUKA / PORT OF MARS (Mauro Lainšček, Slovenija, 2019, 7’),
TUDI JAZ VIDIM / I SEE IN THE DARK (Lana Bregar, Slovenija, 2019, 16’),
TITO, NASSER IN NEHRU / TITO, NASSER AND NEHRU (Fayza Harby, Savyasachi Anju-Prabir, Slovenija, 2019, 5’),
DOMUS (Carolina Carqueja e Silveira, Slovenija, 2019, 4’),
TEKMA OSKRBNIKA TRAVE / A MATCH FOR THE GRASS KEEPER (Jaka Prosenik, Caleb Murtagh, Christiaan Humbs-Steinbeck, Slovenija, 2019, 4’),
NESTOR (João Gonzalez, VB, Portugalska, 2019, 6’),
OPERATER / THE PROJECTIONIST (Yulia Kogol, Slovenija, 2019, 2’),
SALSA (Igor Dimitri, Portugalska, Argentina, 2020, 13’),
VIDEOTEKA /VIDEOTHEK (Stephan Bernardes, Nemčija, 2019, 20’),
KRATKI REZI / SHORT DEEDS (Urban Zorko, Urša Menart, Kukla, Mitja Mlakar, Jure Dostal, Slovenija, 2019, 31’),
ZAKAJ POLŽI NIMAJO NOG / WARUM SCHNECKEN KEINE BEINE HABEN / WHY SLUGS HAVE NO LEGS (Aline Höchli, Švica, 2019, 11’)

A programme of short films.

SVITANJE / DAWNING (Jan Mozetič, Slovenija, 2020, 9’),
AMORE COVID-19 (Jan Devetak, Italija, Slovenija, 2020, 8’),
STOJ! / STOP! (Giulio De Paolis, Slovenija, Italija, 2019, 7’),
THE NOSE THAT RAN AWAY (Stella Hood, Slovenija, 2’),
LETO DNI V GEOSTACIONARNI ORBITI / A YEAR ALONG THE GEOSTATIONARY ORBIT (Felix Dierich, Nemčija, 2018, 16’),
VIALUND (Ivana Vogrinc Vidali, Slovenija, 2019, 3’),
DELIQUESCING (Mia Paller, Nizozemska, 2020, 2’),
BUSTARENGA (Ana Maria Gomes, Francija, Portugalska, 2019, 30’),
DRAGA JOŽICA / DEAR JOŽICA (Anne-Pauline Serres, Marta Fernandez-Risco, Slovenija, 2019, 6’),
NE ZA DENAR, NE ZA LJUBEZEN, NE ZA NIČ / NOT FOR MONEY, NOT FOR LOVE, NOT FOR NOTHING (John Robert Lee, VB, 2020, 15’),
VSE, KAR TI HOČEM POVEDATI S TELEPATSKIMI SIGNALI, KO ME NE POSLUŠAŠ / EVERYTHING I’M TRYING TO TELL YOU USING TELEPATHIC SIGNALS WHEN YOU’RE NOT LISTENING TO ME (Ester Ivakič, Slovenija, 2019, 3’),
NA PRODAJ / FOR SALE (Eva Jakopič, Katarina Lukec, Slovenija, 2019, 4’),
DERE SEN MALI JAS BIJA / IN MY YOUNGER DAYS (Tina Ščavničar, Slovenija, 3’),
OSTANI BUDEN, BODI NA PREŽI / HÃY TỈNH THỨC VÀ SẴNSÀNG/ STAY AWAKE BE READY (Pham Thien An, Vietnam, Južna Koreja, ZDA, 14’),
O ČUSTVIH IN DRUGEM ZAKONU TERMODINAMIKE / ON EMOTIONS AND SECOND LAW OF THERMODYNAMICS (Nika Tomažič, Slovenija, 2019, 5’)

A programme of short films.

SOMA (Sandra Jovanovska, Slovenija, Italija, 2019, 9’),
SČASOMA / WE SHOULD BE GOING SOMEWHERE (Aron Horvath Botka, Slovenija, 2019, 13’),
ZLATO CAJAMARCE / EL ORO DE CAJAMARCA /GOLD OF CAJAMARCA (Alexandre Regol, Francija, Kolumbija, 2019, 15’),
CROSS IF YOU DARE (Urša Rahne, Srbija, 2019, 5’),
INTERSTATE 8 (Anne Thieme,Nemčija, ZDA, 2019, 15’),
IGRA / HRA / PLAYING (Lun Sevnik, Češka, 2019, 22’),
DA BI ČLOVEŠTVO PREŽIVELO / SO THAT HUMANITY SURVIVES (Teja Miholič, Francija, Slovenija, 2019, 6’),
IZPIT / EXAM (Sonia K. Hadad, Iran, 2019, 15’),
MAČKA IN MIŠKA / CAT AND MOUSE (Larisa Nagode, Jošt Šeško, Slovenija, 2019, 2’),
DESTINY DELUXE (Diogo Baldaia, Portugalska, 2019, 30’)

A programme of short films.

UVERTURA / PRELUDE (Rick Niebe, Italija, 2019, 1’),
FENIKS / PHOENIX (Andreja Kranjec, Slovenija, 2019, 7’),
NATUS (Ula Pogorevčnik, Slovenija, 2019, 3’),
LUČ / LIGHT (Mitja Lovše, Slovenija, 2020, 1’),
GOVOR, KI GA VIDIŠ / THE VOICE YOU SEE (Tadej Koren Šmid, Gašper Markun, Slovenija, 2019, 10’),
KJE SI, MILA? / WHERE ART THOU, MILA? (Robert Kuret, Ester Ivakič, Slovenija, 2020, 3’),
PERJE Z VONJEM MORJA / THE FEATHERS THAT SMELL OF THE SEA (Žoel Kastelic, Slovenija, 2019, 3’),
RODEZ (Stefano Miraglia, Francija, 2017, 3’),
MARY, MARY, SOCONTRARY (Nelson Yeo, Singapur, 2019, 15’),
KEYGRIP (Nasos Gatzoulis, Grčija, 2019, 6’),
REVENGE PORN (Sara Bezovšek, Slovenija, 2019, 5’),
ČRNO SONCE / BLACK SUN (Maureen Fazendeiro, Portugalska, Francija, 2019, 7’),
NE SAM / NOT ALONE (Elena Chiechio, Slovenija, 2019, 2’),
POLETJE NAŠEGA ŽIVLJENJA / THE SUMMER OF OUR LIVES (Tomaž Pavkovič, Slovenija, 2020, 5’),
PSI LAJAJO NA PTICE / DOGS BARKING AT BIRDS (Leonor Teles, Portugalska/Portugal, 2019, 20’),
INTERMISSION EXPEDITION (Wiep Teeuwisse, Nizozemska/The Netherlands, 2019, 8’),
SONČNI PES / SUN DOG (Dorian Jespers, Belgija, Rusija/Belgium, Russia, 2020, 21’)

A programme of short films.

DEDEK GRE NA MORJE / GRANDPA GOES TO THE SEA (Jakob Vogrinec, Slovenija, 2019, 19’),
HURA ZA REVOLUCIJO!/ HOORAY REVOLUTION / MAMĂ, REVOLUȚIE! (Andreea Udrea, Romunija, 2020, 3’),
ALZHEIMER CAFE (Martin Draksler, Slovenija, 2019, 18’),
POTOP / THE FLOOD (Kristijan Kranjčan, Slovenija, Hrvaška, 2019, 15’),
MORSKI PRASAC/ SEA PIG (Dorotea Škrabo, Hrvaška, Slovenija, 2020, 7’),
ROJSTNI DAN / DIA DE FESTA / PARTY DAY (Sofia Bost, Portugalska, 2019, 17’),
NESKONČNA NOČ / NOITE PERPÉTUA / PERPETUAL NIGHT (Pedro Peralta, Portugalska, Francija, 2020, 17’),
ADAM (Shoki Lin, Singapur, 2019, 17’)