On Monday 10 February, the Slovenian Film Centre (SFC) held its annual press conference in the country’s capital, Ljubljana. The media-outlet representatives present were informed about the institution’s achievements over the course of the past year, as well as its plans for 2025. Other topics included preliminary box-office figures and the dates of the upcoming edition of the Festival of Slovenian Film.

Along with the nine feature-length fiction projects supported at the script-development phase and a further seven supported as projects in development, the realisation of seven feature-length fiction films was supported by the SFC in 2024. They include the latest fiction feature by Andrina Mračnikar, Mila/Marija, a Slovenian-Austrian co-production with Vertigo serving as the leading production company; Yugoslavia, My Fatherland by Goran Vojnović, produced by Arsmedia; the sophomore feature by Tijana Zinajić, Azra, staged by December; Janez Burger’s One Month, produced by Staragara; The Moon of the Kurent by Tomaž Gorkič, staged by 666 Productions; as well as the feature-length debuts by Katarina Morano and Vida Breže, Seaview and The Vultures, produced by Vertigo and Blade Production, respectively.

The SFC also supported the realisation of six feature-length documentaries, along with six more projects in different phases of development. The six projects in production are Nika Autor’s The Counseling Office for Workers (produced by Temporama), Igor Zupe’s The End of Gravity (Blade Production), Marko Šantić’s The Centre of the World (Vertigo) and Sašo Podgoršek’s Laibach/Alamut (Tramal Films), as well as the new projects by Jakob Krese and Anna M Bofarull. Four additional fiction and animated shorts were supported by the SFC.

Regarding the preliminary box-office numbers, total movie-theatre attendance figures fell slightly from last year’s 1.94 million to 1.66 million. However, in terms of domestic films, attendance rose from 170,000 to 195,000, meaning the market share of domestic films ended up being around the 11.75% mark.

Ten feature-length fiction films are predicted to enter the principal photography phase in 2025. Along with the aforementioned films by Andrina Mračnikar, Katarina Morano, Janez Burger and Goran Vojnović, the list also includes the debut by Maja Križnik, Uncomfortable Beings (produced by December); Darko Sinko’s sophomore feature, Confirmation (December); Áron Horváth’s debut feature, Lost Years (Temporama); Igor Šterk’s newest film, Tartufferies (a Slovenian-Italian-Croatian co-production led by Studio Virc); Sara Kern’s sophomore feature, A Way Away (a Slovenian-Australian co-production led by Spok); and Gregor Božič’s Tales of Fruits and Monsters (Nosorogi). Additionally, four TV series run by filmmakers Tomaž Gorkič, Matevž Luzar, Žiga Virc and Aleš Žemlja will enter the shooting stage of production this year.

Ten fiction features, ten feature-length documentaries, one animated feature and five Slovenian minority co-productions are expected to enter distribution in 2025. Jani Sever’s fiction film Ciao Bela as well as the documentaries Alpe-Adria Underground! [+lire aussi :
critique
fiche film] by Matevž Jerman and Jurij Meden, The Silence of Life by Nina Blažin, Once upon a Time in Soča Valley by Ema Kugler, and the minority co-production My Late Summer [+lire aussi :
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fiche film] by Danis Tanović are already in distribution. The same is expected imminently for festival titles such as Urška Djukić’s Little Trouble Girls [+lire aussi :
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bande-annonce
fiche film] and the Slovenian-Czech-Slovak-French parity co-production Tales from the Magic Garden [+lire aussi :
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interview : David Súkup
fiche film] (co-directed by Patrik Pašš, Jean-Claude Rozec, David Súkup and Leon Vidmar), both premiering at the impending Berlinale, as well as for the Slovenian minority co-production Fiume o morte! [+lire aussi :
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bande-annonce
fiche film] Igor Bezinović, which has just scooped the Tiger Award at IFFR (see the news). Other titles include the newest works by Gregor Andolšek, Darko Štante, Ester Ivakič, Kukla, Miha Hočevar, Marko Naberšnik and Boris Jurjaševič in the fiction department, as well as those by Martin Turk, Slobodan Maksimović, Miha Čelar, Damjan Kozole, Metod Pevec, Andrej Košak and Petra Seliškar in the documentary category.

A significant rise in the budget, from roughly €8.5 million in 2024 to €12.35 million in 2025, also resulted in the SFC updating its strategy for the 2025-2029 period, focusing on maintaining the independence of the institution, strengthening the financing system and positioning Slovenian cinema solidly domestically as well as on the international stage. It will also result in two more open calls for filmmakers in 2025, one aimed at genre-specific scripts for movies with higher commercial potential and another aimed at the realisation of low-budget projects with a budget of under €100,000.

Lastly, the 2025 edition of the Festival of Slovenian Film will take place in the coastal town of Portorož from 21-26 October.