Arriving in good time
During the festive season in December, traffic tends to get heavily congested in Ljubljana. Visitors are advised to leave home earlier than usual to avoid arriving late.
The 25th Documentary Film Festival gives a special prominence to the themes of ecology and sustainable development. Eating Our Way to Extinction problematizes the environmental effects of the meat industry. The Austrian Matter Out of Place follows the traces of our rubbish across the planet. A World Beneath a Dark Lid is a Slovenian documentary film about the worldwide journeys of Matevž Lenarčič, an outstanding airman, photographer, mountaineer and environmentalist who flies around the globe in his ultralight plane to measure air pollution. The Indian film All That Breathes showcases the enthusiasm of two brothers who have devoted their lives to protecting the black kite, a majestic bird of prey that has been falling from the sky of New Delhi, one of the world’s most polluted cities, at an alarming rate.
The Ukrainian-Danish film A House Made of Splinters focuses on Ukrainian children in a transit home for disadvantaged minors, kids taken from their incompetent or violent parents, awaiting custody decisions – will they go back or move on to a new home. A House Made of Splinters and All That Breathes have been nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Film. The competition programme, dedicated to human rights films, has been devised in cooperation with Amnesty International Slovenia. Great prominence is given to Be My Voice, a film spotlighting journalist and activist Masih Alinejad, who has become the voice of millions of Iranian women rebelling against the forced hijab. Exiled to the US a decade ago, Masih has been leading one of the largest acts of civil disobedience in today’s Iran.
Featured under the heading Myths, Icons, Media, Girl Gang portrays Leonie, a teenage influencer estranged from her peers despite attending school, and unable to cope with the constant pressure to produce content.
This year’s tribute is given to Mako Sajko, a great Slovenian documentary filmmaker. An homage is paid to Hubert Sauper, an Austro-French documentarian focusing on the exploitation of the ‘Dark’ Continent.
Founder and main co-funder of Cankarjev dom’s Arts and Culture programme
