There will be 71 films on show, with eight feature-length films in the main competition programme, including three documentaries.

Prassel stressed in an interview for the STA that the boundaries between feature and documentary films are being "blurred", as evident for example from last year's Venice winner "Sacro GRA".

He was also quick to point out that the modest number of feature films is "the fruit...of past work", in particular funding cuts for the Slovenian Film Centre started three years ago.

In addition to "Pot v raj", the main competition programme will thus feature "Drevo" (The Tree) by Sonja Prosenc, "Inferno" by Vinko Möderndorfer, "Avtošola" (Driving School) by Janez Burger and the co-production "Barbari" (Barbarians) by Ivan Ikić.

The documentaries included in the main competition include "Boj za" (A Fight For) by Siniša Gačić, "Kaj pa Mojca" (What About Mojca) by Urša Menart and "Ples z Marijo" (Dancing with Maria) by Ivan Gergolet.

The remaining films will be shorts or mid-length films, which Prassel attributes to the spread of digital technology allowing "almost anyone to make a film".

As for the quality of the films on show, Prassel said Slovenian film suffered from "a lack of screenwriting", where steps considered necessary are sometimes skipped.

"The big problem is the lack of specialised screenwriters. We have a lot of theatre and literary writers writing film scripts. I guess that is the reason for the designation that Slovenian films are not filmic enough."

Prassel, who runs the festival for the second year, also noted that his wish was to raise the international profile of the festival. A few steps in this direction have already been taken and several selectors of foreign festivals and producers are expected to attend.

However, such plans soon hit the money obstacle. "We have limited options. What is important is that those who are invited are truly relevant, not just people with name recognition."

The festival will also see the conferring of the Metod Badjura Award for lifetime achievement to Hanna Preuss, for her contribution to Slovenian film in her roles as a sound director, composer, and media artist.