Free 2026 Festival of Slovenian Films to Be Held at UW-MIlwaukee This Saturday and Sunday, April 11th and 12th
MILWAUKEE, WI (April 6, 2026) The University of Wisconsin Milwaukee Slovenian Arts Program is proud to host the 2026 Festival of Slovenian Films. The film festival will be held the weekend of April 11th and 12th in the 85-seat Fine Arts Cinema on the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee campus. The Honorable Suzana Češarek, the Slovenian Consul General, will provide welcoming remarks at the start of the films.
The 2026 festival includes two feature-length films and three short films. These contemporary, award-winning films were selected in cooperation with the Slovenian Film Centre in Ljubljana, Slovenia and are all presented with English subtitles. The showings include:
Saturday, April 11th
5:00 pm Sports Day – short film
5:20 pm Family Therapy – full-length feature film
7:00 pm One Meter is Six Centimeters – short film
7:15 pm Little Trouble Girls – full-length feature film
Sunday, April 12th
4:00 pm
Common Pear – short film
4:20 pm Sports Day – short film
4:45 pm One Meter is Six Centimeters – short film
5:00 pm
Little Trouble Girls – full-length feature film
The UWM Fine Arts Cinema is on the lower level of Mitchell Hall (3203 N. Downer Avenue), located on the northeast corner of Downer and Kenwood on the UWM campus. Ample, safe parking is available on surrounding streets and in nearby UWM parking lots.
There is no admission fee for these films, thanks to the generous supporters of the Ermenc Fund at the UWM Foundation.
For more information, please visit https://www.slovenianartsprogram.org/film-festival or contact Paul Zovic pzovic@gmail.com________________________________
FEATURE-LENGTH FILMS
Little Trouble Girls
2025 90 minutes
At her mother’s urging, introverted 16-year-old Lucia joins her Catholic school’s all-girls choir, where she befriends Ana-Maria, a popular older student. When the choir travels to a countryside convent for a weekend retreat of intensive rehearsals, Lucia navigates the unfamiliar surroundings, complex teenage social structures, and her own awakening sexuality. A series of initiations, including an eye-opening experience with a handsome construction worker, test Lucia’s friendship with Ana-Maria and the other girls, as she begins to question her beliefs and disrupt the harmony within the choir.
Little Trouble Girls AWARDS: Rotten Tomatoes -98%; Tribeca Film Festival – Best Cinematography; Les Arcs Film Festival – Jury Grand Prize; Berlin International Film Festival – Best Feature Film; CinEast Film Festival – Critics’ Prize; European Film Awards – European Discovery Prize; International Film Festival – Golden Peacock; Euro-Balkan Film Festival – Best Director; Festival of Slovenian Film – Best Feature Film, Best Actress, Best Sound Designer, Best Supporting Actor, International Film Critics’ Award (FIFRESCI)
Family Therapy
2024 103 minutes
Family Therapy revolves around a Slovenian ‘nouveau riche’ family living in a glass house, exuding detached superiority. This satirical setting provides the backdrop for a humorous reinterpretation of Pasolini’s “Teorema”: a young stranger disrupts the family dynamics, unveiling hidden chaos and dysfunctional relationships. The film not only questions the obliviousness to others’ struggles but also probes the reasons behind their choices. Are they afraid of confronting their own vulnerabilities, or is it a learned indifference, a symptom of a broader societal ailment?
Family Therapy AWARDS: Family Therapy premiered to critical acclaim at the Tribeca Film Festival, winning the Best International Narrative Feature; also, Sarajevo Film Festival – CICAE Award; Festival of Slovenian Film – Best Feature Film, Best Screenplay, Best Lead Actor, Best Original Music, Best Production Design
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SHORT FILMS
Sports Day
2024 22min
Lucian (13) would like to fit in. He does not want to be ridiculed, so he decides to go skiing for sports day, even though he cannot ski at all. One lie leads to another, and finally to a flurry of untruths that put Lucian in an unbearable situation he cannot escape from.
One Meter is Six Centimeters
2025 11min
Cena, the grouchy Slovenian woodcarver spent his childhood dreaming of jumping from the Giant of Planica, a legendary ski-jump built to break records. Although a bad case of asthma cuts his wings at an early age, his dreams live on. Each summer, he organizes his very own Ski Jumping World Championship – in his own garden.
Common Pear
2025 15 minutes
In a not-too-distant future ravaged by climate crisis, a young neuroscientist is researching the extinction of the local Pyrus species. Trying to determine what used to stimulate farmers to cultivate the economically unviable fruit trees, she stumbles upon an unfinished documentary. Through the wreckage of a ruinous dystopia that can still be avoided, the film discovers a seed of hope. Human warmth, humor, and resilience are the superpowers that can support our species with a little help from cinema as an experience that “we must share, feel, and watch.”
For more 2026 Festival of Slovenian Films information, please visit https://www.slovenianartsprogram.org/film-festival
NOTE: This press release was submitted to Urban Milwaukee and was not written by an Urban Milwaukee writer. While it is believed to be reliable, Urban Milwaukee does not guarantee its accuracy or completeness.
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