Hotel Pula directed by Andrej Korovljev (Kinematograf), as well as two minority Croatian co-productions: Lost Country by Vladimir Perišić (co-producer Ankica Jurić Tilić, Kinorama) and Janez Burger’s Observing (co-producers are Lana Matić and Boris T. Matić, Propeler Film) will appear in the feature film competition.

Two Restart (Oliver Sertić) co-productions: Vlad Petri’s Between Revolutions and Gergő Somogyvári’s Fairy Garden will screen in the documentary competition programme.

Having its world premiere in Trieste is Luv Sevnik’s fiction short The Sea in Between, realised in co-production with Croatian Sensoria Society and co-produced by Ira Cecić and Tonči Bakotin.

While helping his father in the family business, a disgruntled teenage boy gets stranded on a small boat with an older tourist. As the boy anxiously awaits his father to return with the daily catch, the tourist starts making lewd suggestions.

The film is a Slovenian-Croatian-Czech co-production, starring Leon Lučev and Bruno Mihanović. The producers are Rok Biček from Cvinger Film, Ira Cecić and Tonči Bakotin from the Sensoria Society, Radovan Sibrt and Karel Poupe from Pink Productions and Ondrej Šejnoha from Studio FAMU.

In addition, Una Gunjak’s feature debut Excursion, co-produced by Croatian company Nukleus Film (Siniša Juričić), will screen out of competition. Radu Jude’s latest feature, Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World, realised in co-production with Croatian Kinorama (Ankica Jurić Tilić), will also have a special screening at the festival.

When East Meets West

The industry section When East Meets West will be taking place during the Trieste Film Festival, 21st – 24th January. This year, WEMW brings together 550 film professionals from 60 countries.

Leo Černic’ short animated project, Cosmonauts, produced by Slovenian company Finta Film, in co-production with Croatian company Adriatic Animation (Draško Ivezić), and Italian company Staragara will be presented at the Co-production Forum, the central industry event.

Projects by Croatian authors and producers will also participate in the Works in Progress subprogramme dedicated to projects in the post-production phase.

The section Last Stop Trieste, intended for documentary projects in the fine cut stage, and previously developed/presented at one of its partner platforms (Ex-Oriente, BDC Discoveries, Docu Rough Cut Boutique, Baltic Sea Docs, ZagrebDox PRO, When East Meets West), will present projects Pavilion 6 directed by Goran Dević, with producer Hrvoje Osvadić (15th Art) and Dad’s Lullaby of Ukrainian director Lesia Diak, a co-production of the Ukrainian company DramaFree, Romanian Filmways, and Croatian 15th Art.

Participating in the section This is It, is Man of the House, the project by director and screenwriter Andamion Murataj, co-produced between Albania, Italy, Croatia, Austria, Kosovo, North Macedonia and Greece. The Croatian co-producer is Bojan Kanjera with the company Peglanje snova.

Eight projects, including one Croatian, are participating in the winter session of the First Cut+ international project development programme, held as part of the WEMW. The project is the feature-length debut Celebration directed by Bruno Anković and written by Jelena Paljan, based on the novel of the same name written by Damir Karakaš. The project is produced by Eclectica.

The project and script development platform, MIDPOINT Shorts, presents five projects, one of which is the Croatian fiction short Second Law of Thermodynamics by director and screenwriter Jozo Schmuch, produced by Digital Cinema Environment. In cooperation with the Croatian Audiovisual Centre, the platform awards the HAVC & MIDPOINT Development Award in the amount of 3,000 euros.

A full list of awards in the above sections may be found here.

WEMW also organises an intensive EAVE Slate workshop on work planning strategies for production companies, which includes a B2B exchange between key people from various sectors of the film industry. One of the participants is Croatian producer Miljenka Čogelja (Pipser), while one of the mentors in the programme will be Croatian producer Ankica Jurić Tilić (Kinorama).

The section Inspirational Labs includes a number of labs dedicated to various segments and modes of production, and it will also include the participation of Croatian filmmakers. Producer Dana Budisavljević (Hulahop) will participate in the Anima Spirit lab, intended for experienced producers and companies that normally deal with feature and documentary formats, who would like to learn more about the production of animated films.

Producer Tena Gojić (Dinaridi Film) will take part in the On Demand Ecosystem lab, which provides participants with the opportunity to perfect their strategies for online distribution and to become better acquainted with the dynamics of the video-on-demand system.

Croatian producer Matko Burić (Cinecro) is participating in the Virtual Innovation lab, dedicated to bringing innovative virtual production closer to independent companies.

This year’s 25th Trieste Film Festival will run 19th – 27th January, while more details about the festival are available on its official website.

Cover photograph: Trieste Film Festival visual
In-text photographs: a scene from The Sea in Between (source: Slovenian Film Centre, credit: Kryštof Melka); When East Meets West