LJUBLJANA: Asta Vrečko has been appointed as the new Minister of Culture of Slovenia by the National Assembly. Her first priorities will be a development-oriented and inclusive culture policy, an overhaul of media legislation and of the status of the self-employed, as well as systemic investment in culture.

LJUBLJANA: In 2021 the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on cinema exhibition and film production was still significant. Shooting was still limited because of many logistic restrictions regarding travelling and production, and several film projects were interrupted or postponed.

LJUBLJANA: Cineplexx Slovenia, which already operates six facilities in Slovenia (Maribor, Celje, Koper, Kranj, Novo mesto, Murska Sobota), is finally opening a new cineplex in Ljubljana.

LJUBLJANA: The second edition of the KRAFFT - Kranj Actors Film Festival will run from 14 till 19 June 2022 in Kranj. At the initiative of the Slovenian Film Centre, the festival will host a special industry event called ReActing as a Star for the first time this year.

LJUBLJANA: Slovenian national television RTV Slovenija is currently shooting in Maribor the second season of TV crime series Cases of Inspector Vrenko / Primeri inšpektorja Vrenka. The show based on the novels by Avgust Demšar has been the most successful crime series on national television in the last 20 years.

LJUBLJANA: Admissions to domestic films reached 16,867 in 2021, compared to 24,470 in 2020, and the gross was 54,332 EUR (compared to 80,900 EUR in 2020), which represents over 30%.

LJUBLJANA: Nejc Gazvoda’s new feature film Father Figure started shooting in his home town Novo mesto in Slovenia on 19 April 2022. The film is a coproduction between Slovenia, Czech Republic and Italy, and it is produced on the Slovenian side by Aleš Pavlin and Andrej Štritof through Perfo.

LJUBLJANA: Slovenia is one of the three countries, beside Croatia and Italy, hosting the Netflix film crew shooting the third season of the hit fantasy drama series The Witcher, based on a book series by Polish writer Andrzej Sapkowski and starring Henry Cavill. The project is a US/Polish/Hungarian coproduction.

LJUBLJANA: Janez Burger is currently shooting the socially critical drama Observing / Opazovanje, inspired by real events. The film is a coproduction between Slovenia, Croatia, Italy and North Macedonia.

LJUBLJANA: The Slovenian Film Centre has announced production grants of 2.830 m EUR for seven feature films, including three debut features. Additionally, 138,000 EUR has been granted to 11 projects in the development stage.