Ljubljana’s tourist promotional film Letters from Ljubljana has taken second prize in one of the technical and artistic categories at the prestigious Portuguese Finisterra Arrábida Film Art & Tourism Festival.

The festival accepts, selects and screens three kinds of tourist films: advertising, promotional and documentary films. The films are assessed according to the following criteria: visual quality, sound quality, informative value, concept, creativity and innovation. This year’s jury comprised film and television directors, tourism professionals, film critics, journalists and producers, namely Jacques Mer, Eduardo Moraes Sarmento, António Matos Vara, André Szankowski, Dr António Pascoalinho, Eduardo Pinto, Carlos Alberto Henriques and Concha Pelayo.

Letters from Ljubljana is a drama-documentary tourist film, for which in 2010 Ljubljana Tourism announced a tender competition, won by a screenplay by Digital Studio Slak (written and directed by Jure Zebec, director of photography: Samo Podobnik, producer: Andrej Kajzer, montage and graphic equipment: Jernej Lunder, music: Sebastijan Duh).

The six-minute film offers an insight into the varied daily life in Ljubljana through the eyes (pictures) and words (off text and written descriptions) of three people:

• Ana (23) was born in Ljubljana. She is a student at one of Ljubljana’s faculties, is studying for her exams in NUK, the National and University Library, she enjoys strolling around town with her friends, going to concerts and events. Ana’s boyfriend is Spanish and lives in Barcelona and she met and got to know him on her travels around Europe last year. Through Ana’s scenes of urban daily life, acquiring knowledge in NUK, going around town with her friends and short text messages to her boyfriend abroad, we get to know the typical daily life of a young woman in Ljubljana.
• Pierre (43) is Parisian. He is a professional photographer. He is hurrying around Ljubljana on business, as he is collecting photos of Ljubljana buildings for a monograph about the city. Roaming around with his camera, he discovers the architects Plečnik and Fabiani, Ljubljana buildings, parks and gardens... We get to know his world through his photographic research of the city and e-mails that he writes regularly to his wife Barbara in Paris.
• Mojca (65) is a local woman. This energetic pensioner has a busy life. As she is no longer at work, so many interesting things happen to her that she has even less time than previously. She goes shopping in the open-air market, is interested in art, goes to the opera and galleries and spends time with her granddaughter... The camera follows her daily routine, and we hear her thoughts as a voiceover from her letters to her friend Ines, who lives abroad.

The camera accompanies all three of the film’s protagonists as we observe how people in Ljubljana socialise, work, visit events and live. Their stories are interwoven throughout the film. Their ‘letters’ to loved ones (in classic or electronic format) bring to the film personal touches and feelings and help to present Ljubljana as a warm, sociable and friendly place.

The project to produce the Letters from Ljubljana film was led at Ljubljana Tourism by Janja Romih, who was in Sesimbra in Portugal to receive the award.

The Finisterra Arrábida Film Art & Tourism Festival ran between 8 and 12 May in Sesimbra, Portugal, where films that successfully promote tourism were shown and awarded – this year’s festival saw participation by 86 films from 17 countries. By taking part in the festival, and especially by winning an award, Ljubljana’s promotional film was showcased to an important artistic and tourism audience as well as the general public, which amounts to a unique and significant promotion of Ljubljana.