The short animated film Cosmonauts by Leo Černic will premiere at the Shorts Competition. It tells the story of searching for love set in space, metaphorically and physically. “On an intergalactic cruise for singles, lonely souls yearn for kisses and touches, searching for a touch of love in the middle of space.”, stands in the plot description. Leo Černic “Čino” is a Slovenian-Italian filmmaker who studied film and TV directing in Ljubljana and experimental animation in Torino. His films usually revolve around strange and playful characters and the stories that intertwine humour, warmth and absurd. The director also served as the writer, chief animator and painter. Other crew members include music composers Amos Cappuccio and Andrea Marazzi, editor Iva Kraljević and sound designer Samo Jurca. The film was produced by Tina Smrekar for Finta Film in co-production with Staragara.IT (represented by Jožko Rutar and David Cej) and RTV Slovenia. It was supported by the Slovenian Film Centre, MIC, regional audiovisual fund of Furlania-Venezia-Giulia, Creative Europe MEDIA and Re-Act financially, while Viba Film Studio provided the technical support. Miyu handles the international sales and distribution.

Slovenian minority co-production 17, directed by Kosara Mitić, will compete at the Perspectives section. Based on a true story, the film follows a 17-year-old girl named Sara who harbours a secret on a school excursion. When the trip spirals out of control and culminates with a sexual assault witnessed by Sara, she and the assaulted girl form an everlasting bond. The cast is led by Eva Kostić, Martina Danilovska, Eva Stojčevska and Petar Manić. The script was written by the filmmaker and Ognjen Sviličić. The Slovenian crew handled the sound – Julij Zornik served as the sound designer and Aljaž Lukan as the sound recordist. The main production company behind the film is Black Cat Production from North Macedonia, in co-production with the Slovenian company December (represented by the co-producers Vlado Bulajić and Lija Pogačnik) and Art and Popcorn from Serbia. 17 was supported by the North Macedonian Film Agency, Slovenian Film Centre and Film Centre of Serbia.

The Forum Expanded section of the festival will host the exhibition / video installation The sun that fell into the water by the Berlin-based Slovenian visual artist Lena Kocutar. The two-channel installation that flirts with the documentary, experimental and fiction is centred around a power plant on a river island in Maribor which powers a computing station that monitors extinction. Thermal and infrared visions reveal lingering presences, blurring the line between living and non-living. Lena Kocutar (1997) finished her studies at the Academy of Visual Arts in Berlin, where she focused on multimedia art. She explores the relationships between technology, nature and culture through film, sound and words. This is her graduation work for which she received the annual Karl Hofer Society award.

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