The shooting of the feature Confirmation by the director Darko Sinko begins
On Tuesday, 1 July, the filming of the new Slovenian feature film Confirmation, directed by Darko Sinko, commenced under the auspices of the production company December. Most of the filming will take place in the municipality of Cirkulane and its immediate surroundings in Haloze, as well as in Ljubljana for a few days in August. The main film location is the church of St. Anne in Veliki Vrh. Aside from professional actors, a significant part of the cast consists of local residents, who will make their debut in front of the camera. The screenplay was written by the director and Andreea Vălean.
At the start of filming, the director stated: “We have all experienced disappointments in friendships and perhaps even caused them ourselves. Why are we so profoundly affected by such experiences? Betrayals surprise and hurt us, but they may also reveal something beautiful: they seem to make us lose something truly important to us. Confirmation is a bittersweet coming-of-age comedy – a visually rich film with a multitude of characters and a compact plot. It flirts with irony, the grotesque, satire, and sometimes even surrealism. We aim to create a communicative film that is both entertaining and moving.”
In a small village in the Slovenian countryside, everyone prepares for the upcoming confirmation, especially the teenagers, including best friends Mate, Peter, and Gaber. Heavy rains cause a landslide that destroys the road leading to the church. To prevent the confirmation ceremony from being cancelled, the villagers decide to make temporary repairs to the road themselves. However, the natural disaster is not the only problem affecting the preparations for the ceremony, as the villagers discover a supply of weed under the church organ played by Veronika, a cool girl from the city. While it is unclear whether the confirmation will take place at all, it turns out that Mate, Peter, and Gaber are the ones connected to the mysterious stash. When the police get involved, the boys’ friendship faces a tough challenge that they seem destined to fail.
The main children’s and youth roles are played by Martin Kelc, Leo Stopajnik, Petja Hajdinjak, Ajda Mihajlović, and Tai Fištravec. The locals debuting in the film include: Anica Črnivec, Marjan Prešnički, Izidor Gnilšek, and Sandra Vidovič Mlakar. Starring: Timon Šturbej, Maruša Majer, Miki Roš, Vojko Belšak, Uroš Nikolić, Luka Martin Škof, Mojca Partljič, and Nešo Tokalič.
Other contributors: director of photography Urh Pirc, composer Matija Krečič, editor Matic Drakulić, production designer Neža Zinajić, costume designer Urška Recer, makeup designer Lija Ivančič, line producer Matija Kozamernik – Jojo, production manager Primož Ledinek, first assistant director Irena Gatej, second assistant director Matic Štamcar, and others.
The film is produced by Vlado Bulajić and Lija Pogačnik from the December production company. At the start of filming, Bulajić said: “First of all, I would like to stress that I have been extremely positively surprised by the response and warm welcome of the local people. It is hard to imagine the filming without their help. I would like to take this opportunity to express my sincere gratitude to the staff and the mayor of the Municipality of Cirkulane, the parish of St. Barbara in Haloze, the Ptuj City Cinema, the Hotel Trakoščan, and especially to the staff of the Cirkulane primary school.”
The production company December and Darko Sinko have previously collaborated on the director’s debut feature Inventory, which premiered at the San Sebastian Film Festival in 2021.
The project is financially supported by the Slovenian Film Centre and Creative Europe – MEDIA, in collaboration with Viba Film Studio. The film is co-produced by RTV Slovenija.
