First Crossings: A Group Portrait of a New Generation Behind the Camera

In 2018, the First Crossings programme began taking shape at the Poklon viziji / Omaggio a una visione festival through collaborations with film programmes at DAMS, University of Udine, and the Academy of Arts of the University of Nova Gorica. What began as a meeting point for young filmmakers and their first films has, over the years, grown into a cross-border platform connecting film schools and academies from across the region.

This year’s programme brings together students from the Academy of Arts of the University of Nova Gorica, DAMS at the University of Udine, the Academy of Theatre, Radio, Film and Television (AGRFT) in Ljubljana, the Academy of Dramatic Art in Zagreb, University of Applied Sciences St. Pölten (USTP), and RUFA – Rome University of Fine Arts. The programme also includes films by students from Gimnazija Nova Gorica, the Galilei-Cossar State Higher Education Institute in Gorizia, and CHS Villach.

The films presented through First Crossings come from young authors who are still finding their way into cinema, experimenting with form and discovering their own ways of looking at the world. Over the years, the programme has become a space where these first steps can meet a wider audience and, just as importantly, other young filmmakers from different countries and film schools.

This year marks another important step for First Crossings: for the first time, the student programme will be competitive. An international jury will select the Best Student Film from a selection of short films made by students of film academies in Slovenia, Italy, Croatia and Austria. The winning film will receive a €500 award.

The jury brings together filmmakers and film professionals from different generations and backgrounds: Italian director Alessandro Comodin, Portuguese director, screenwriter and musician João Nicolau, Slovenian filmmaker Ester Ivakič, and Finnish film programmer and Tampere Film Festival director Jukka-Pekka Laakso. Their presence places the students’ work in direct conversation with a broader international film context and with professionals actively shaping the contemporary cinema landscape.

The competition programme will be presented on Friday, 2 October, at 10.00 and 12.30 at the Palazzo del Cinema – Kinemax in Gorizia. The evening will culminate at 20.00 with the Awards Ceremony for the Darko Bratina Award and First Crossings, followed by a screening of the winning student film.

First Crossings also reaches beyond film academies. On Tuesday, 29 September, the programme will open with short films by students from Gimnazija Nova Gorica, Cossar–Da Vinci in Gorizia and CHS Villach, followed by a selection of films by young filmmakers from Istria, presented in collaboration with the Istrian Film Commission.

After nine years, what began as a collaboration between two academies and a handful of student films has grown into an international meeting point for a new generation of filmmakers from both sides of the border and the wider region. This year, for the first time, their work will also compete for its own festival award — another step from the classroom into the wider world of cinema.