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12-02-2017

FNE at Berlinale 2017: Slovenian Film in Berlin

By Slovenian Film Centre
    The Family by Rok Bićek The Family by Rok Bićek
    The 67th Berlin Film Festival will take place between 9 and 19 February. At this year's festival the Slovenian colours in the official programme will be represented by two minority co-productions.

    The short film Into the Blue (19 minutes), a Croatian-Slovenian co-production, will be screened in the competition programme for children and youth (Generation). This is the first short film to have received the financial support of the Slovenian Film Centre as a minority co-production. It was directed by the Croatian directress Antoneta Alamat Kusijanović, while the director of photography Marko Brdar, sound designer Julij Zornik and producer Zoran Dževerdanović, known for his work on the film Idyll by the director Tomaž Gorkič, have made an important Slovenian contribution to the film.

    On the other hand, the Macedonian-Slovenian-Belgian co-production When the Day Had No Name, the fourth live-action feature by the Macedonian directress Teona Strugar Mitevska, has been selected for the Panorama programme. This is Mitevska's third qualification for the Berlinale. The Slovenian contributors to the film include the costumes designer Monika Lorber, makeup designer Mojca Gorogranc Petrushevska, and producer Danijel Hočevar.

    The documentary feature Family – the second full-length film by the director Rok Biček – will premiere at the Market screenings. Biček's highly successful debut, the live-action feature Class Enemy (2013) that premiered at the Venice Film Festival, was one of the three nominees for the Lux Award given by the European Parliament, while in Slovenia it has been seen by more than 50.000 viewers. Family is an observational documentary film, in which the director follows the protagonist for ten years. Its screening at the Berlin Market will represent the foundation for its successful festival premiere.

    The Slovenian actress Maruša Majer is one of the ten young actors to have qualified for the European Shooting Stars, the accompanying programme of the Berlin Festival, organised by the only European organisation for film promotion – European Film Promotion, which the Slovenian Film Centre is also a member of. An intensive programme, which is to take place between 9 and 13 February, has been prepared for the chosen actors. The event will culminate on Monday, 13 February at 19:00, when the award ceremony for the rising stars of 2017 will take place in the Berlinale Palast, the central festival hall.

    Numerous other events will accompany the Berlin Festival and Market. Already for the fourteenth year the Berlinale Talent Campus will keep discovering new filmmakers from all over the world. This year the director of photography Lev Predan Kowarski has qualified for the Talent Campus. He worked on the short film Good Luck Orlo! (2016) by the directress Sara Kern, which qualified for the last film festival in Venice, as well as on the feature films Sailing to Paradise (2014) and Juliette and Alfa Romeo (2015) by the director Blaž Završnik. The film critic and journalist Petra Meterc has qualified among the talented critics.

    The 2018 Film Guide (covering the Slovenian live‑action features and documentary films) will be presented, while for the fourth year in a row short films will be included in the separate Short film guide, which will be presented at the Short Film Market in Clermont Ferrand on Saturday, 4 February.

    The Slovenian Film Centre (SFC) will once again present itself in the Martin Gropius Bau building, home of the Berlin Film Market, where it is going to provide the information about Slovenian films to the festival selectors, buyers and journalists.

    In 2017 the Slovenian Film Centre will celebrate already the twelfth year of its joint presentation with the Czechs and Slovaks under the CEC – Central European Cinema trademark. On Saturday, 11 February, all three countries will organise a joint opening reception at the Academie Lounge

    Stand number: 137, Central European Cinema
    Martin Gropius Bau

    Market Screening:

    The Family by Rok Bićek (SI, AT, 2017), doc, 100min
    Market Premiere!
    Tuesday, Feb 14, 16:10 CinemaxX 11

    Rok Bićek has won awards at various festivals for his distinctive auteur approach to his feature debut Class Enemy, which premiered at the 28th Venice International Film Critics' Week and qualified as a finalist for the 2014 Lux Prize.

    The Family follows Matej (14-24 years old) over the course of ten years. As teenager he already has to take care of his mentally challenged parents and older brother. As he became fater himself at the age of twenty, it seemed as if he was able to create a family on his own. However, his behavioural and personality patterns connected to living in a dysfunctial family disurn the young family's peace ...

    Festival Screenings:

    When the Day Had No Name by Teona Stugar Mitevska (MK, SI, BE, 2017)
    FEB 11 / 22:30 / Coloseum 1
    FEB 14 / 19:00 / Zoo Palast 1 / PREMIERE
    FEB 15 / 10:00 / CinemaxX 7
    FEB 16 / 14:30 / Cubix 9
    FEB 18 / 20:00 / International

    Into the Blue by Antoneta Alamat Kusijanović (HR, SI, 2017)
    FEB 14 / 11:30 / CinemaxX 3 / PREMIERE
    FEB 16 / 17:00 / CinemaxX 1
    FEB 18 / 11:00 / CinemaxX 1

    European Shooting Strs at the Berlin IFF: Marusa Majer

    "She gives a fearless, gritty and throughly soul-bearing quality to her work, that goes under both her and our skins - and refuses to let go. Marusa conveys a female animalism of a rarely seen strength". - Jury's comment.

    Marusa brought international attention to herself with her lead role in Janez Burger's features Driving School (2014) and Ivan (expected delivery: March 2017). The last Slovenian awardee before Marusa Majer was Jure Henigman in 2013, while others who promoted the extraordinary talent of Slovenian actors are Marko Mandić, Aleksandra Balmazović and Iva Krajnc.