11-02-2012

Slovenian Films at Berlinale 2012

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    From 9 to 19 February the 62nd Berlin Film Festival is taking place. This year as many as three Slovenian films, supported on the basis of the public call for minority o‑productions in 2010, will be presented in the official festival programme.

    The world premiere of the film The Woman Who Brushed Off Her Tears, the third feature by the Macedonian director Teona Mitevska, will take place on 11 February 2011 in the "Panorama Special" programme.In 2008 Mitevska already participated in the Berlin Panorama with her film I'm From Titov Veles. Vertigo Emotionfilm, a Slovenianproducer, took part in the production of both films, which were also financially supported by the former Slovenian Film Fund, recently restructured as the Slovenian Film Centre.Starring Victoria Abril and Labina Mitevska.

    On 13 February the international premiere of the film Parade by the Serbian director Srdjan Dragojević, which is already being screened successfully in the Slovenian cinemas, will take place in the same programme.The film was co‑produced by Forum Ljubljana.

    On 12 February the world premiere of the Czhech‑Slovenian co‑production A Night Too Young, the diploma film by the Slovenian director Olmo Omerzu who studied at the FAMU \Academy of Performing Arts in Prague, will take place in the Forum programme.The Slovenian co‑producer is Arsmedia. This year in Berlin, the Slovenian Film Centre (SFC) will keep its stand in the Martin Gropius Bau building, where it is going to provide information about Slovenian films to the festival selectors, buyers and journalists. At the same time SFC will provide room for all Slovenian professionals present in Berlin, who will be able to use
    this space for their business meetings.The SFC representatives will be located in Berlin from 9 to 17 February.

    The Slovenian Film Centre and thus also the Slovenian film are going to be presented already for the seventh time at a joint venue with the Czechs and Slovaks under thecommon trademark CEC - Central European Cinema.

    The following films will be shown at the market screenings:The State of Shock by the director Andrej Košak; the winner of the Portorož festival Archeo by the director Jan Cvitkovič; the superb surprise of the Portorož festival Bread and Circuses by the director Klemen Dvornik; and the "renewed" Tractor,Love and Rock'n'Roll by the director Branko Djurić.

    With their market screenings all of these films will try to explore the best festival and distribution options abroad. Numerous other events will accompany the Berlin festival and market. For the tenth year the Berlinale Talent Campus will keep discovering film authors from all over the world. Two young Slovenian talents have qualified for this year's Talent Campus: the director and screenwriter Barbara Zemljič and actor Jurij Drevenšek.

    Both artists have worked on the film Bread and Circuses: Ms. Zemljič as a co‑writer, and Mr. Drevenšek in one of the main roles. For the first time a representative of the Slovenian film press is also going to be present at the Talent Campus - Katja Čičigoj, who publishes her articles in the Ekran magazine.

    On Monday, 13 February, the MEDIA Information Day is to take place and present the new features of the Creative Europe programme, which is going to replace the current MEDIA programme after 2014, to the European film public. MEDIA Desk Slovenia, operating in the context of the Slovenian Film Centre, will also be present at the Information Day.