12/01/2024 - Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World and The Zone of Interest both feature in the festival dedicated to Central and Eastern Europe, running 19 to 27 January

Unspooling 19 to 27 January, the 35th edition of the Trieste Film Festival is set to open with Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Radu Jude
film profile] by Romania’s Radu Jude, a film confirming the talent of this highly original director who walked away with the Special Jury Prize at the most recent Locarno Film Festival. The Italian event dedicated to movies from Central and Eastern Europe and directed by Nicoletta Romeo will proceed with a second opening film, Green Border [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], by master of European cinema, Polish director Agnieszka Holland, who scooped the Special Jury Prize in Venice. Meanwhile, the festival’s closing film - The Zone of Interest [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Jonathan Glazer - bagged the Grand Prize and Fipresci Prize at the most recent Cannes Film Festival.

The feature film competition will offer up 7 titles this year. Georgian director Elene Naveriani is returning with Blackbird Blackbird Blackberry [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Elene Naveriani
film profile], and Serbia’s Vladimir Perišić is also making a comeback after a long absence, armed with Lost Country [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Vladimir Perišić
film profile]; Croatia’s Andrej Korovljev will present his first work of fiction, Hotel Pula [+see also:
film review
film profile], revolving around a group of Croatians and Bosnian refugees cohabiting in Pula in the early ‘90s; the Hungarian director of Romanian origin Katalin Moldovai will also be in on the action with Without Air [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Katalin Moldovai
film profile], while Tudor Giurgiu is set to attend with Libertate [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Tudor Giurgiu & Cecilia Ste…
film profile], about the civil uprisings in Sibiu following the death of Ceausescu. Janez Burger, a pioneer of new Slovenian cinema, is likewise competing with a social thriller boasting paranormal overtones entitled Observing [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Janez Burger
film profile], while Ukrainian filmmaker Maryna Vroda is set to close the section with her debut film Stepne [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile].

Five feature films are set to screen Out of Competition, starting with Cristi Puiu’s new movie MMXX [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Cristi Puiu
film profile], followed by Luàna Bajrami’s Phantom Youth [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], Una Gunjak’s Excursion [+see also:
film review
interview: Una Gunjak
film profile], which scooped a Special Mention in Locarno’s Cineasti del Presente line-up and triumphed in Venice’s Orizzonti section, Gábor Reisz’s Explanation for Everything [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Gábor Reisz
film profile], and Stefan Komandarev’s Blaga’s Lessons [+see also:
film review
interview: Stephan Komandarev
film profile], which bagged a Crystal Globe in Karlovy Vary.

Unfolding alongside the festival’s opening and closing movies are two Special Events, namely screenings of Beautiful Beings [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Guðmundur Arnar Guðmundsson
film profile] by Guðmundur Arnar Guðmundsson and The Red Coloured Grey Truck by Srđan Koljević, the latter dating back to 2004.

For its part, Off the Beaten… Screens, a section dedicated to stylistic solutions and innovative narration, will be presenting the debut film Cherry Juice by Bosnia’s Mersiha Husagic, the road movie Arthur & Diana [+see also:
film review
interview: Sara Summa
film profile] - a German production and second work by Italian-French director Sara Summa -, the medium-length film Cactusman by Hungary’s Olivér Rudolf and Maris B653, a short film by Friuli-born director of photography and video artist Debora Vrizzi.

Ten titles will grace the Documentary Competition, most of which directed by young, talented women directors, including the recent winner of Amsterdam’s IDFA, Armenian filmmaker Shoghakat Vardanyan with her movie 1489 [+see also:
film review
interview: Shoghakat Vardanyan
film profile]. Well worth a mention amongst the documentaries screening Out of Competition are a selection of titles by directors hailing from the Italian region of Friuli Venezia Giulia, including Al di là dei lupi by Ennio Guerrato, 50 anni di CLU by Erika Rossi, and Il Cinema Volta by Martin Turk. Equally noteworthy on Trieste’s agenda is Smoke Sauna Sisterhood [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Anna Hints
film profile] by Estonian director Anna Hints, fresh from her victory at the EFA Awards, at Sundance and at Tallinn’s Black Nights Festival.

The line-up for the Corso Salani Prize will consist of 5 Italian titles yet to be distributed in Italy, ranging from Marco Amenta’s Anna [+see also:
interview: Marco Amenta
film profile] (which featured in last year’s work in progress section This is IT) to Ludovica Fales’ Lala [+see also:
interview: Ludovica Fales
film profile], Andrea Adriatico’s La solitudine è questa, Claudia Brignone’s Tempo d’attesa – which won Best Italian Documentary at the Turin Film Festival - and Samira Guadagnuolo and Tiziano Doria’s L’albume d’oro. The Short Film Competition, meanwhile, will present 16 works split across three programmes.

Last but not least, attendees will get to enjoy the Wild Roses focus section, revolving around women filmmakers from a Central Eastern European country and dedicated, this year, to female authors of German films, as announced by Cineuropa back in December (read our article).

(Translated from Italian)