STA, 18 April 2018 – The 23rd Slovenian Book Days, one of two major annual festivals promoting Slovenian literature, will open on Wednesday to focus on literature and film until Sunday.
Publishers will be selling their books at stands at the Central Post Office in Čopova Street in Ljubljana, which will also be the venue of many accompanying events.
Slovenian films based on Slovenian literature as selected by four curators from different generations will be screened at two cinemas, followed by talks with authors.
Writer and film director Marko Sosič has chosen Lahko Noč, Gospodična (Good Night, Missy), a 2011 love drama Matod Pevec directed on the basis of his own screenplay.
Screen writer and film critic Jože Dolmark has selected Hudodelci (The Felons), a film from the late 1980s based on a novel about a political prisoner written by Marjan Rožanc.
Film director Varja Močnik has selected Karpopotnik, a 2013 documentary by Matjaž Ivanišin based on Nebojša Pop Tasič's text.
Slovenka (Slovenian Girl), a 2009 film directed by Damjan Kozole, is the only film not based on literature.
It was selected by film director and screen writer Matevž Luzar and will be followed by a talk on how women are represented in literature and on film.
The fifth film will be 1945, a 2016 award-winning Hungarian drama related to Hungarian history and Jews.
Its director Ferenc Torok and the author of the story Gabor T. Szanto will come to Ljubljana for the occasion, according to Biborka Molnar Gabor, the director of the Balassi Institute, which promotes Hungarian culture in Ljubljana.
This is to encourage interest in Hungarian literature, especially since Hungary will be the guest of honour at the 34th Slovenian Book Fair in November, she explained.
Several children's and youth films will also be screened, but youth author Janja Vidmar, a member of the programme board, regrets there will be no Kekec films among them.
According to Vidmar, the three films from the 1950s and 1960s about the mischievous shepherd are not preserved well enough and are not available in formats that would enable their screening at the festival.
A debate on copyright will also be held as part of the festival, which is traditionally organised by the Slovenian Writers' Association around 23 April, World Book Day.
It will run in Ljubljana and another 12 Slovenian towns plus Italy's Trieste, Austria's Laafeld and Hungary's Szentgotthard to engage members of the Slovenian minority.
