The third day of the 37th Trieste Film Festival opens at the Teatro Miela at 11:00 with the out of competition short film
the out of competition short film COS TE COSTA by Davide Del Degan (I, 2025, col., 14’). Lena and her son want to lay flowers on the family grave, but the cemetery is cut in half by the Yugoslav Italian border. COS TE COSTA is one of 7 ‘Shorts without Borders’ made by European directors for GO!2025 and selected by a jury chaired by Oscar winner Gabriele Salvatores. To follow, Wild Roses the Wild Roses return with NE POZABI ME / Forget me Not by Anja Medved (SLO – I, 2025, col., 104’). While sorting through old family photos, a forgotten past of the border territory between Slovenia and Italy, a space brutally divided by wars and political violence, gradually unfolds. The film is part of the project “Memory Ambulance and Archive Brigades”, included in the official program of GO!2025 Nova Gorica-Gorizia European Capital of Culture.
At the same time in the AAC LAB, the TSFF for the little ones, with the workshop CREATIVE WORKSHOP: HAND TO HAND! by Gaia Mencagli & Roberta Colacino (suggested age: 5-10 yrs).
A creative workshop where children can discover the magic behind stop motion animation. A playful and educational experience that brings together imagination, hands-on creativity, and visual storytelling. Booking required: prenotazionitsff@gmail.com
Sempre alle 11 spazio anche alle visite guidate con partenza da PIAZZA GOLDONI per la passeggiata BARRIERA STORIES a cura di Still at 11, more guided tours: starting from PIAZZA GOLDONI, the walk BARRIERA STORIES by Francesca Pitacco. Barriera Stories is an urban walk designed by Cizerouno and led by Francesca Pitacco to narrate the stories and identity of the Barriera Vecchia district. Starting from Piazza Goldoni—where the flags of the widespread project Crossing the Border will fly until the end of January—Francesca Pitacco will guide us through historical events in this part of the city that brought together tolerance, philanthropy, and care.
The tour ends in the monumental atrium of the ITIS in Via Pascoli, among the busts and full-length portraits of the benefactors of 19th-century Trieste. Price 15€ | compulsory booking: eventi@cizerouno.it.
The children get their own tour: specifically designed for them, at 11:30, DISCOVERING TRIESTE: A SPECIAL CITY by Marzia Arzon. The walk is a treasure hunt and itinerary tour through which to discover the city – stretching from the sea to the hills, the tour ends with a sugary conclusion in the Empress’s district. During this walk, the spotlight will be on the children, which, with maps, questions and advice, will guide us through Trieste. Duration: about two hours, awards ceremony included. No mobile phones allowed, only curiosity and imagination. Departure from CASA DEL CINEMA. Suggested age: 5-10 yrs|Bookings| prenotazionitsff@gmail.com.
For TSFF BOOKS at 12 in the ANTICO CAFFÈ SAN MARCO, a talk on FILM IN THE 21st CENTURY by Roy Menarini (Cuepress editore), in which the author will be in conversation with Beatrice Fiorentino. What is a “21st-century film”? How can we recognize the identity of cinema after 2000? How much has the image on the big screen changed in the new millennium?
These are questions that have been widely debated in recent years, marked by a crisis in movie theaters and by an overabundance of media stimuli that seem to besiege and confuse the imagination of the Seventh Art. This volume, however, seeks to challenge the commonplaces surrounding the supposed decline of the cinematic experience, offering instead an extensive map of titles and auteurs who have reshaped cinematic storytelling and forms over the past 25 years. What emerges is a broad and multifaceted universe that responds to the social and geopolitical issues of the present by creating new cultural configurations—more fragmented than in the past, yet no less compelling for today’s audiences.
Roy Menarini teaches Cinema and Cultural Industries at the University of Bologna. He has published numerous essays on contemporary cinema and on topics such as film criticism, cinephilia, and the Hollywood imaginary. He is a senior editor of the journal Cinergie and directs the website Cinefilia Ritrovata. He contributes to several national and international research groups, including INC – International Research Network on Celebrity Culture and CFC (Culture, Fashion, Communication). He collaborates with Film Tv and is a consultant for the Cineteca di Bologna as well as for other institutions and associations. He directs film and audiovisual education programs for schools. He is also a film critic, essayist, and lecturer. Beatrice Fiorentino
Since 2020, Beatrice Fiorentino has been the Artistic Director and General Delegate of the International Critics’ Week at the Venice Film Festival, of which she has been a member since 2015 as part of the selection committee.
She is a freelance journalist and film critic and teaches
Theories and Techniques of Audiovisual Media as an adjunct lecturer at the University of Trieste. In 2014, she received the Akai International Film Fest Awardfor Best Film Critic during the 71st Venice International Film Festival. She collaborates with other festivals and has served on numerous international juries. She is a member of the European Film Academy (EFA), the International Cinéphile Society (ICS), and the Italian Film Academy – David di Donatello Awards.. In 2023, her book New History of Cinema: From the Origins to the Future was published. In 2023, her book was published: New History of Cinema: From the Origins to the Future was published. .
At 14:00, Wild Roses brings us a film which had its world premiere at the TSFF in 2024: CENT’ANNI by Maja Doroteja Prelog (SLO – PL – ITA – SRB – AT, 2024, col., 87’). After surviving a terminal illness diagnosis, Blaž sets of to a grueling celebratory Giro d’Italia. With him is his partner, filmmaker Maja Doroteja Prelog, tasked with capturing the triumphant biking tour. An unfiltered testament to love and change Cent’anni had its world premiere at the Trieste FF in 2024. A seguire alle 16:00 per Wild Roses si terrà la proiezione di ZGODOVINA LJUBEZNI/ History of Love di Sonja Prosenc (SLO – I – NO, 2018, col., 105’). After the loss of her mother, and the discovery that she actually knew little about her, Iva sinks into a strange, almost dreamlike world far from reality.
History of Love, selected projects at WEMW in 2016, premiered at the Karlovy Vary IFF in 2018 where it received a Special Mention from the Jury.
Also 16:00, but in the RIDOTTINO of Teatro Miela, is the TSFF for the little ones which brings us THE MAGIC OF HUNGARIAN ANIMATION (H, 1975-2000, 50’), a programme of animated short films exploring diverse styles and techniques, full of invention and magic. Each story is a small universe waiting to be discovered on screen!
At 17.30, in the ANTICO CAFFÈ SAN MARCO is the talk OCCUPIERS AND PARTISANS: CROSSED PERSPECTIVES ON THE SECOND WORLD WAR IN ITALIAN AND YUGOSLAV CINEMA by Eric Gobetti.
The talk aims to analyze how Italian cinema has portrayed Yugoslav partisans and how Italian invaders have been depicted in Yugoslav cinema. Through the screening of short clips taken from all the films made on this topic from 1945 to the present, we will try to understand what kind of imagery has been conveyed in the two countries, and how and why this happened. A journey through opposing ideological visions, featuring unlikely heroes, cloying clichés, and uniformed zombies.
Eric Gobetti is a freelance historian specializing in Fascism, the Second World War, the Resistance, and the history of Yugoslavia in the twentieth century. An expert in historical outreach, travel, and memory politics, he is the author of several monographs, two documentaries (Partizani and Sarajevo Rewind), a novel, a fairy tale, as well as scholarly and popular articles. Among his most recent books are And Then the Foibe? (2021), Mussolini’s Executioners (2023), both published by Laterza, and the “non-guide” Borders (2025).
At 18:15 in the Teatro Miela, the first of seven Queer Visions screenings today: awarded Best Short Film at the latest Venice International Film Critics’ Week, MARINA by Paoli De Luca (I, 2025, col., 19’). Marina, a year after she started her gender transition, spends a summer weekend at the house of her best friend, Camilla. Everyone tells Marina how beautiful she has become, but she doesn’t feel like that. Instead, she constantly compares her body to Camilla’s. To follow, the Special Jury Prize winner for the Sarajevo Film Festival documentary competition, IN HELL WITH IVO by Kristina Nikolova (BG, 2025, col., 80’ ). Bulgarian queer artist and songwriter Ivo Dimchev transforms personal and social hardship into provocative public and intimate spectacles, boldly exploring sexuality, identity, faith, and activism in a liberating celebration of queer visibility. In Hell with Ivo was screened, among others, at DOK.fest München.
Again at 18.15, we return to the Wild Roses with a compilation of short at the RIDOTTINO of the Teatro Miela: SREČNO, ORLO! /Good Luck, Orlo! by Sara Kern (SLO – HR – AT, 2016, col., 14’), RAJ /Paradise by Sonja Prosenc and Mitja Ličen (SLO – HR, 2019, col., 25’), BABIČINO SEKSUALNO ŽIVLJENJE /Granny’s Sexual Life by Urška Djukič and Émilie Pigeard (SLO – F, 2021, col., 13’), SESTRE /Sisters by Kukla (SLO, 2021, col., 24’), STEAKHOUSE
by Špela Čadež (SLO – DE – F, 2021, col., 10’), HOBOTNICA BANANA MIŠMAŠ / Octopus Banana Hotchpotch by Milanka Fabjančič (SLO, 2023, col., 8’), KAKO SEM SE NAUČILA OBEŠATI PERILO / How I Learned to Hang Laundry by Barbara Zemljič (SLO, 2023, col., 23’), MAČEK MED VRATI / Catlands by Ana Čigon (SLO – HR, 2024, col., 10’), ONKRAJ OBRAZA / Beyond the Face by Anja Resman (SLO – HR, 2024, col., 10’), and TRI TIČICE / Three Birds by Zarja Menart (SLO – HR, 2024, col., 8’).
The Wild Roses continue on the main screen of the Teatro Miela at 22:30, with KAJ TI JE DEKLICA / Little Trouble Girls by Urška Djukić (SLO – I – HR – SRB, 2025, col., 90’). Presented at the Berlinale 2025 in the “Perspectives” section, it was nominated for the EFA (European Film Awards) and is the official Slovenian submission for the 2026 Academy Awards. Sixteen-year-old Lucia, shy and sensitive, attends the choir of a Catholic school: here she meets Ana-Maria, strong and charismatic, and faces the first stirrings and questions of life.
At 22:00, once again, Queer Visions with SKIN ON SKIN by Simon Schneckenburger (DE, 2025, col., 30’). In an industrial slaughterhouse in Germany, Jakob works as a security guard while Boris from Bosnia slaughters pigs. Amidst the cold brutality of their surroundings, the two men form a quiet, unspoken bond, united by a shared longing for freedom. Skin on Skin is the film director’s graduation film: shot in 16mm, it was selected for the Karlovy Vary FF and others. After this, some shorts in the section, among which the Italian premiere of POLUOTOK/ Peninsula by David Gašo (HR, 2025, col., 19’). A weekend in the city park is meant for recreational activities. During a twenty-minute period, several men seek out a way to pass their time at a cruising spot located in the heart of a small peninsular grove. Peninsula premiered at the 2025 Locarno Film Festival, in the “Pardi di domani” section. Then, ERION by Marius Gabriel Stancu (I, 2025, col., 14’), selected, among others, for Raindance FF in London and for the RIFF in Roma. Early 2000’s. Christian is a university student who is preparing his dissertation, while spending his holidays in the South of Italy. Here, he meets Erion, an Albanian origin boy, and the two begin dating secretly. Erion was selected at the Raindance FF in London and at the Rome Independent Film Festival, among the others. To close, the Italian debut of JESTEŚMY IDEALNI / We are Perfect by Marek Kozakiewicz (PL, 2023, col., 62’). In Poland, young LGBTQ+ people are auditioning for the role of a trans boy in one of Netflix’s feature films. They all want to become movie stars, but it soon turns out that much more serious challenges await them. We Are Perfect is a universal story about people who are tired of being excluded and invisible.
EVENTI EXTRA
MUSEUMS; EXHIBITIONS
SUNDAY 18th JANUARY from 15:00 to 18:30, ECONTEMPORARY GALLERY
CUT, PASTE, ANIMATE!TAGLIA, INCOLLA, ANIMA! Workshop a quattro mani a cura di Martina Martonsky e Susan Petri
The workshop combines the techniques of collage and stop-motion animation, allowing the participants to transform static images into brief animated narratives. By cutting out, composing and taking sequential pictures of their work, the participants will give life to characters, landscapes and stories created entirely from recycled materials.
Booking | info@elenacantori.com |tel: +39 328 7349711
UNTIL JANUARY 24th, GALLERIA ECONTEMPORARY
Beyond Human Skin / Coabitazioni invisibili di Martina Martonsky
a cura di Elena Cantori, EContemporary in collaborazione con alpe adria cinema – trieste film festival
The exhibition curated by Elena Cantori targets the depths of human nature. The artist Martina Martonsky, Italian artist with a background in Gender Studies, invites us to see ourselves, not as isolated individuals, but as a ‘holobiont’: a complex organism which sustains life thanks to the collaboration of bacteria and invisible microorganisms. Through photography, illustration, video and animation, the work explores the ‘porous skin’ which connects us to the other and to nature. Inspired by contemporary environmentalist theory, Martonsky’s work pushes us to reflect on our responsibilities towards the planet, beginning from the recognition of the infinite forms of life which we host inside and outside our bodies. The exhibition will be visitable until January 24th (opening times: Mon – Sun, 17:00 – 20:00). The artist will also be running the workshop ‘Cut, Paste, Animate!’ with Susan Petri on Sunday 18th January from 15:00 – 18:30 (bookings only) at the Galleria EContemporary. The participants will transform static images into brief animated narratives through the techniques of collage and stop motion. By cutting out, composing and taking sequential pictures of their work, the participants will give life to characters, landscapes and stories created entirely from recycled materials.
Opening times: Monday to Sunday 17:00-20:00
Bookings | info@elenacantori.com
UNTIL JANUARY 26th, SALA VERUDA, Passo Costanzi, Piazza Piccola 2
ON THE CURRENTS OF ART by Živorad “Zico” Mišić curated by the Associazione Culturale Giovanile Serba
The multidisciplinary exhibition by Živorad “Zico” Mišić, titled ‘On the Currents of Art’ is organised with the support of the Trieste Council – Department of Culture of Tourism (primary sponsor: ZKB Banca, with the contribution of Fondazione Polojaz).
Featured in the exhibition are 100 works, from original drawings to illustrated stories; characters, both real and imagined, that meander through time and space, but always with particular care to spotlight the city of Trieste and its symbols. Mišić, the Serbian artist and honorary Triestine, puts Nikola Tesla in centre stage. Throughout the panels of the graphic novel Tesla: The Lord of Lightning – Origins, he explores the scientist’s childhood. However Tesla’s presence is not only narrative, but conceptual: a guiding thread that connects the various artistic and cultural ‘currents’ explored by Mišić.
The exhibition is rounded out by the Superhero Science Week (January 12th – 18th), an educational program by the Associazione Culturale Giovanile Serba, in which the language of superheroes is used to explain science to schools and families. Thanks to the involvement of experts and representatives of important science institutions, both international and local, it demonstrates how drawings can make even the most complex topics accessible.
The exhibition is rounded out by the Superhero Science Week (January 12th – 18th), an educational program by the Associazione Culturale Giovanile Serba, in which the language of superheroes is used to explain science to schools and families. Thanks to the involvement of experts and representatives of important science institutions, both international and local, it demonstrates how drawings can make even the most complex topics accessible.
Orari: lun>dom 10-13/17-20
Prenotazioni alla mostra e alle visite guidate|acgs.sko@gmail.com | info: www.acgstrieste.org
UNTIL FEBURARY 21st 2026, CIZERUNO CAVÒ
YUGO LOGO
by Ognjen Ranković and Antonio Karača
in collaboration with Associazione Cizerouno
The cultural organisation Cizerouno welcomes to Cavò the visual research project Yugo Logo. For its stopover in Trieste (the first outside the former territories of the Federal Republic), the curators Ognjen Ranković and Antonio Karača are bringing over 600 historical logos. It’s a journey in the visual memory of a country that no longer exists, but which has left a legacy of innovative and modern design. The exhibition will feature three focus categories: tourism; cinema and theatre, and, finally, a tribute to Yugoslav women designers, who were instrumental in creating the visual signature of the period. It is an occasion to rediscover how logos and brands were fundamental pillars of a collective culture. In addition to the exhibition, there will also be the meeting on Saturday 17th January at 17:30 at Bar Knulp ‘In Conversation with Yugo Logo’ with Ognjen Ranković and Antonio Karača, moderated by Nuša Hauser.
Opening times: Monday to Saturday 17:30-19:30
Bookings | info@cizerouno.it
