16/09/2014 - Student film The Springtime Sleep wins Best Short Film, Director, Screenplay, Lead Actress and Set Design at the 17th Festival of Slovenian Film in Portorose

The 17th Festival of Slovenian Film in Portorose (10-14 September) ended with a big surprise: the Vesna Award for Best Feature-length Film went to documentary A Fight for by Sinisa Gačić, while short student film The Springtime Sleep by Dominik Mencej scooped Best Short Film, Director, Screenplay, Lead Actress for Anja Novak and Set Design for Petar Perunović.

The decision of the jury – comprising directors Rok Biček (Class Enemy [+see also:
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interview: Rok Biček
interview: Rok Bicek
interview: Rok Bicek
film profile]) and Špela Čadež (Boles), journalist Katja Šoltes, film critic Matjaž Zajec, and Hrvoje Pukšec, chair of the Artistic Board of the Pula Film Festival – has stirred up the Slovenian film circles, as favourites such as Sonja Prosenc's The Tree [+see also:
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trailer
film profile] and Vinko Möderndorfer's Inferno [+see also:
trailer
film profile] went home with side awards only, and Best Supporting Actor and Actress awards were not given out.

A Fight for tells the story of the protest in front of the Ljubljana stock exchange in the autumn of 2012, which followed the Occupy Wall Street movement.

Besides the main award of the festival, A Fight for won the Teleking Award, worth €10,000 in post-production services for producer Miha Černec of the NU-Frame production company.

Writer-director Gačić is a journalist who is now finishing a Master's Degree in TV Directing at the Ljubljana Academy of Theatre, Radio, Film and Television (AGRFT).

The film school achieved unexpected success with The Springtime Sleep's five awards. Mencej's 20-minute fiction short is a coming-of-age story about a teenage girl, played by Novak.

In addition, the 29-minute Foster Mom by Miha Možina, also produced at AGRFT, won Best Documentary.

On the other hand, the Best Student Film Award went to Gregor Božič's Shoes from Trieste, co-produced by Deutsche Film- & Fernsehakademie Berlin and ARTE GEIE. The movie also received the Restart Award, worth €6,300 in post-production services.

Grega Mastnak's short Prince Ki-Ki-Do: The Swamp Monster picked up the Best Animated Film Award.

Best Minority Co-production went to Ivan Ikić's Barbarians [+see also:
film review
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interview: Ivan Ikic
film profile], co-produced by Serbia's Sense Production, Slovenia's Restart and Montenegro's OR. The film also received a Special Mention in this year's Karlovy Vary East of the West competition.

Another East of the West title, Prosenc's The Tree, won Best Lead Actor for Jernej Kogovšek, Best Cinematography for Mitja Ličen and Best Music for Janez Dovč, as well as the FIPRESCI Award.

Best Editing went to Sašo Podgoršek for the 29-minute Vašhava, while Möderndorfer's Inferno picked up Best Make-Up for Mojca Gorogranc Petrushevska and Best Sound Design for Julij Zornik.

Blaž Završnik's Sailing to Paradise [+see also:
trailer
film profile] won the Audience Award, and its lead Ajda Smrekar received the Actor of the Year Award from Stop magazine.

The Slovenian Art Cinema Network Award went to Urša Menart's documentary What About Mojca?, produced by national broadcaster RTV Slovenia.