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 [+lire aussi :
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interview : Peter Kerekes
fiche film] (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 [+lire aussi :
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interview : Matthias Glasner
interview : Tapis rouge @ European Fil…
fiche film] 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 [+lire aussi :
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interview : Levan Akin
fiche film] 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 [+lire aussi :
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interview : Sergei Loznitsa
fiche film] 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 [+lire aussi :
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interview : Damian Kocur
fiche film] by Damian Kocur, Poland’s Oscar candidate. Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Oscar candidate, meanwhile, is My Late Summer [+lire aussi :
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fiche film] by Danis Tanović. Crowned Best Film in Orizzonti at Venice, The New Year that Never Came [+lire aussi :
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interview : Bogdan Mureşanu
fiche film] 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 [+lire aussi :
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interview : Radu Jude et Christian Fer…
fiche film] taps into post-socialist Romania.

The Feature-film Competition boasts seven titles this year, beginning with the Locarno winner Toxic [+lire aussi :
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interview : Directors Talks @ European…
interview : Saulė Bliuvaitė
fiche film] by Saulė Bliuvaitė. Also rocking up from Locarno is Lesson Learned [+lire aussi :
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interview : Bálint Szimler
fiche film] 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 [+lire aussi :
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interview : Emanuel Pârvu
fiche film] by Emanuel Pârvu, which was in competition at Cannes, is Romania’s Oscar candidate. Then we have The Shameless [+lire aussi :
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interview : Konstantin Bojanov
fiche film] by director of Bulgarian heritage Konstantin Bojanov, set in India and revolving around LGBTQ+ topics; Our Lovely Pig Slaughter [+lire aussi :
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interview : Adam Martinec
fiche film], the feature debut by Adam Martinec, from the Czech Republic; and Family Therapy [+lire aussi :
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interview : Sonja Prosenc
fiche film] by Sonja Prosenc, the Slovenian Oscar candidate. Lastly, from Cannes’ ACID selection, there’s Kyuka - Before Summer’s End [+lire aussi :
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interview : Kostis Charamountanis
fiche film] by Greek helmer Kostis Charamountanis.

We find other notable names from European cinema in the Out of Competition Features strand: Slow [+lire aussi :
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interview : Marija Kavtaradze
fiche film] 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 [+lire aussi :
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interview : Dimitris Nakos
fiche film] by Greece’s Dimitris Nakos; and, from Venice’s Biennale College Cinema, My Birthday [+lire aussi :
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fiche film] 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 [+lire aussi :
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fiche film] by Ukraine’s Alina Maksimenko, nominated for the European Film Awards in the Best Film and Best Documentary categories; Trains [+lire aussi :
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interview : Maciej J. Drygas
fiche film] by Poland’s Maciej J Drygas, the winner of last year’s IDFA; Romania’s Alice On & Off [+lire aussi :
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interview : Isabela Tent
fiche film] by Isabela Tent, shot over the course of ten years; Termini [+lire aussi :
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interview : Laila Pakalnina
fiche film], the 15th movie by Latvian filmmaker Laila Pakalniņa; the Bosnian-Serbian co-production At the Door of the House Who Will Come Knocking [+lire aussi :
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interview : Maja Novaković
fiche film] by Maja Novaković; a work by Latvian duo Ivars Seleckis and Armands Začs, To Be Continued. Teenhood [+lire aussi :
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fiche film]; Poland’s A Year in the Life of a Country [+lire aussi :
interview : Tomasz Wolski
fiche film] by Tomasz Wolski; Tata [+lire aussi :
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interview : Lina Vdovîi et Radu Ciorni…
fiche film] by Romanian helmers Lina Vdovîi and Radu Ciorniciuc; The Sky Above Zenica [+lire aussi :
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fiche film] by Denmark’s Nanna Frank Møller and Bosnia’s Zlatko Pranjić; and Lapilli [+lire aussi :
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interview : Paula Ďurinová
fiche film], 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.