BEAST INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL 27.09 — 01.10.2023

Focus Slovenia

This year, BEAST dedicates its Focus Country section to the exhilarating cinematic scene of Slovenia.

FOCUS SLOVENIA features a range of programmes that celebrate the contemporary cinematographic culture of Slovenia. Starting off with an opening screening with three short films directed by three emerging directors (Urska Djukic, Spela Cadez and Kukla), the Focus Slovenia section will showcase a diverse array of programmes, which include a Karpo Godina retrospective, a DIVA Station programme, two School Visit programmes (Nova Gorica School of Arts and the Academy of Theatre, Radio, Film and Television), as well as a Queer Focus feature film.

Opening Films

“Granny’s Sexual Life”, directed by Urska Djukic; “Steakhouse”, directed by Špela Čadež; and “Sisters”, directed by Kukla. Three directors, three short films: this is BEAST IFF’s opening programme.
“Granny’s Sexual Life” is a personal portrait of the constraints often inflicted upon female identity, closer to a general representation of (maybe still not just) past issues concerning women’s bodies, sexuality and imposed societal role. “Steakhouse” leads us into a universe where the meat that is cooked is that of the patriarchal discourse. And “Sisters”, a film that highlights the importance of said community of women – cis and trans – in order to survive, to exist.
These three films are about (all!) women’s lives. Telling us something about the past and present struggles, from different generations’ points of view, resulting in a communal cinematic embrace of looking – together – towards a better future.

DIVA — Feast & Body

BEAST, in collaboration with DIVA Station, proposes a two-parts programme. DIVA #1 FEAST is a selection of video works that connect with rituals of food and (wishful) fluid(ity). A non-chronological programme that as a whole attempts to connect to a (close to) life and death food cycle: ingestion-digestion-absorption-assimilation-egestion. Extending a sensory activation invite through a diverse set of seven works, this programme reflects on the individual and communal gestures connected with food, attempting to chop gender-biased rigid social expectations, as well as inherent social inequalities, whilst also connecting with the culinary pleasures and delights of artistic expression. In DIVA #2 B O D Y, different layers of the body – individual and collective – are highlighted. With a wide scale that grows from a closer look into the intricacies of the skin to vibrant and passionate yells of a patriarchally-liberated group, these seven works propose a glimpse on the micro and macro levels of what constitutes the self. From the flesh to the spirit, from the concrete to the metaphorical, from numbness to rhythm, from melancholia to euphoria, our hands chose the cards that will now be set for an expansive visual reading.

Retrospektiva — Karpo Godina

In collaboration with Kinoteka, BEAST presents a Karpo Godina retrospective. The Yugoslav director infused the radical “Black Wave” of the 1960s with an irrepressible expressive freedom—squarely targeted against all forms of repression — and thrived long after the end of Titoism and the breakup of Yugoslavia in civil war. In his career, the half-Slovenian, half-Macedonian filmmaker has brought a playfully anarchical spirit to the poetics and politics of film, moving breathlessly between fiction and nonfiction in his avant-garde short films of the 1960s and ’70s. This programme is a selection of the renowned director’s short films from the 60s and 70s.

School Visit #1 — Academy of Theatre, Radio, Film and Television — Best of 2021-2022

The Academy of Theatre, Radio, Film and Television, founded in 1945, is an academy of the University of Ljubljana, Slovenia.
The programme from the Academy of Theatre, Radio, Film and Television includes some of the best works from 2021-2022. A diverse selection of four short films, fiction and documentary, with themes that go from the connection to the wonders of the world of cinema, to expressions of love, but also to unsettling contours of possible future political extremist shifts and the troubling effects of abuse.

School Visit #2 — Nova Gorica School of Arts — Best of 2016-2022

With the foundation of the School of Arts in 2008 University of Nova Gorica has entered into the fields of the arts and creative practices. Within the School, students have the opportunity of exploring the branches and Carrier Modules of Animation, Film, Photography, New media, Scenographic spaces and Art-Science-Technology. This programme from the Nova Gorica School is a selection of the students’ best works from 2016 to 2022.

Queer Focus

As in previous editions, BEAST presents a Queer Focus programme. As in 2022 Slovenia became the first country in Eastern Europe to legalize same-sex marriage and same-sex joint adoption, the festival decided to include a special screening that combines both Focus Programmes. Boris Petkovič’s “LGBT_SLO_1984” will shine a light on the history of the LGBTQIA+ community’s cultural, artistic and activist movement in Slovenia. The title is the starting point: from 1984 until nowadays, this documentary features several protagonists of this said history, that alongside archival materials and present footage, will allow the audience to get closer to the different steps taken throughout the years to get to the present path.

Cine-concerto

In collaboration with the Portuguese sound artist, Ivo São Bento, BEAST IFF brings an immersive viewing experience – a screening of the first Slovenian feature-film, In the Kingdom of the Goldhorn accompanied by a live audio performance. The artist will recreate the ominous atmosphere of the mysterious and unreachable landscape of Mount Triglav, the realm of the white chamois buck Goldhorn, a well-known character from Slovenian folklore. In this unique event, we propose revisiting this silent cinematic gem with a modern and experimental soundtrack that celebrates its heritage.