11.11.2009

Just as St. Martin's Day marks the day when the must traditionally turns to wine, on this very occasion the eagerly anticipated Ljubljana International Film Festival also grew ripe for harvesting. Crowds of more or less famous people gathered for the opening ceremony of the jubilee 20th LIFFe in the Linhart Hall of Cankarjev dom, among others the Director General of Cankarjev dom, Mr Mitja Rotovnik, Madam Minister of Culture of RS, Ms Majda Širca, as well as Martin Strel, Slovenian ultra marathon swimmer and currently also a film star.

When the clock on the screen struck eight, the audience was in the manner of humorous TV news reminded of the 20-year history of the festival, initially known under the acronym of FAF, and subsequently renamed into LIFFe, the pronunciation of its name nevertheless still causing embarrassment to cinema-goers.

The music intermezzo was supplied by the Kisha band, which the host Jure Longyka titled “an Austro-Hungarian band for the third millennium”.
In his speech Simon Popek, the Festival Director, pointed out that 2009 does not only mark the twentieth installment of LIFFe, but also the twentieth anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall; twenty years have passed since the first full-length feature film by Michael Haneke whose retrospective Liffe features this year, and it’s been 20 years since Popek served in the Yugoslav army. 1989 was doubtlessly a turning point in many ways and for many people.

With a poetic address, the Minister of Culture, Ms Majda Širca proudly opened this year’s LIFFe and announced the opening film, Wild Grass, the last picture by Alain Resnais, a French auteur and this year’s winner of Life Achievement Award at Cannes.

At times bizarre, comical, unpredictable, and predominantly an astounding film broke a few softer hearts and enveloped the viewers into the festival frenzy.

20th LIFFe has opened its doors.
Welcome to its screenings!


                                                                                       Barbara Spreiz