Poklon Viziji 2026 Opens with The Valley of My Breath

This year's edition of the cross-border film festival Poklon viziji / Tribute to a Vision will open on Tuesday, September 29th at 7:30 PM at the Kulturni dom Nova Gorica (Bevkov trg 4) with a film that could hardly have found a more fitting venue for its festival debut. Dolina mojega vdiha (The Valley of My Breath), a documentary by director and screenwriter Manca Juvan, draws its direct inspiration from the Gorizia border region. Through personal stories, memory, and archival footage, it explores how the space we inhabit shapes our daily lives, our identity, and our relationship with the future.

Through the Soča Valley, its places, and the stories of the people who live there, the film explores the relationship between humanity, the environment, and the consequences of industrialization. In doing so, it raises a simple yet increasingly vital question: what are we leaving behind, and how can we ensure the valley remains a place to live tomorrow?

An accomplished photojournalist, Manca Juvan translates her years of experience observing people and spaces into the language of documentary cinema. Her camera does not seek definitive answers; instead, it listens, observes, and weaves together individual narratives to compose the portrait of a place where industry, nature, labor, and memory have coalesced over the decades into a shared identity.

Attendance at the opening night is free, but RESERVATIONS ARE APPRECIATED.
We kindly ask you to confirm your attendance by filling out this form by Tuesday, September 22th, 2026.

Tuesday, September 29th | 7:30 PM | Kulturni dom Nova Gorica
Opening Film – The Valley of My Breath (Dolina mojega vdiha, with Italian subtitles)
Directed by Manca Juvan (Slovenia, 2026, 86’)

Director's Statement:

I arrived in the Soča Valley driven by a sense of urgency... of anger and curiosity. I stayed to listen. What I heard was not merely a story of material progress and illness, of life and loss, of personal clashes, activism, and the evasion of responsibility, but something far broader: an echo that resonates well beyond this valley today, in an increasingly divided world. The film insists on this complexity and asks where hope might lie—not only for us, but for future generations as well.

Dolina mojega vdiha is produced by Zavod ZANK, in coproduction with RTV Slovenija and ZRC SAZU. After an early preview in Deskle this past May, it will have its official festival premiere at Poklon viziji.