The review curated by Nicola Falcinella brings eight titles featured in the last edition of the Trieste Film Festival in the Wild Roses section, this year dedicated to Slovenian women filmmakers.
After winning Best Feature Film at the 37.Trieste Film Festival,, debuts on Milan screens Fantasy, a film by Slovenian director Kukla, shot in the Trieste neighborhood of Rozzol Melara. Appointment in theaters on Monday, April 20 at 8:15 p.m. at Anteo Palazzo del Cinema on the occasion of the review “It Happens Near Us – NEW SLOVENIAN DIRECTORS.”
The director’s debut work, Fantasy explores the complexities of gender, desire and self-discovery sparked by the encounter of three rebellious girls in their early 20s with a transgender woman. Mihrije, Sina and Jasna, best friends since childhood, refuse to conform to the conservative system in which they grow up, until their world is turned upside down by the arrival of Fantasy. The film, which was also partly shot in Trieste’s Rozzol Melara neighborhood, had its world premiere in 2025 at the Locarno Film Festival in the “Filmmakers of the Present” section. The screening will be preceded by a meeting with director Kukla in dialogue with festival curator Nicola Falcinella.
The selection of titles-which will take place on Monday, April 20, Wednesday, April 22, Monday, May 4 and Wednesday, May 6-will welcome seven more works, including films and shorts, all of which were protagonists of the last edition of the Trieste Film Festival, Italy’s leading event for Central Eastern European cinema. “It Happens Near Us – NEW SLOVENIAN DIRECTORS” is an event by Slovenian Film Center and Anteo Palazzo del Cinema in collaboration with Trieste Film Festival, curated by Nicola Falcinella.
On Monday, April 20, in addition to a screening of Fantasy and a meeting with director Kukla, the short film Srecno, Orlo! by Sara Kern, previously in competition at the Venice Film Festival in 2016.
Wednesday, April 22, 9:15 p.m., will be the turn of the short film Babičino seksualno življenje, which won the EFA award for best European short film in 2022, and Kaj ti je deklica – The Chorus Girl, both signed by Urška Djukić. The screenings will be preceded by a video link with Nicoletta Romeo, artistic director of the Trieste Film Festival, and a meeting with director Urška Djukić in a streaming link.
On Monday, May 4, 9:15 p.m., the short film Steakhouse by Špela Čadež and. Ida Who Sang So Badly Even the Dead Rose Up and Joined Her in Song., the revelation film by Ester Ivakič, winner of the Special Jury Prize at the last Torino Film Fest. The director will be a guest on the link-up to introduce the film.
Finally, on Wednesday, May 6, 9:15 p.m., date with the short film Raj by Sonja Prosenc and the feature film Ne pozabi me – Forget Me Not by Anja Medved, who is a guest in the hall to present the film.
