About
The Kino Otok – Isola Cinema International Film Festival has been exploring the art of film since 2004, discovering various film expressions in the company of filmmakers and an audience of all generations. Our programme is centred on world, European and Slovenian auteur cinema, which we understand as both art and an influential medium that reflects society, culture and life in general. We endeavour to raise key questions about and in relation to film, without imposing the answers; rather, we encourage an in-depth dialogue and critical reflection.
A decade ago, we at Isola Cinema decided not to continue with the competition section and so we no longer confer any awards. Today, the festival is thus an open space for showing and mediating films, one that promotes the equality of different expressions and modes of reflection that broaden our views and freshen our thoughts. A carefully curated programme of each edition includes around eighty films of all lengths, most of which are shown in Slovenia for the first time. The festival’s Mediterranean character is manifested in the balance between ease and temperament, which functions as our magic formula – whoever visits us wants to return again and again.
The main part of the 19th edition of Kino Otok – Isola Cinema will take place between 7 and 11 June 2023 in Izola, but some of the screenings and meetings with filmmakers will also take place in May and June 2023 at the Slovenian Cinematheque and Kinodvor City Cinema in Ljubljana and at the art cinemas in Cerknica, Idrija, Sežana and Tolmin.
The 19th Kino Otok – Isola Cinema International Film Festival is:
- an exciting film programme that takes place under the stars in the Arrigoni Open-air Cinema and Manzioli Open.air Cinema, and in the haven of the Odeon Art Cinema and the House of Culture,
- a selection of short films by rising independent filmmakers in a relaxed atmosphere of Video on the Beach,
- Submarine – a programme of films and activities for children, young people and families,
- PRO OTOK – a programme for film professionals and all who are interested in a film’s path from the idea to the screen and beyond,
- the festival feel in Izola’s streets, the artistic atmosphere in Izola’s galleries and the evening music programme on the Lighthouse beach,
- a programme of select festival films in Ljubljana, Cerknica, Idrija, Sežana and Tolmin,
- the first film Zero Waste Event in Slovenia!
Since last year, Kino Otok – Isola Cinema committed to implementing measures for preventing and reducing the amount of produced waste and thus became the first film event in Slovenia to have received the title of a Zero Waste Event conferred by the Ecologists Without Borders association. Kino Otok – Isola Cinema remains dedicated to film creativity and the development of film culture, but, after eighteen years, we are clearly aware of the responsibility that the festival has as a mass cultural event. That is why we want to actively contribute to the search for answers to the environmental crisis, both by raising awareness and through our own operation.
Committing to being a Zero Waste Event is part of the overall endeavour of the festival team to reduce the harmful impact of our operation on the environment, including the promotion of public transport use and travelling by train instead of plane, smaller print runs of festival printed matter, the reuse of objects and equipment and cooperation with partners that provide an ecological and local offer.
Because we are aware of the urgency of environmental care, we would like to become a model for both the visitors and other organisers of cultural events. We will take care of biodegradable packaging, encourage the audience to use digital tickets and programmes and because cigarette butts are the most troublesome waste (a single one can pollute as much as a thousand litres of water), we will provide recycled ashtrays etc. We will also connect with the Centre of Useful Objects in Izola with the goal of an innovative re-use of textile.
Social media: Facebook, Instagram, YouTube
Programme and schedules: link
Tickets: link
The festival online archive:
– 18th Kino Otok – Isola Cinema, 2022
– 17th Kino Otok – Isola Cinema, 2021
– 16th Kino Otok – Isola Cinema, 2020
– 1st till 15th Kino Otok – Isola Cinema, 2004-2019
