28/11/2025 - From 16-24 January, Italy’s foremost event devoted to Central and Eastern European cinema has announced the programme of its Wild Roses section, showcasing features and shorts

The 37th edition of the Trieste Film Festival, the first and most important event on Central and Eastern European cinema in Italy, will take place from 16-24 January. This time, Slovenia will be the focus country of the category which the festival dedicates every year to the women filmmakers of Central and Eastern Europe, curated by Nerina T Kocjančič, head of Promotion and Distribution for the Slovenian Film Centre in Ljubljana, with the aim of promoting new perspectives from women. Over the last few years, the focus has been on Poland, Georgia, Ukraine, Germany and Serbia.

The programme sees 13 features (among which documentaries and fiction) and ten shorts featured, all made by female filmmakers, some of whom have already become firmly established in the European cinematographic landscape thanks to their participation in international festivals. Others are expected to surprise the audience with their latest works.

“Slovenian cinema has always played a fundamental role at the Trieste Film Festival. This favours a deeper understanding between Slovenian directors and international audiences, while promoting cross-border collaboration. The festival’s focus on Slovenian cinema not only celebrates its artistic successes, but also strengthens the cultural bonds between Italy and Slovenia,” explains Nicoletta Romeo, artistic director of the festival, recently named a "Friend of Slovenian Cinema" at the 28th Festival of Slovenian Film Portorož.

Among the movies is Urška Djukić’s Berlinale Perspectives entry Little Trouble Girls [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Urška Djukić
film profile] (distributed in Italy by Friuli-based Tucker Film and the official Slovenian candidate for the 2026 Academy Awards), a story of friendship between young women and, chiefly, of the awakening of feminine sensuality. Another is Kukla’s Locarno Filmmakers of the Present entry Fantasy [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Kukla
film profile], a coming-of-age tale about three protagonists, barely older than 20, who are navigating through the discovery of the complexities of gender, desire and finding themselves. Born at When East Meets West, Maja Doroteja Prelog’s Cent’anni [+see also:
film review
film profile] returns with its unfiltered testimony on love and change. The line-up also features Ida Who Sang So Badly Even the Dead Rose up and Joined Her in Song [+see also:
film review
film profile] by Ester Ivakič, a tale about an imaginative but tone-deaf girl who becomes convinced she can prevent her grandmother’s death by joining the school choir.

Also on the programme are Woman of God [+see also:
film review
film profile] by Maja Prettner, which premiered at the Turin Film Festival, an intimate and existential story of a female Lutheran priest, and Body [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Petra Seliškar, a sensitive exploration of a woman battling a rare auto-immune disease. Other works range from Blind Spot by Hanna Slak, premiered in Locarno’s Filmmakers of the Present in 2002, to Installation of Love by Maja Weiss and Sonja Prosenc’s History of Love [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Sonja Prosenc
film profile], Special Jury Mention at Karlovy Vary in 2018.

Among the selected shorts are titles like Good Luck Orlo! by Sara Kern (2016), Raj, also by Sonja Prosenc (2019), Sisters by Kukla (2020), and Granny's Sexual Life by Urška Djukić and Emilie Pigerad (2021), winner of the European Film Award and the César Award for Best Animated Short Film. Another animated short set to be screened is Steakhouse by Špela Čadež, which, among others, won the Jury Prize at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival and a Special Mention at Locarno in 2021, and was shortlisted for the Oscars.

(Translated from Italian)