About

The founder of Kinoatelje, also a sociologist and a film critic, Darko Bratina (1942-1997) had attributed an important role to the film, television and video media: he stated that it was one of the best means of understanding society, history and culture. Following his vision, the award  carries his name and also selects works and authors, which besides the aesthetical values, have an additional focus towards the historical and social surroundings, hence advocating intercultural communication.

Today the award ceremony occurs as a cross-border film festival, Tribute to a Vision, taking place in the inter-regional space between Slovenia and Italy by connecting audiences and film institutions in 7 different cities (Gorizia, Nova Gorica, Trieste, Izola, San Pietro al Natisone, Udine in Ljubljana), for which the physical distance might not be great, but the cultural varieties are rather expressive and stand for the richness of our cross-border space. The festival presents the complete filmography of the selected author, the winner of the Darko Bratina award. Roundtables with the awarded guest, film projections and a professional workshop - a masterclass co-organized with our neighboring partners. The complete program is bilingual (in Italian and Slovene), except for the masterclass which is in English. 

The newly designed First Crossings section brings new freshness to the festival, which aims to be a platform for exploring new film languages. In the accompanying program Award through time, we follow the fresh productions of the previous recipients of the Darko Bratina Award and we put their timeless masterpieces back on display.