Agorà 2025: Four Perspectives, One Shared Territory

For the fourth consecutive year, the Gorizia-based Sergio Amidei Award festival will host the Agorà section, created through the inter-festival collaboration between the Amidei Award and Tribute to a Vision. Curated by Steven Stergar, the section presents a dialogue among the works of selected filmmakers, with the aim of fostering connections and breaking down boundaries, promoting the art of cinema in the spirit of the European Capital of Culture GO! 2025.

On July 20, 2025, at the Palazzo del Cinema in Gorizia, four short films by Slovenian and Italian authors – Ana Čigon, Cabiria Lizzi, Neli Maraž, and Ajad Noor – will be screened. These artists experiment with different cinematic languages and reflect on experiences tied to the shared cross-border territory. The screenings will be followed by an in-depth conversation with all the participants, moderated by the section’s curator.

The fourth edition of Agorà introduces important new features. On the occasion of the celebratory year 2025, the program showcases works that stand out for their intention, technique, language, and themes. The decision to involve four authors – two from Slovenia and two from Italy – stems from a shared commitment by the curators to highlight diverse perspectives on the contemporary world. A distinctive aspect of this edition is also the strong connection the participating artists have with the cross-border territory they share.

Sunday, July 20, 2025
Kinemax Cinema, Gorizia – Hall 3, 2:30 p.m.
Screening of four short films:

• Catlands (Maček med vrati, 2024), Ana Čigon
  An animated allegory about a neighbourhood divided among different feline social classes. With imagination and refined symbolism, the film addresses the theme of borders and their socio-political implications.
• In dolce attesa, Cabiria Lizzi
  The perspective of two female entrepreneurs in a traditionally male-dominated field: the Italian funeral industry. The film explores workplace prejudice and the relationship between gender, profession, and expectations.
• Back to (Me)mories (Domov k spominu, 2016), Neli Maraž
  A documentary that, through the story of two sisters and their old photographs, reflects on memory, images, and the passing of time.
• Il Mirmecologo (2024), Ajad Noor
  A grotesque, horror-tinged cinematic experiment that, in a Kafkaesque style, investigates human hypocrisy and the nature of seemingly harmless creatures – ants.

Following the screenings, there will be a discussion with the filmmakers.

The encounter will be moderated by the curator of the Agorà section, Steven Stergar, who writes in the festival catalogue:

“In short, four films clearly distinct and distant from one another in their linguistic choices and contents, which summarize what we have witnessed in recent years, and which we offer as the ideal closure of a cycle – with the hope of moving forward towards new paths that will further bring together the contemporary cinema of the two countries.”