Kino Otok has bid farewell to Izola and is continuing its journey in Ljubljana

Yesterday marked the conclusion of the main program of the 22nd International Film Festival Kino Otok – Isola Cinema in Izola; more than 110 crew members, including 70 volunteers from ten countries, helped organize the program in Izola. As part of this year’s festival, we have screened 143 films at various locations so far, including 58 feature-length films and 85 short films from 45 countries. Starting today, we’re moving to Kinodvor with the Otok in Ljubljana program and the film If You Are Afraid You Put Your Heart into Your Mouth and Smile.

Highlights of Izola’s Young Eyes Program and New Collaborations

Over the five days of the festival in Izola, we hosted more than 40 guests from the film and professional programs, a good half of whom traveled to Izola from abroad. We were also joined by 30 guests from the Video on the Beach section—the festival’s only section with an open international call for submissions—and we organized 10 musical events.

Young eyes, the central theme of this year’s festival, was reflected not only in the presence of young filmmakers and their films, but also in the numerous young viewers and selectors. Among the 35 public screenings for adults, youth, and children, three films were selected by young programmers, who also presented them to the festival audience. In addition, we organized 14 screenings for groups from Istrian preschools, elementary schools, and high schools, attended by more than 900 children.

The festival also gained fresh momentum through newly established collaborations with the young Istrian scene: with the Trite Institute, the Format Art Society, and the Band-it! Orchestra from the sister festival MareziJazz, which will take place in Marezige from July 10 to 12, 2026.

In July, the traveling Kino Istra will also set out on its journey, visiting Koper, Ankaran, and Piran, as well as Vižinado and Buje in Croatia, among other places, with film screenings.

Although it has bid farewell to Izola, Kino Otok continues to screen auteur films of all forms, genres, lengths, and geographical origins elsewhere in Slovenia…

We invite you to check out highlights from this year’s events in Izola, which are available here.

Otok in Ljubljana Today at Kinodvor

The June program of Otok in Ljubljana continues today at 6 p.m. at Kinodvor with the film If You Are Afraid You Put Your Heart into Your Mouth and Smile (Austria, 2025, 87’), and director Marie Luise Lehner will be joining us. The film tells the story of a lonely young man who befriends a group of young people with special needs and, together with them, begins to set his own rules for love and happiness. The screening is accessible for the deaf and hard of hearing.

On Tuesday, June 18, we’ll be watching the film God Will Not Help at Kinodvorišče (Hana Jušić, Croatia, Italy, Romania, Greece, France, Slovenia, 2025, 137’), a film in which the arrival of a mysterious stranger in the Croatian hills in the early 20th century disrupts the established order of a traditional shepherding community.

On Saturday, June 20, the program moves to the Vodnik Homestead, where we will screen the documentary On Cats and Humans (Croatia, 2025, 60’). We’ll be joined by the filmmaker Ana Sunčica Veldić, who, in the film, explores her own ethical perspectives as a veterinarian and portrays the Croatian islands through an unusual lens: people’s attitudes toward the neutering of stray cats.

On Tuesday, June 30, we’ll head back to Kinodvorišče, where we’ll watch the film Orphan (László Nemes, Hungary, France, Germany, UK, 2025, 132’) about a boy named Andor who, following the 1956 Hungarian Uprising, is confronted with dark family secrets in an occupied country.