Screening of film/video oeuvre 1998–2025
Screening and talk
Wednesday, 21 January, 5 pm
Slovenian Cinematheque, Miklošičeva cesta 28, Ljubljana
Online screening of the accompanying programme at the Slovenian Film Database
(18 – 25 February 2026)
The film My Border was made at a time when it seemed that the border between Gorizia and Nova Gorica would soon be nothing more than a memory. It is also the first film by the author duo to feature the story of their family, narrated by Nadja Velušček, which is also the story of many Primorska residents: her mother was from Gorizia, while her father was from the village of Plave ob Soči in the municipality of Kanal. She moved to Plave in 1947, when the border was drawn on September 15 under the Paris Peace Treaty: the movement of civilians was then strictly prohibited for the next two years, as the authorities were still establishing the border regime, control, and documentation, and crossing was only possible with military permits, which were practically inaccessible to civilians.
There was a lot of construction in Yugoslavia after the war, and one of the key players was Salonit from Anhovo, a manufacturer of asbestos-cement products located just 4 kilometers north of the village of Plave. The film White Cloud depicts the serious health consequences for the workers there, and their stories contrast with scenes from the promotional film Obsoški orjak, which presents the factory at a time of rapid growth and increasing international reputation. The film White Cloud was created as part of an international project on human rights violations initiated by the Pravo Ljudski festival in Sarajevo. Still, since the film omnibus was not realized, Anja Medved completed the film as an independent project and joined a civil initiative in the Posočje region.
If the scenes from Obsoški orjak are used in both films in a way that, as Šprah writes, “undermine their original meaning,” My Border also features images from family albums and recordings from everyday life, which simultaneously depict time as images taken from propaganda film material. As Anja Medved and Nadja Velušček repeatedly emphasize, they show us that everyday life does not stop during “great history.”
Robert Kuret
The screening will be followed by a discussion with Anja Medved and Nadja Velušček.
Director, Screenwriter: Anja Medved, Nadja Velušček, Production: Kinoatelje (ITA), RAI regional headquarters for Friuli-Venezia Giulia – Slovenian program, Slovenia/Italy, 2002, SD video, colour, 50′
A documentary novel about the establishment of the border in the Goriška region.
Director, Screenwriter: Anja Medved, Production: KINOkašča / CINEMattic, Slovenia, 2011/2020, HD video, colour, 11′
An invisible catastrophe unfolded for decades along one of Europe’s most beautiful rivers. The cement factory in Anhovo, which employed most of the population in the Soča River valley, used asbestos. Although this deadly fiber has been banned since 1996, the consequences of its long-term use are becoming increasingly visible. The film interweaves the memories of former workers with excerpts from a promotional film about the factory, which was once a source of pride.
Zone of Transition III: Environment / Territory
18 – 25 February
» View at Slovenian Film Database (BSF)
In this accompanying programme to the review of the film oeuvre of Anja Medved and Nadja Velušček, we will be able to watch three quite different works, each of which describes creative paths in one way or another: Nora Gregor follows the story of an actress born in Gorizia, who also appeared in Renoir’s famous 1939 film The Rules of the Game. In Passages, artists from both sides of the border in Gorizia discuss the issue of the area or point of transition. The Gathering – The Secret Side of Things We Share addresses contemporary issues, giving the floor to a wide range of experts in art, philosophy, and medicine, brought together in a joint project by Anja Medved and Patricija Maličev.
Robert Kuret
Anja Medved, Nadja Velušček, Italy, 2001, 24’
A short mosaic work about theatre and cinema actress Nora Gregor, about her life which was always hovering between a fairytale and a tragedy.
Anja Medved, Slovenia, 2007, 27’
Conversations with some Gorizia-based artists from both sides of the border who participated in two retrospective art exhibitions in Gorizia and Nova Gorica in the year the border opened. We were interested in what the border crossing point means, who or what determines national and cultural identity, and how to live and create without borders.
The documentary video is part of a video installation entitled The Artist and His Window, which the artist created for the exhibition The Universe of Art, whose title paraphrases the slogan of the Nova Gorica gaming company HIT: The Universe of Fun. The video installation featured views through the windows of the studios of the featured artists, projected in the gallery alongside their paintings. Klavdija Figelj curated the retrospective exhibition of the younger generation of Gorizia visual artists at the Nova Gorica City Gallery. The video was also created in collaboration with the Italian association Prologo, which designed the retrospective exhibition Prehajanja / Passaggi at Gorizia Castle, where it was also presented. The video is part of the go&go project.
Anja Medved, Patricija Maličev, Slovenija, 2013, 65′
Humans have always strived to free themselves from nature. The history of philosophy is a story of reflection on this tragic endeavor. With rapid technological development, however, we find ourselves in a new contradiction. Humans have never been more liberated from nature, yet, as a species, we have never been more fragile. The question of our civilization’s survival has become a matter of intimate decisions, and we are approaching a possible collective catastrophe, each on our own. The idea for a project arose to discuss humanity’s dilemmas face-to-face. Not to alleviate feelings of loneliness, but to raise awareness of a community of loners. We invited some exceptional creators, scientists, and philosophers who open up thoughts in a way that only good friends can; they awaken the thoughts that lie dormant within us.
Anja Medved and Nadja Velušček: Zone Of Transition
Screening of film/video oeuvre 1998–2025
Screening and lecture
17 December / 21 January / 18 February / 24 March / 21 April / 8 May / 10 June
Production: SCCA-Ljubljana and Slovenian Cinematheque
Curators: Vesna Bukovec, Robert Kuret
Anja Medved (1969) and Nadja Velušček (1948) are mother and daughter who have been working together as authors since the late 1990s. Their joint work focuses on exploring the Slovenian-Italian border region. In doing so, the authors subtly delineate the personal and the public: they draw on intimate narratives and vivid testimonies from individuals’ personal archives, connecting them to the history of grand narratives, thus carefully revealing the polyphony of historical Truth. Since most of the films are medium-length documentaries, we have paired them to provide an overview of their creative oeuvre. Moreover, because the films are so open and thematically polyphonic due to their fragmentary, essayistic nature, practically every combination activates certain connections. Therefore, we wanted to design the program so that the juxtaposed films would articulate the border and the borderline anew each time. Seven program sections with the titles Gorica / Nova Gorica, Memory / Document, Environment / Territory, Water Level / Watercourse, Peace / War, Violence / Compassion, Departures / Arrivals will be screened from December to June at the Slovenian Cinematheque and in May at the Vodnikova domačija. Part of the program will also be available on the Slovenian Film Database during the retrospective.
Coproduction: SCCA-Ljubljana/DIVA Station and Slovenian Cinematheque
Partner: Slovenian Film Database (BSF), Zavod Kinoatelje (SLO), Kinoatelje (ITA), Zavod KINOkašča / CINEMattic, Zavod Divja misel (Vodnikova domačija), GO! 2025 Nova Gorica Gorizia
Supported by: Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Slovenia, City of Ljubljana – Department of Culture
Thanks: RTV Slovenija, Slovenski program RAI, Andrej Šprah, Vlado Škafar, Tina Popovič
