​Slovenian films and filmmakers at the Berlinale

The short film Into the Blue (19 minutes), a Croatian-Slovenian co-production, will be screened in the competition programme for children and youth (Generation). This is the first short film to have received the financial support of the Slovenian Film Centre as a minority co-production. It was directed by the Croatian directress Antoneta Alamat Kusijanović, while the director of photography Marko Brdar, sound designer Julij Zornik and producer Zoran Dževerdanović, known for his work on the film Idyll by the director Tomaž Gorkič, have made an important Slovenian contribution to the film.

On the other hand, the Macedonian-Slovenian-Belgian co-production When the Day Had No Name, the fourth live-action feature by the Macedonian directress Teona Strugar Mitevska, has been selected for the Panorama programme. This is Mitevska's third qualification for the Berlinale. The Slovenian contributors to the film include the costumes designer Monika Lorber, makeup designer Mojca Gorogranc Petrushevska, and producer Danijel Hočevar.

The documentary feature Family – the second full-length film by the director Rok Biček – will premiere at the Market screenings. Biček's highly successful debut, the live-action feature Class Enemy (2013) that premiered at the Venice Film Festival, was one of the three nominees for the Lux Award given by the European Parliament, while in Slovenia it has been seen by more than 50.000 viewers. Family is an observational documentary film, in which the director follows the protagonist for ten years. Its screening at the Berlin Market will represent the foundation for its successful festival premiere.

The Slovenian actress Maruša Majer is one of the ten young actors to have qualified for the European Shooting Stars, the accompanying programme of the Berlin Festival, organised by the only European organisation for film promotion – European Film Promotion, which the Slovenian Film Centre is also a member of. An intensive programme, which is to take place between 9 and 13 February, has been prepared for the chosen actors. The event will culminate on Monday, 13 February at 19:00, when the award ceremony for the rising stars of 2017 will take place in the Berlinale Palast, the central festival hall.

Numerous other events will accompany the Berlin Festival and Market. Already for the fourteenth year the Berlinale Talent Campus will keep discovering new filmmakers from all over the world. This year the director of photography Lev Predan Kowarski has qualified for the Talent Campus. He worked on the short film Good Luck Orlo! (2016) by the directress Sara Kern, which qualified for the last film festival in Venice, as well as on the feature films Sailing to Paradise (2014) and Juliette and Alfa Romeo (2015) by the director Blaž Završnik. The film critic and journalist Petra Meterc has qualified among the talented critics.

The 2018 Film Guide (covering the Slovenian live‑action features and documentary films) will be presented, while for the fourth year in a row short films will be included in the separate Short film guide, which will be presented at the Short Film Market in Clermont Ferrand on Saturday, 4 February.

The Slovenian Film Centre (SFC) will once again present itself in the Martin Gropius Bau building, home of the Berlin Film Market, where it is going to provide the information about Slovenian films to the festival selectors, buyers and journalists.

In 2017 the Slovenian Film Centre will celebrate already the twelfth year of its joint presentation with the Czechs and Slovaks under the CEC – Central European Cinema trademark. On Saturday, 11 February, all three countries will organise a joint opening reception at the Academie Lounge