Although the Dokudoc International Documentary Film Festival was left without a significant part of its funding, the event that brings the latest Slovenian and foreign documentary productions to Maribor opens its doors today, albeit in a reduced form.
It starts today with a screening of a short film A box the director Tomaž Pavkovičand on Sunday it will conclude with a tribute to the great Karp Godina. This year, the film screenings will also be accompanied by discussions, and for the first time since 2016, the Dokudoc winner will not be chosen by the chosen ones, nor will there be an international jury to evaluate Slovenian works.
The festival, which is organized by the Association for the Development of Audiovisual Culture and Intercultural Dialogue Mitra, was left without funding from both the Slovenian Film Center and the Municipality of Maribor this year. Despite this, the organizers insisted on its implementation, and the public institution Narodni dom Maribor came to their aid.
The central focus of the festival, which this year marks its 12th year, remains the presentation of newer Slovenian documentary works as well as older creations, which the festival team believes a wider and younger audience should get to know.
“Since 2012, we have wanted to bring the wealth of past and current Slovenian and foreign documentaries closer to young people and to actively participate in the development of Slovenian documentary film, to build the foundations for the flourishing of Slovenian documentary filmmaking. That is why we persist with the Dokudoc festival, which is a key mirror of the state of Slovenian documentary film production,” says the program selector and head of the Dokudoc festival Maja Malus Azhdari.
The festival therefore opens its doors today in the Great Hall of the Maribor Puppet Theater with a screening of a short documentary film A box directed by Tomaž Pavkovič. This is a story about the mysticism of the 1960s and 1970s of the former common country, which received the main Slovenian award at this year’s Short Film Festival – FeKK.
This will be followed by the world premiere of a medium-length documentary film Melania the director Jurija Grudn about the former American first lady of Slovenian origin.
A short Slovenian documentary about the skateboarding scene will be shown tomorrow Maribor retrosk8tiva directed Thomas Praunseiswhich will be followed by a Czech feature film about contemporary forms of alternative partnership models entitled Happily ever after directors JAnna Počtove. The film is at the International Documentary Film Festival Jihlava won the 2022 Audience Grand Prize and the 2022 Student Jury Grand Prize.
On Saturday, a full-length film will be screened for the first time in Slovenia Priestess directors Maje Prettner, which was five years in the making. At the AJB DOC pitch in Sarajevo in 2022, he received one of the main awards and thus distribution in the Middle East.
On the last day of the festival, the main prize of the festival will be awarded in the Great Hall of the Maribor Puppet Theatre. The documentary name 2023 goes to producer Tomo Gomizelj, who produces documentaries on socially engaged topics by various authors as part of Luksuz production. A selection of his production of documentary works of the last 20 years will be on display.
This year’s program will end with a short film by Karpa Godina and a conversation with him. “In honor of the legend of the film language, director Karpo Godina, the documentary name of 2017, who turned 80 this year, we will conclude this year’s performance, which we believe the Slovenian landscape needs as ‘bread and milk’.” says Maja Malus Azhdari and added. “We point out that this year’s performance is an important reminder of the decentralization of film content in a city without a city cinema, where many Maribor generations experience the quality of film content unfortunately only through film festivals and projects.”
Source: Rtvslo
