Izola - The 17th Izola international film festival will start tonight, featuring 34 full-length and 97 short films. Until Sunday, projections will be held in Izola, and Ljubljana's Kinodvor and the Slovenian Cinematheque. This year, art cinemas in Tolmin, Idrija and Sežana will also join the festival.

While the first screening, Argentinian film by Ana Katz, El perro que no calla (The Dog Who Wouldn't Be Quiet), was held prior to the festival in Ljubljana, the festival officially starts in Izola tonight with Assandira by Italian director Salvatore Mereu, an unusual detective story about a family and a love triangle.

The festival will continue with El Agente Topo (The Mole Agent) by Spanish director Maite Alberdi, and This Is Not a Burial, It's a Resurrection by Lemohang Jeremiah Mosese.

The screening of the film Sanremo by Miroslav Mandić will include a visit by the film crew.

Next on the programme is Alfred Hitchcock's The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog, which is part of the European project Movies in Motion / Kino Istra. Live music will be performed by the trio Jimmy Barka Experience.

The Sweet Home section of the festival will bring the Slovenian premiere of a co-production Oaza (Oasis) by Serbian director Ivan Ikić.

Film selector Varja Močnik also highlighted Alida, a film about film actress Alida Valli, and one about Italian singer-songwriter Lucio Dalla.

Also screened will be Dies d'agost (August Days), a film by Catalan director Marc Recha, whose films will also be screened in Ljubljana's Kinodvor and the Cinematheque in the autumn.

The Video on the Beach section this year brings five eclectic programmes and 56 modern shorts films, according to the organisers. The programme for children and youth will, for the first time, also be held outside Izola.

Pro Otok, the festival's section for professionals, will be held in Ljubljana in October.

The accompanying programme will include an exhibition by students of the School of Arts of the University of Nova Gorica at the Salsaverde Gallery.

The Kino Otok - Isola Cinema festival traditionally takes place in early June, but last year it was moved to late August because of the epidemic and the date stuck this year as well. Next year, the organisers hope to have the festival in June again.