Festival of European Film Brežice launches its first competition and a new talent development initiative
- The 15-title programme includes both leading auteurs and emerging voices, as the Slovenian gathering expands its international reach
The Festival of European Film Brežice will return to the eastern Slovenian town from 26-29 August for its third edition, with a selection of 15 films, including six competition titles, several Slovenian premieres and a complementary programme aimed at strengthening exchanges between emerging talent and established filmmakers. The gathering will open with the Slovenian festival premiere of Pedro Almodovar’s Bitter Christmas.
Speaking to Cineuropa, festival founder and programme director Aleš Pavlin described accessibility and artistic ambition as the two main pillars of the event’s curatorial approach. “The identity we have been building from the beginning is centred on bringing our public important, audience-friendly European films,” he said. For the first time, six titles will vie in the festival’s new Golden Eye Competition: Hlynur Pálmason’s The Love That Remains, Frédéric Hambalek’s What Marielle Knows, Zuzana Kirchnerová’s Caravan, Sergei Loznitsa’s Two Prosecutors, Andreea Cristina Bortun’s A River’s Gaze, and Čejen Černić’s Sandbag Dam. The jury will present the best film with the Golden Eye, and a separate Audience Award will also be handed out. The best director, actress and actor will get Silver Eyes.
The first international jury consists of Slovenian director and screenwriter Marko Naberšnik, Croatian actress Leona Paraminski, as well as Cypriot filmmaker and Cyprus Film Days co-artistic director Petros Charalambous. During the opening ceremony, the festival will also hand out the Honorary Eye Award, acknowledging a long-standing contribution to the art of cinema. Amongst the nine titles which will screen out of competition are Paolo Sorrentino’s La Grazia, Richard Linklater’s Nouvelle Vague, Oliver Laxe’s Sirāt, Agnieszka Holland’s Franz, and this year’s Palme d’Or winner, Cristian Mungiu’s Fjord, the latter two presented as Slovenian premieres.
The programme also includes the animated family feature Tafiti: Across the Desert by Timo Berg and Nina Wels, Welcome Home by Filip Jembrih, and Brotherhood of the Court – The Beginning by Gašper Pavli and Alen Djordjevič. Alexander Payne’s Sideways will be shown at the Istenič Wine Estate, extending the festival beyond its main venues: the Brežice Castle and the Posavje Museum.
On the industry and talent-development front, this edition is introducing the Summer School of Good Stories, organised by the Faculty of Tourism at the University of Maribor. The initiative will allow 40 participants from different European countries to explore the intersections between cinema, literature, travel writing and wine tourism through lectures, fieldwork, screenings and encounters with filmmakers.
Pavlin told Cineuropa that this new addition to the programme “fits perfectly” with the festival’s ambition to support talent development and international exchange, adding that the intention is to expand the industry strand in the coming editions. That longer-term strategy is closely linked with the city of Brežice itself. Pavlin pointed to the town’s Baroque castle, overlooking the area’s vineyards, and to its history as a location for domestic as well as international productions during the Yugoslav era. Brežice, once widely known as a “film town”, is now looking to revive that heritage through the festival. “The idea is to bring back that spirit in future editions, also in terms of professional networking, circulation and potential co-productions,” Pavlin explained.
Did you enjoy reading this article? Please subscribe to our newsletter to receive more stories like this directly in your inbox.
