Today the Q&As WITH DIRECTORS AND FESTIVAL GUESTS continue to be held at the ANTICO CAFFÈ SAN MARCO starting at 11:00, this time with Sergei Loznitsa (director of Two Prosecutors), Stefanos Tsivopoulos (director of Elena’s Shift), Maciej Sobieszczański (director of Brother), Raisa Răzmeriță (director of Electing Ms Santa), Tamar Kalandadze, Julien Pebrel (director of The Kartli Kingdom) and Ruben Ghazaryan (director of Outliving S
The screenings start at the same time at the Cinema Ambasciatori with the third program of the retrospective (runtime 58’) “The Second Shift: Women Comrades at Work” curated by cinema critic Călin Boto. This section brings back to the big screen images, stories and portraits of women at work, starting from the moment when the film industry itself began to document labor: the early communist-era films set in factories, among male and female workers.
At 14:00 the fourth and final programme will screen.
Still at 14:00, but this time at the Rossetti, the national debut of RENOVACIJA/ Renovation by Gabrielė Urbonaitė (LT – LV, 2025, col., 90’) for the Feature Film competition.
Ilona e Matas, una coppia sulla trentina, si trasferiscono in un appartamento all’apparenza perfetto. La ristrutturazione del palazzo, però, mette a nudo non solo le crepe dell’edificio, ma anche quelle della loro relazione. Renovacija, girato in 16mm, è stato presentato in anteprima a Karlovy Vary, e poi a Sarajevo e a Tallinn.
by Gabrielė Urbonaitė At 16:00, more Short Films in Competition: the Italian premiere of INDEX by Radu Muntean (RO, 2025, col., 29’); I ERIMOS/ Desert, She by Ioanna Digenaki (GR, 2025, col., 14’); STIINA by Elisabeth Kužovnik (EST, 2025, col., 15’); NEDOSTUPNI/ Unavailable by Kyrylo Zemlyanyi (UA – F – B – BG – NL, 2025, col., 20’) and the world premiere of TEMNO BRDO/ The Dark Hill by Vanja Miloš Jovanović (SLO, 2025, col., 15’).
At 16:00, more Short Films in Competition: the Italian premiere of INDEX by Radu Muntean (RO, 2025, col., 29’); I ERIMOS/ Desert, She by Ioanna Digenaki (GR, 2025, col., 14’); STIINA by Elisabeth Kužovnik (EST, 2025, col., 15’); NEDOSTUPNI/ Unavailable by Kyrylo Zemlyanyi (UA – F – B – BG – NL, 2025, col., 20’) and the world premiere of TEMNO BRDO/ The Dark Hill by Vanja Miloš Jovanović (SLO, 2025, col., 15’).
At the Cinema Ambasciatori at 16:00, the Documentary Competition, with the Italian debut of ACTIVE VOCABULARY by Yulia Lokshina (DE, 2025, col., 82’). A Russian teacher, reported by a student for criticizing the war in Ukraine, flees to Berlin. In a German school she stages her case, investigating political coercion, betrayal, and resistance. Active Vocabulary premiered at DOK Leipzig, winning Best Film in the German Documentary competition.
For TSFF BOOKS, at 17:00 at the Libreria Lovat, the presentation of the graphic novel C’ERA UNA VOLTA L’EST (Tunué) by Boban Pesov, in conversation with Alen Đokić (Doppelgänger). A couple in crisis sets off on a journey to North Macedonia after receiving news of the protagonist’s mother falling ill. Along the way, they confront tensions and memories, interspersed with flashbacks from his family’s past: from his father’s escape during the war in Yugoslavia to the childhood years spent with his mother and brother. Blending irony and drama, Once Upon a Time in the East explores the strength of family bonds and the confrontation with loss, moving back and forth in a bittersweet rhythm between past and present.
Boban Pesov was born in North Macedonia in 1988 and moved to Italy in 1996. Raised in Italy, he graduated from the Piero Gallizio Art High School in Alba and later earned a degree in Architecture from the Polytechnic University of Turin.
He first gained public attention through his creative content on YouTube, later expanding his presence on other platforms such as Instagram thanks to his comic strips. He has collaborated with several publishing houses, illustrating various comic projects, including FRANK, written by science communicator Barbascura X. In May 2025, he published his first graphic novel with Tunué, Once Upon a Time in the East, a semi-autobiographical story centered on a family that immigrates to Italy from North Macedonia.The author engages in conversation with the rapper Doppelgänger, and it will be an opportunity to reflect on their shared experience, shaped by the diaspora following the Balkan wars of the 1990s, as well as on rap and the graphic novel (free entry). Free entrance / Italian only
TSFF TALKS returns to the Caffè San Marco at 17:30 with LE LAB FEMMES DE CINÉMA – A CHAT ON WOMEN IN CINEMA with Eléna Laquatra, in conversation with Alberta Mutti (event in English, free entry). Since 2016, Lab Femmes de Cinéma has published an annual study focusing on measures and policies promoting gender parity in European cinema. Drawing since 2020 on data from the European Audiovisual Observatory, it offers a qualitative analysis covering 37 European countries. We also collaborate with EFAD (the European Film Agency Directors Association). By compiling information from national film institutes and highlighting best practices, the study provides a comprehensive overview of inclusion efforts across the sector. The results of the 2025 study show a slow and uneven increase in the proportion of films directed by women, rising from 19.2% in 2015 to 24.6% in 2024. At this pace, gender parity would only be achieved in 2066, underscoring a persistent inequality and a significant loss of creative potential.
At 18:00 at the Cinema Ambasciatori, ABELE by Fabian Volti (I, 2025, col. & b-n / b-w, 77’) for the Corso Salani Award category. In a world dominated by chaos, Abel appears in the gazes of shepherds surviving on the borders of the wandering pastures between Sardinia and Palestine, silent witnesses of conflicting daily lives. Fabian Volti, filmmaker and photographer, works on audiovisual projects, visual research and documentary cinema. Abel, his debut feature-length, was selected at the IDFA in Amsterdam.
At the same time at the Politeama Rossetti for the Feature Film Competition, the Italian debut of SORELLA DI CLAUSURA by Ivana Mladenović (RO – SRB – I – E, 2025, col., 107’). Stela falls in love with a musician seen on TV and tries to meet him with the help of Vera, a starlet who promises to save her from poverty by bringing her to Bucharest for her erotic goods business. Premiered at Locarno 2025, Sorella di clausura (Cloistered Sister) won the Best Director award at the Sarajevo Film Festival.
At 20.00, still for the Feature Film Competition, MAMA by Or Sinai (IL – PL – I, 2025, col., 91’), also a national debut. After many years away from home, Mila is forced to temporarily leave her job – and her secret romance – to return to her family in a Polish village. But the long-awaited reunion is far from what she imagined. Mama premiered at the Cannes Film Festival and was then screened at many international festivals, including Toronto, Gdynia, Warsaw and Tallinn.
At the same time, the Cinema Ambasciatori will screen WELDED TOGETHER by Anastasija Mirošničenko (F – B, 2025, col., 96’), as part of the Documentaries in Competiton. Katya works as a welder, facing daily hardships and an inner battle to piece together her past. She tries to protect her little sister from a tragic fate, hoping for a better future for both of them. Welded Together won the Grand Jury Prize at Sheffield DocFest 2025 and was selected also at Dok Leipzig and IDFA.
At 22:00, for the same category, another Italian premiere, ATAMEKEN/ We Live Here by Zhanana Kurmasheva (KZ, 2025, col., 80’). In the desolate Kazakh steppe, at a former Soviet nuclear test site, three generations confront the worrying effects of the past, as they fight for survival and hope in a world on the brink of destruction. Atameken, Zhanana Kurmasheva’s debut feature, premiered at CPH:DOX 2025.
At the Rossetti at 22:00, the Out of Competition national premiere of MIROIRS NO.3/Mirrors no. 3 by Christian Petzold (DE, 2025, col., 86’) will be screened. SAfter miraculously surviving a car accident, Laura is taken in by a mysterious family. . An exploration of trauma, memory, myth, and identity by one of the most prominent German auteurs. After its premiere at the Directors’ Fortnight in Cannes 2025, Mirrors No.3 was then selected for many international festivals, including New York and the BFI London.
