Consequences, the first film by the screenwriter and director Darko Štante, has qualified for the Discovery section of the Toronto International Film Festival, while the live-action feature coproduction Winter Flies by the Slovenian director Olmo Omerzu will be screened in the Contemporary World Cinema programme.
After nine years, two Slovenian films will be screened at the Toronto International Film Festival. Consequences, the first film by the screenwriter and director Darko Štante, has qualified for the Discovery section of the Toronto International Film Festival, while the live-action feature coproduction Winter Flies by the Slovenian director Olmo Omerzu will be screened in the Contemporary World Cinema programme.
Nine years ago, the live-action feature Slovenian Girl by the director Damjan Kozole, which had had its world premiere at the film festival in Sarajevo earlier, was shown at the Toronto festival, taking place between 6 and 16 September this year. The film has been screened at more than seventy film festivals and sold to thirty countries. It was renamed as A Call Girl in the United States.
The participation of Darko Štante's debut Consequences in Toronto will also be this film's world premiere. The first public showing will take place on 7 September at 21:30, and afterwards the film will have two other screenings for the general audience and another two for the professional community. The first two screenings will be attended by the director Darko Štante, the starring actor Matej Zemljič, and the producers Andraž Jerič and Jerca Jerič from the Temporama production house.
The film focuses on the 18-year-old boy Andrej, who ends up in a youth education centre. He has to fight for his place in a group of boarders led by Željko, who soon takes the newcomer under his wing. Under the pressure of the new environment, Andrej has to ensure that his secret does not come to light.
The live-action feature Winter Flies by the director Olmo Omerzu is a Czech-Slovenian-Polish-Slovak coproduction. The Slovenian (co)producer is Rok Biček from the Cvinger Film production house, otherwise a multiple award-winning director of the observational documentary feature Family.
The new film by Omerzu tells a story about the sly and confident Mára and the somewhat eccentric Heduš, who set out into the frozen wastes in search of adventure – by car, of course. After all, Mára will soon be fifteen years old. A road movie about flies that occasionally even buzz during wintertime, and a story that – before it concludes at a police station – explores the elusive ties of a boyhood friendship and the unappeasable urge for adventure – even if it is not precisely clear what sort of adventure that is.
The film received the Award for Best Direction at this year's international film festival in Karlovy Vary, and it will be distributed in Czechia as of September. The film's first audience screening in Toronto will take place on 12 September at 19:30.
Both works have been made with the financial support of the Slovenian Film Centre, and both of them have their Slovenian premieres scheduled at this year's 21st Festival of Slovenian Film.
The film festival in Toronto was established in 1976. In terms of visitors, it is now one of the largest festivals in the world, attended annually by more than 480,000 people. These include 5,000 accredited professionals, for whom the "Industry Center" in the Hyatt hotel, where the film market is also located, is intended. Under the auspices of the European Film Promotion, fourteen European countries will be presented there this year, including Slovenia and the Slovenian Film Centre, a member of the EFP.
In 1998, Variety magazine wrote the following about the festival: "The Toronto Film Festival is the only festival besides Cannes that screens film hits and movie stars as well as focuses on market activities." In 2007, on the other hand, Time magazine wrote that the Toronto International Film Festival "has transformed from the most influential autumn film festival into the most influential film festival."
