The Trieste Film Festival, the most prominent Italian event dedicated to Central Eastern European cinema, is returning from 16-24 January, boasting a 36th edition brimming with over 130 films. “The topic of family and family ties seems to be a cross-cutting leitmotif this year that unites so many of the movies in the line-up,” explains director Nicoletta Romeo. “Dysfunctional, queer, fluid and self-righteous families, family as a prison or as a refuge, and extended families. The family as an institution is being ridiculed […]. But sometimes, it’s also the only safe place in this crumbling society, and it’s always in the face of death that these bonds are strengthened and old grudges are set aside.”

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The festival has planned a double opening: the first evening with Wishing on a Star [+lee también:
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entrevista: Peter Kerekes
ficha de la película] (which was premiered in Orizzonti at Venice), the latest film by Slovakian-Hungarian auteur Peter Kerekes, about a Neapolitan astrologist called Luciana, will be followed by the Italian premiere of Dying [+lee también:
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entrevista: Alfombra roja @ European F…
entrevista: Matthias Glasner
ficha de la película] by Matthias Glasner, a German comedy-drama first presented at the Berlinale (and soon to land in Italian theatres via Satine Film). Family relations are also at the heart of the closing title, Crossing [+lee también:
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entrevista: Levan Akin
ficha de la película] by Levan Akin (soon to grace cinema screens in Italy courtesy of Lucky Red), which brings us an encounter with the queer world during a journey from Georgia to Turkey.

Out of competition, there will be the Italian premieres of The Invasion [+lee también:
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entrevista: Sergei Loznitsa
ficha de la película] by Ukraine’s Sergei Loznitsa, which documents his country’s struggle against the Russian invasion, while the consequences of the war are portrayed in the intimate Under the Volcano [+lee también:
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entrevista: Damian Kocur
ficha de la película] by Damian Kocur, Poland’s Oscar candidate. Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Oscar candidate, meanwhile, is My Late Summer [+lee también:
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ficha de la película] by Danis Tanović. Crowned Best Film in Orizzonti at Venice, The New Year that Never Came [+lee también:
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entrevista: Bogdan Mureşanu
ficha de la película] by Bogdan Mureşanu is a bittersweet comedy set on the brink of the 1989 revolution in Romania. On the other hand, Radu Jude’s documentary Eight Postcards from Utopia [+lee también:
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entrevista: Radu Jude y Christian Fere…
ficha de la película] taps into post-socialist Romania.

The Feature-film Competition boasts seven titles this year, beginning with the Locarno winner Toxic [+lee también:
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entrevista: Directors Talks @ European…
entrevista: Saulė Bliuvaitė
ficha de la película] by Saulė Bliuvaitė. Also rocking up from Locarno is Lesson Learned [+lee también:
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entrevista: Bálint Szimler
ficha de la película] by Bálint Szimler, winner of the Leopard for Best Performance for Anna Mészöly and a Special Mention in the Cineasti del Presente competition. Three Kilometres to the End of the World [+lee también:
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entrevista: Emanuel Pârvu
ficha de la película] by Emanuel Pârvu, which was in competition at Cannes, is Romania’s Oscar candidate. Then we have The Shameless [+lee también:
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entrevista: Konstantin Bojanov
ficha de la película] by director of Bulgarian heritage Konstantin Bojanov, set in India and revolving around LGBTQ+ topics; Our Lovely Pig Slaughter [+lee también:
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entrevista: Adam Martinec
ficha de la película], the feature debut by Adam Martinec, from the Czech Republic; and Family Therapy [+lee también:
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entrevista: Sonja Prosenc
ficha de la película] by Sonja Prosenc, the Slovenian Oscar candidate. Lastly, from Cannes’ ACID selection, there’s Kyuka - Before Summer’s End [+lee también:
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entrevista: Kostis Charamountanis
ficha de la película] by Greek helmer Kostis Charamountanis.

We find other notable names from European cinema in the Out of Competition Features strand: Slow [+lee también:
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entrevista: Marija Kavtaradze
ficha de la película] by Lithuania’s Marija Kavtaradze, winner of Best Director at Sundance; Eleven Tomorrows: Berlinale Meets Football, a movie split into in 11 short films made for the 2024 European Football Championship; Meat [+lee también:
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entrevista: Dimitris Nakos
ficha de la película] by Greece’s Dimitris Nakos; and, from Venice’s Biennale College Cinema, My Birthday [+lee también:
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ficha de la película] by Christian Filippi, showing as a screening accessible to people with sensory disabilities.

The Documentary Competition includes ten titles about retrieving one’s memories and the relationship with the past. Among them are In Limbo [+lee también:
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ficha de la película] by Ukraine’s Alina Maksimenko, nominated for the European Film Awards in the Best Film and Best Documentary categories; Trains [+lee también:
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entrevista: Maciej J. Drygas
ficha de la película] by Poland’s Maciej J Drygas, the winner of last year’s IDFA; Romania’s Alice On & Off [+lee también:
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entrevista: Isabela Tent
ficha de la película] by Isabela Tent, shot over the course of ten years; Termini [+lee también:
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entrevista: Laila Pakalnina
ficha de la película], the 15th movie by Latvian filmmaker Laila Pakalniņa; the Bosnian-Serbian co-production At the Door of the House Who Will Come Knocking [+lee también:
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entrevista: Maja Novaković
ficha de la película] by Maja Novaković; a work by Latvian duo Ivars Seleckis and Armands Začs, To Be Continued. Teenhood [+lee también:
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ficha de la película]; Poland’s A Year in the Life of a Country [+lee también:
entrevista: Tomasz Wolski
ficha de la película] by Tomasz Wolski; Tata [+lee también:
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entrevista: Lina Vdovîi y Radu Ciornic…
ficha de la película] by Romanian helmers Lina Vdovîi and Radu Ciorniciuc; The Sky Above Zenica [+lee también:
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ficha de la película] by Denmark’s Nanna Frank Møller and Bosnia’s Zlatko Pranjić; and Lapilli [+lee también:
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entrevista: Paula Ďurinová
ficha de la película], the feature debut by Slovakia’s Paula Ďurinová. There are five Out of Competition documentaries, two of which are strongly linked to the city of Trieste: C’era un comico di nome Cecchelin by Alessio Bozzer and Noi siamo gli errori che permettono la vostra intelligenza by Erika Rossi.

One of the novelties this year is the inauguration of the Queer Visions section, which comprises titles such as As I Was Looking Above I Could See Myself, a documentary by Kosovo’s Ilir Masanaj. The Corso Salani Award returns, featuring five works in its line-up, while, as previously reported on Cineuropa (see the news), the Wild Roses strand will this year be dedicated to modern women auteurs of Serbian cinema, a line-up curated by film director Stefan Ivančić.