The Agorà section offers for the second time two independent films

This year, for the second time in a row, the Agorà section will come to life at the Sergio Amidei Award festival in Gorizia, where in an inter-festival collaboration - Amidei and Tribute to a vision - we will put the works of two independent filmmakers into dialogue. The section, curated by Steven Stergar, is created in the spirit of connecting and transcending borders, and above all, it strives to promote film art in anticipation of 2025 and the European Capital of Culture EPK GO! 2025.

Two films will be presented at the House of Film in Gorizia on July 21, 2023, Videti El Aaiún by the Slovenian director and journalist Erik Valenčič and Il legionario by the Italian director with Belarusian roots Hleb Papou. The screenings will be followed by an in-depth discussion in which the two filmmakers will participate. It will be moderated by the curator of the Agorà section, Steven Stergar.

"Through the optics of a genre film, Papou transcends the social and cultural stereotypes of contemporary Italy and presents a debut work that is actually unprecedented and rich in opportunities for reflection, while Valenčič, on the other hand, uses a documentary approach that sheds light on historical and cultural oblivion and directs the gaze into the collective memory of the entire people," wrote Steven Stergar in an essay published in the festival catalog. In his words, despite the peculiar approaches to storytelling and filmmaking, the films are united by the goal of encouraging the audience to think about topics that go beyond the immediacy of the image.