Slovenian films at this year's Cannes Film Festival
This year's 78th edition of the Cannes Film Festival will take place in Cannes from 13 to 24 May.
Vida Skerk, a student at the UK's renowned National Film and Television School (NFTS), has entered the 28th La Cinéf programme with her student short fiction film Ether. 16 films have been selected for the programme, which will premiere on Thursday, 22 May, at the Buñuel Auditorium.
Skerka's 15-minute short fiction film offers an insight into the complexities of love relationships between young people, raising complex issues of consent, manipulation and power relations. It was filmed over four days in October 2024, in Buckinghamshire. We follow a couple whose initially idyllic relationship begins to unravel during a trip to the countryside. Issues of domination and responsibility begin to simmer beneath the surface, and the boundary between love and control becomes at once more complex and more obvious.
The director says: "It is a great honour for me, and I am extremely happy that our film Ether has been selected for the La Cinef programme at the Cannes Film Festival this year. Although it is a production of the British NFTS Film School, I am particularly proud to be bringing my Slovenian roots to the red carpet. I am grateful to everyone who has supported me along the way - especially my Slovenian community in Trieste, which has shaped me and provided me with the cultural foundations for my work, and my Slovenian filmmaking collaborators Urh Pirc and Domen Martinčič. What attracted me to Nika's script was the simplicity and elegance with which she handled a very difficult subject. I was particularly fascinated by the exploration of how patriarchal violence can creep - overtly or covertly - into very modern, progressive relationships between young couples. The film was made by students from different cultures, as I believe that building collaborations with people from different countries is also incredibly important for the realisation of future films."
The screenplay was written by Niky Pasolini, with music by Aizhana Nurkenova, editing by Maria Luiza Munhoz, sound design by Vicente Barroso Molder, production design by Violet Goens and director of photography by Adenike Oke. The cast includes Laura Kaliger and Billy Bolt, produced by Dora Galosi.
Vida Skerk is an award-winning director living between London and Zagreb. Her short film Night Ride, made while studying at the Academy of Dramatic Arts in Zagreb, was screened at the BFI Flare Festival in London and Premiers Plans in Angers, where it won the Student Jury Prize. The film was also awarded the Octavijan Prize by the Croatian Film Critics Association. Her creative style combines chilling surrealism with emotional depth, often exploring themes of identity, belonging and love.
She was born in Trieste, where she grew up and graduated from the Slovene Lyceum of France Prešeren. She is Croatian, Slovenian and Italian, which gives her artistic vision a unique perspective. This complex national identity places her at the intersection of different worlds - in each of which she is both an insider and an outside observer. She is currently completing her MA in Film Directing at the renowned NFTS (National Film and Television School) in the UK.
The 78th Cannes Film Market will take place from 13 to 21 May. The Slovenian Film Centre will present the feature film Whites Wash at Ninety, written and directed by Marko Naberšnik and Bronja Žakelj, based on the bestselling book of the same name.
The film stars Anica Dobra, Jurij Zrnec, Tjaša Železnik, Lea Cok, Iva Kranjc Bagola, Saša Tabaković, Žiga Šorli, Polona Juh, Mei Rabič, Jaka Mehle, Blaž Dolenc and others. The director of photography is Max Sušnik, set designer Maja Moravec, costume designer Nadja Bedjanić, mask designers Anita Ferčak and Jasmina Mina Ilić, editor Milica Jelača.
The production is produced by Perfo; producers are Aleš Pavlin and Andrej Štritof, and international co-productions by Serbian production company Biberche, Black Cat Production from North Macedonia, Kinorama from Croatia, Protos Film from Montenegro and Quasar from Italy.
The film was financially supported by the Slovenian Film Centre, POP TV, Viba film, the Film Centre of Serbia, the North Macedonian Film Agency, the Croatian Audiovisual Centre, the Film Centre of Montenegro, the Film Commission of Friuli Venezia Giulia and Eurimages.
The screening will take place on Tuesday, 20 May at 14:00 in Hall G.
As every year, the Slovenian Film Centre will present itself in the physical pavilion of the SEE Pavilion.
The online catalogue of Slovenian feature and short films 2025 is available here.
