If you will be wandering the streets of Berlin this weekend or you are one of the many who have found a home here, you must definitely pay a visit to Kino Sputnik for some fine Slovenian film night-out topped with music, photography and artists talks.

The 5th festival edition of Neues Slowenisches Kino organised by the Periskop Berlin is bringing a fresh batch of Slovenian contemporary films for you to dive in. As every year, a strong focus is on young Slovenian film authors and their current works that prove striking storytelling, artistic sensibility and highest technical abilities. 

On this note the festival will open with Berlin’s premier of the My Last Year as a Loser (Ne bom več luzerka) by film director Urša Menart that won the prominent Vesna Award for the best movie and another two for the best script and supporting actor at the latest Slovenian Film Festival. The film takes us on the emotional journey of “an over-educated generation that by no means succeeds to grow up to the expectations of their parents nor that Slovenia is able to host it” as described by the director. 

While Ljubljana plays an important setting in the lead actor’s story, it has also encouraged photographers Matjaž Rušt in Robert Marin to capture its urban life on the Tumblr hit blog The most beautiful city in the world throughout the years. Supporting the festival’s opening the artists are now presenting their newest selection of brutally authentic images in a first-time-Berlin exhibition that will be displayed until the 10th of January.  Concluding the evening with some live music of Nik Novak, first day of the festival is already making us take that ride to the Kino Sputnik despite dark and rain.

On Saturday the high-quality times continue with the Acht Shorts, the selection of  short films of Ljubljana short film festival (FeKK) following very much anticipated Q&As. The evening will be concluded with another heavy award winning film of the year Consequences (Posledice) by Darko Štante.

On the last day poetry will join the film with live reading of Lidija Dimkovska (Schwarz auf Weiß) and Jure Jakob (Werkstückhen), followed by the music film Remains – Confessions to the ghost by Matevž Jerman in Nik Novak. The Neues Slowenisches Kino V. will be closing  with the beautiful drama History of Love (Zgodovina ljubezni) by Sonja Prosenc that was also selected as the Slovenian entry for the Best International Feature Film at thenext year’s Oscars.

For more details on the festival’s program check out Periskop Berlin or Kino Sputnik.

 

by Neja Činkole