A Tribute to Vasko Pregelj, a Masterclass and the Slovenian Premiere of A Year of School

We begin Thursday’s program with a documentary portrait of the Italian poet Alda Merini, followed by a presentation of the Slovenian translation of selected texts by psychiatrist Franco Basaglia, Up Close, Nobody Is Normal. We’re also highlighting a meeting of European festival networks, a masterclass in set design with French set designer Laurent Tesseyre, and a tribute to experimental artist Vasko Pregelj, accompanied by a soundtrack by Tine Mulej Vrabič – Nitz. We’ll celebrate the Slovenian premiere of the film A Year of School under the stars at the Arrigoni Open-Air Cinema, in the company of its young protagonists.

Film Program at the Art Cinema Odeon and the House of Culture

At 11 a.m., as part of the Kino Basaglia series, the Art Cinema Odeon will screen the documentary Alda Merini: A Woman on Stage (Cosimo Damiano Damato, Italy, 2009/2021, 60’), dedicated to one of the most important Italian poets of the 20th century. In it, Alda Merini bares her soul and speaks about life in a psychiatric institution, love, children, and the meaning of being a poet. The film will be followed by a presentation of the book Up Close, Nobody Is Normal, a translation of selected articles and essays by the most influential Italian psychiatrist of the 20th century, Franco Basaglia (1924–1980), featuring the author of the book’s foreword, Prof. Vito Flaker, and Trieste-based psychiatrist Ettore Jogan, a former colleague of Franco Basaglia. The event will be moderated by the book’s editor, Amelia Kraigher.

At 1:00 p.m., we’ll continue with screenings of the films Bambi By the River (Italy, Slovenia, 2025, 6’) and My Friend Sely (Croatia, 2025, 45′), in which Alibegović tells the story of her friend, the rebellious hunter Sely, and through it explores themes of intergenerational friendship, emancipation, and self-realization. The screening will be followed by a discussion with the filmmakers Ester Ivakič and Maja Alibegović. At 3:00 p.m., the film Les Misérables (Claude Lelouch, France, 1995, 175′) will be screened—considered by many to be the finest cinematic adaptation of Hugo’s classic. The screening will be followed by a Masterclass: Designing the Set—Shaping the View, during which Laurent Tesseyre will discuss his work as a set designer and art director in French cinema and on the film Les Misérables. In collaboration with SKOM, with support from ZDSFU.

At 6:00 p.m. at the House of Culture, the screening of Vasko Pregelj – The Constants of Vanishing promises a very special experience dedicated to the body of short films by Vasko Pregelj, who shot a series of experimental films in the second half of his career. The sound has been preserved and digitized for only two of the five films in the program; therefore, the screening will feature a live musical accompaniment by Tine Mulej Vrabič – Nitz, reinterpreting the footage in a contemporary ambient style.

Professional Program at the Manzioli Palace: From Set Design to European Festival Communities

Set design will also be the focus of the first of two professional events to be held at the Manzioli Palace. At 12:00 p.m., as part of PRO Otok, there will be a meeting titled Collective Efforts for Better Working Environment in Production Design, followed at 3:00 p.m., in collaboration with the Motovila Institute, by a meeting titled Inside Festival Networks: Imaginative Ways of Building Film Communities of the Future, during which representatives of five European festival networks will discuss new collaborative approaches to film programming, audience engagement, and international networking in a public panel discussion. The meeting is organized by the Creative Europe MEDIA centers from Slovenia, Belgium (Flanders), Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Croatia, Italy (Turin), Lithuania, and Germany (Berlin–Brandenburg), in collaboration with the Kino Otok Festival and the Motovila Institute. Free admission.

Slovenian Premiere of the Film A Year of School at the Arrigoni Open-Air Cinema

At 9:00 p.m., the Arrigoni Open-Air Cinema will screen A Year of School (Un anno di scuola, Italy, 2025), the second feature film by the acclaimed Italian director Laura Samani, for which she won the award for Best Director and Best Screenplay for filmmakers under 40 at the 2025 Venice Film Festival, and also received the David di Donatello Award for Most Promising Young Director. The story takes place in the cinematic city of Trieste, where fate brings together three longtime friends at a technical high school with a Swedish girl named Fred, who—as the only girl in her class—experiences the role that society assigns to women in a male-dominated world. We are especially pleased that the film’s main protagonists—young actors Giacomo Covi, Pietro Giustolisi, and Samuel Volturno—will be joining us in Izola. The film will be screened in collaboration with Kino Istra and with the support of the Italian Cultural Institute.

The second evening of the Video on the Beach section, featuring the Spaceless program

At 9:00 p.m. in the Lighthouse Park, the second program of Video on the Beach II: Spaceless will be screened, exploring the privilege of space—a privilege that is particularly fragile in contemporary social conditions. On the one hand, it is undermined by the housing crisis and the lack of affordable living spaces, which push people into personal hardship; in a broader context, space is being aggressively taken away from entire communities. The thematic program of short films will be accompanied by discussions with the filmmakers. On Thursday evening, we will screen the following films: Welcome Home (Filip Jembrih Jandras, Slovenia, Croatia, 2025, 18’56’’),  Etaf (Maya Salvini, Slovenia, 2025, 13’), things that i was gathering (Ekaterina Zhuzhleva, Finland, Belgium, Portugal, 2025, 6’30’’), Suiside Fish (Tenej Davidović, Slovenija, 2025, 9’49’’),  Housing Problem (Marko Plejić, Croatia, 2025, 14’45’’), Last Shot (Parham Rahimzadeh, The Netherlands, 2026, 17’49’’), Concrete Kids (Saulius Baradinskas, Lithuania, 2026, 20’),  The Ninth Peak (Gregor Kocjančič, Slovenia, 2026, 6’31’’).

And So Much More… Silences of a Restless World and KIŠD x KO: Nights of Lights

Before the evening screenings under the Izola sky, you’re also invited to the Salsaverde Gallery at 7:00 p.m. for the opening of the UNG School of Arts exhibition: Silences of a Restless World II.

After the film program concludes, we’ll continue at the Lighthouse with the Nights of Lights music program, which we bring to Kino Otok every evening until late at night in collaboration with the KIŠD. Joining us will be the multifaceted quintet Bugaboo (live) from Trieste, playing jazz, alternative, and rancid jazz. Next up is DJ and record collector Zvèn (Tilen Mavrič), a member of the DJ collective Cosmic Sex and a young music enthusiast considered one of the most promising figures of the younger generation.