 Nov 13 2024 - Nov 24 2024

 Ljubljana

A selection of the best world cinema will once again be on show in the Slovenian capital during the 35th Ljubljana International Film Festival (LIFFe).

Apart from the winners of major international festivals such as those in Cannes, Rotterdam, Berlin, Locarno and Venice, the festival features a competition programme of films by up-and-coming directors and those by great auteurs, a panorama of world cinema, extravagant films, film guests and more.

This year's retrospective will pa tribute to Costa-Gavras, the Greek-French auteur known for political films. He will be in Ljubljana in person for the festival.

Six of the ten films in the festival's hallmark section, Perspectives, which focuses on first or second feature films by emerging directors, are by women directors.

Georgian director Dea Kulumbegashvili is coming back with her socially critical film April. Hungary is represented by Lesson Learned, directed by Szimler Balint.

The film Good One by director India Donaldson is a true example of independent American cinema, programme director Simon Popek says. Like Julie Keeps Quiet, by Belgian director Leonardo van Dijl, it deals with the theme of sexual harassment.

The New Year That Never Came, directed by Romanian filmmaker Bogdan Muresanu, was described by Popek as a dynamic mosaic of intertwined destinies.

The Celebration by Croatia's Bruno Anković is based on the novel of the same name by Damir Karakaš, while Sisters marks the directorial debut of French-Greek actress Ariane Labed, based on Daisy Johnson's novel of the same title.

The Lithuanian drama Toxic is the feature debut of Saule Bliuvaite, which won the Golden Leopard at the Locarno International Film Festival this year. Foreign Language, directed by French director Claire Burger, tells a coming-of-age story.

Also among the films in the Perspectives section is the feature debut All We Imagine as Light, by Indian director Payal Kapadia, the winner of the Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival.

The Avant-Premieres section will include films such as Anora by Sean Baker, which won the Palme d'Or at this year's Cannes Film Festival.

Limonov: The Ballad, directed by Kirill Serebrennikov, is a dynamic portrait of the Russian writer Eduard Limonov, while Brady Corbet's The Brutalist has been praised for its exceptional visual component. Francis Ford Coppola's spectacle Megalopolis is on the programme as well.

Several other major directors will be featured in the Kings and Queens section, while the Panorama segment of world cinema will showcase films from various continents, including the Dutch film Alpha, a co-production with Slovenian production company Staragara.

The Extravaganza section will see five action-packed or humorously eccentric films. One of them is Substance by Coralie Fargeat, starring Demi Moore and Margaret Qualley.

The festival will also spotlight alternative Slovenian cinema, and the Tribute section will honour Japanese modernist master Yasuzo Masumura, who would have turned 100 this year.

The festival is being held at Cankarjev Dom, Kinodvor Cinema, Bežigrad Cinema, Slovenian Cinematheque and the Academy of Theatre, Radio, Film and Television in Ljubljana with a selection of films in Maribor, Celje, Novo Mesto and Kranj.

For a full programme, click here.