About the project

The multi-year project EAST—WEST, The border in film and history / ORIENTE—OCCIDENTE, La frontiera nel cinema e nella storia directs its gaze to the exploration of life along the Slovenian-Italian border.

A border is a concept that is most often used to denote division. It separates "us" from "them", the known from the unknown, individual nations from each other. But the tumultuous European history teaches us that borders are not natural obstacles, but spaces that often change, but at the same time remain junctions of transitions, exchanges and encounters.

The partner network is very rich and branched and bears witness to the complexity of the multi-year project, which aims to evaluate our common heritage through moving images and numerous activities (symposium, retrospective, exhibition, production of publications and documentary records, restoration and digitization processes and didactic material) and showcase it internationally. In collaboration with film archives and numerous cinematheques from Slovenia, Italy and abroad, the project also aims to present works that were more difficult to be accessed by the general public in the past.

Within the multi-year project EAST—WEST, Border in film and history, an international retrospective will be organized in 2025, with which our common cross-border space will be promoted and reflected upon in major European cities through screenings of selected feature film classics and documentary archive material. The multi-year project is part of the European Capital of Culture program GO! 2025 and is developing contents which will be directed at presenting the turbulent past and the history of the twentieth century along the Slovenian-Italian border within the EPICenter.