Tickets

On behalf of the ERIS [Climate Stories, we would like to invite film professionals and students to the first Slovak educational program "Climate Stories" on how storytelling in audiovisual media can respond to climate challenges and promote a sustainable future.

When and where?

Thursday, October 23, at the One World 2025 International Film Festival,

Kino Lumiére, Špitálska 2206/4 Bratislava,

from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Who is it for?

The lectures and workshop are intended for people active in the audiovisual industry (film, TV, and animation) especially screenwriters, producers, and directors, but also students.

The event is not intended for the general public. Participation in the event is free of charge for professionals and students, but capacity is limited and registration is required via the form below.

Who will be there and what will the program be like?

The first Slovak "Climate Stories" workshop will offer a unique full-day educational experience on how audiovisual storytelling can respond to climate challenges and promote a sustainable future. The one-day program will feature lectures, discussions, and an interactive workshop with local and international professionals, creating a platform for knowledge exchange, professional networking, and the development of new climate-conscious creative projects.

First block: 9:30 a.m. - 2:00 p.m.

Lecture and interactive workshop on "green" storytelling - Andrea Culková (in Czech/Slovak language)

Andrea is a Czech documentary filmmaker, screenwriter, and director who addresses the climate crisis in her films and also educates others on how to approach this topic in audiovisual production. Her films feature striking visual and essayistic elements, addressing current issues based on subjective experiences. The lecture will be followed by a practical workshop where participants will try their hand at creating and incorporating environmental and climate themes directly into newly emerging stories.

An introduction to the topic of the climate crisis will be presented by Lucia Szabová (Climate Coalition), a long-time environmental and climate activist who is systematically involved in the fight against the climate crisis at both the local and global levels. Throughout her career, she has connected the public, the non-profit sector, and political decision-making with the aim of achieving fair and sustainable solutions for our planet.

Second block: 2:00 p.m. - 4:30 p.m.

Lecture with case studies "Towards sustainable screenwriting" - Lucie Trémolières (in English)

Lucie is a French screenwriter, consultant, and trainer in the field of green transformation of the audiovisual sector. She develops projects in various formats (film, television, theater, animation) with a particular focus on comedy and green storytelling. This lecture will focus on how screenwriting professionals and screenwriters can adapt their way of working to take into account the enormous changes taking place in the world, in our craft, and in our industry as a result of environmental crises. Using case studies—successful examples from the global audiovisual industry—we will discuss how we can address these issues in screenplays. We will also discuss how to anticipate eco-friendly production as early as the development phase.

The day will also include networking activities and light refreshments.

Register your place at this link by October 17, 2025 at the latest.

*The program is subject to change. If you have any questions, please contact us at info@erisclimatestories.org.

The documentary Ms. President captures Zuzana Čaputová’s tenure as President of the Slovak Republic. The filmmakers explore how decisions are made, how attitudes are formed, and how discussions with executive officials are conducted. What dilemmas does the President face with her team, and how does the role impact her personal life? What is the public’s perception of the president’s office? The documentary follows these processes throughout her entire presidential mandate.

Tsqaltubo, once a famous spa town in the Soviet Union, turned into Georgia’s largest refugee camp after the war in Abkhazia. Three decades later, the government attempts to restore its former glory and move most of the displaced families into new flat blocks on the outskirts of the town. The film focuses on the last residents of a sanatorium. Gia stays for her cats, Nunu for the plants and fragile remnants of nature that she tends. Through their tiny everyday rituals, they have built not just a home, but also a family connected by memories, resilience, and the hope of one day returning to Abkhazia. Leaving would mean severing their last tie to an idea of home.

The screening will be followed by a discussion with the director Andrea Kalinová and development specialist Boris Strečanský in Slovak language.

In the footsteps of a man with a camera. Using previously unpublished interviews, family films and propaganda films, The Propagandist tells the story of the rise and fall of filmmaker Jan Teunissen. As head of the Department of Film of the Dutch Nazi Party and SS and as leader of the Film Guild, he became the most powerful man in the Dutch film industry during World War II. What drove Teunissen to become part of the Nazi regime? A film about limitless ambition, alternative facts and the manipulative power of film.

The Propagandist is nominated for the award Another Gaze.

Student jury about the film:

In his chilling documentary film The Propagandist (2024), director Luuk Bouwman uses previously unpublished interviews and footage from family archives, and propaganda films by Jan Teunissen, a filmmaker and the head of the film department of the Dutch Nazi party and SS during World War II. The documentary constantly raises questions about moral values and what can and cannot be forgiven and glossed over with such phrases as “I did it to make films” and “I only did what I was told.” Historians Rolf Schuursma and Egbert Barten appear here as liaison officers between historical reality and today's (frustrated) viewers. The film serves as a warning, an extremely powerful one in today’s political climate, against the power of the media, which can be misused, and the dangers of art becoming an instrument of power.

The screening will be preceded by the Absynt at One World Ako vychovať nacistu (Education for Death: The Making of the Nazi) book launch

We invite you to the launch of the Absynt’s Slovak translation of Gregor Ziemer’s book Education for Death: The Making of the Nazi, an important testimony to Nazi pedagogy and the influence of ideology on the youth. The introduction of the new translation of the 1941 book will be accompanied by a discussion with historian Marína Zavacká, who specialises in the history of propaganda and the broader context of building regime loyalties in the 20th century. The discussion will give you an idea of the relevance and why you should read this book even after more than eighty years. The book provides insight into the mechanisms used by the regime in subjugating children and the younger generation by means of the education system, and how the regime imperceptibly and cunningly infiltrated schools, families, associations, and public discourse. Today, more than eight decades after its publication, it remains alarmingly relevant. Many of the mechanisms, which are described by Ziemer, resonate again in various forms in the contemporary world. We live in times when voices calling for “a more rigid order,” “discipline,” or “national pride” are once again being heard. We are again facing manifestations of authoritarian populism, polarisation of society, and targeted attacks on the educational autonomy. There are still political forces which deliberately exploit fear, seek enemies, prioritise “order” over freedom, and attack critical thinking as a subversive element.

Hosted by Michal Hvorecký.

The discussion will be held in Slovak.

In the 1960s, Copenhagen was an industrial city dominated by cars. Today, it ranks among the best places to live. The documentary captures how visionary urbanist Jan Gehl and his talented partner David Sim transformed a neglected city into a space for people with pedestrian zones, cycling infrastructure, and vibrant squares. Through interviews with architects and planners, it shows that the principles of a “city for people” are universal and can also serve as a guide for cities in Slovakia. The film tells an inspiring story about the power of public spaces and proves that any city can undergo a similar transformation.

After the screening, Zuzana Duchová (editor-in-chief of Koncept magazine) will talk to the filmmakers Igor Bubeník and Jakub Otčenáš.

A love story without a filter. – In Slovakia, some things just aren’t discussed at home. Infidelity is either overlooked or punished. Honesty is mistaken for weakness. And monogamy? No one questions whether it is for everyone – it is assumed. The film Open untangles a relationship within one family and holds up a mirror to all of society at the same time. It is a story about a love seeking its shape beyond usual forms of cohabitation. Without a filter. Without shame. With heart.

The screening will be followed by a discussion in Slovak:

Slovak families are full of secret stories and silence, which influence our relationships more than we are willing to admit. The documentary film Open directed by Diana Fabiánová deals with sensitive matters of love, trust, and lies. After the film screening, weʼll try to define what family secrets mean for individuals and society, and how to start talking about them.

Guests:

Diana Fabiánová, director of the film Open

Helena Tužinská, anthropologist

Magdalena Frecer, psychotherapist

Hosted by Katarína Strýčková.

As part of the campaign for the film Open, we are collecting anonymous secrets from Slovak households to reveal what people most often keep in silence. You can participate via a secure form at http://bit.ly/4gHIUTF.

Songea, Tanzania. The young lawyer John Mbano in on a mission. His great-grandfather Songea Mbano, a leader of the Ngoni people, was executed by the German colonial army. His head was taken to Germany for racist research. The family is haunted by this pain to this day. John and his wife Cesilia embark on a life-changing journey. Their research and resilience culminate in a courageous decision—to travel to Berlin in search of their ancestorʼs remains. There, they join forces with activists challenging Germanyʼs culture of denial. What follows is a rollercoaster of triumphs and setbacks. Not even the historic visit of Germanyʼs Federal President to Johnʼs hometown heralds the return of their beloved ancestor. Yet, the Mbano family refuses to relent... “The Empty Grave” offers a personal angle amidst the global discourse on repatriation. Beyond the debates lies the poignant tale of violated lives and the struggle for a future disentangled from a painful past.

Olivia Popp, a member of the festival's international programming team, will introduce the film in English.

“Where the Stork Lands with Amália” takes an anthropological perspective to portray the life of a family living in the grip of generational poverty in a Roma settlement in Eastern Slovakia. The film explores the unceasing cycle into which children like Amália are born, with their life prospects predetermined by their circumstances. The documentary allows viewers to witness the life that is awaiting the newborn, through the lives of her siblings, parents, and community. Amália becomes the symbol of every child born into generational poverty.

Viewers are invited into this familyʼs home, where even basic amenities like electricity and drinking water are absent, and gaining an up-close view of their struggles. Despite these harsh conditions, the family strives to maintain their dignity and raise their children with love.

Our aim was to create a non-narrative anthropological documentary that offers an unfiltered glimpse into the raw reality of our protagonists’ lives, highlighting their strength, resilience, and capacity for love.

Despite the challenging circumstances, “Where the Stork Lands with Amália” manages to approach this sensitive topic gently, while respecting the dignity of its main characters throughout their difficult journey.

The first screening at 16:30 will be followed by a discussion with the director and the film's protagonists in Slovak.

The second (additional) screening at 16:45 will not be followed by a discussion.

The documentary Ms. President captures Zuzana Čaputová’s tenure as President of the Slovak Republic. The filmmakers explore how decisions are made, how attitudes are formed, and how discussions with executive officials are conducted. What dilemmas does the President face with her team, and how does the role impact her personal life? What is the public’s perception of the president’s office? The documentary follows these processes throughout her entire presidential mandate.

“Where the Stork Lands with Amália” takes an anthropological perspective to portray the life of a family living in the grip of generational poverty in a Roma settlement in Eastern Slovakia. The film explores the unceasing cycle into which children like Amália are born, with their life prospects predetermined by their circumstances. The documentary allows viewers to witness the life that is awaiting the newborn, through the lives of her siblings, parents, and community. Amália becomes the symbol of every child born into generational poverty.

Viewers are invited into this familyʼs home, where even basic amenities like electricity and drinking water are absent, and gaining an up-close view of their struggles. Despite these harsh conditions, the family strives to maintain their dignity and raise their children with love.

Our aim was to create a non-narrative anthropological documentary that offers an unfiltered glimpse into the raw reality of our protagonists’ lives, highlighting their strength, resilience, and capacity for love.

Despite the challenging circumstances, “Where the Stork Lands with Amália” manages to approach this sensitive topic gently, while respecting the dignity of its main characters throughout their difficult journey.

The first screening at 16:30 will be followed by a discussion with the director and the film's protagonists in Slovak.

The second (additional) screening at 16:45 will not be followed by a discussion.

In his second feature-length documentary, director Tomáš Elšík quietly explores the social and philosophical dimensions of a modern phenomenon: observing the consequences of human activity on the planet, sparking change. The film asks whether we can reawaken our senses and return to seeing the world not as something to dominate, but as a living whole we’re only a part of. Fortunately, there are still people who perceive the world around us as a living organism and who refuse to accept the environment’s rapid loss of biodiversity. They fight for their cause through legal means, though often in ways reminiscent of guerilla tactics. Pavel, a trained forest engineer, has dedicated his life to protecting wetlands, spring-fed meadows, peat bogs, and the rare plants that depend on them. Klára hasn’t come to terms with human ruthlessness and together with her two specially trained dogs, she scours the landscape for deadly bait traps that threaten endangered birds.

The film screening will be followed by a discussion in Slovak and Czech:

One World × Kapitál: Resilience. Activism in Times of Environmental Crisis

Marking the screening of Resilience (dir. Tomáš Elšík, who’s acclaimed documentary Central Bus Station was previously featured at One World) and the publication of the collection of Wendell Berry’s essays translated into Slovak Nehybný pútnik [Motionless Pilgrim], the One World film festival and the critical portal Kapitál invite you to a discussion on the film’s underlying message and on how to stay engaged, yet sensitive, in the face of the environmental crisis.

Resilience delves into the psychological and philosophical motivations of environmental protectors, as well as their disillusionments. Moments of tender care for land and animals unfold alongside the callousness of industrial exploitation. Through two stories centred on people and animals, the film portrays struggles over the future of the world often invisible to the public eye. Wendell Berry’s essays, addressing themes of biodiversity conservation, will also be highlighted during the event.

Guests:

• Tomáš Elšík, director of the film Resilience
• Mário Kern, ornithologist (expert on bird crime)

Hosted by Jakub Huba, teacher and conservator.

Over 123 million people around the world are displaced due to persecution, conflict, violence, human rights violations, or events that seriously disturb public order. Their reality is filled with uncertainty, fear, and suspense. It is also a reality that can now be shown through modern technology. Using this technology, UNHCR seeks to reveal the realities of some of the world’s most vulnerable people — those who are on the run across the globe.

“Clouds over Sidra” is an 8-minute video in which a 12-year-old girl from Syria named Sidra introduces you to her life at the Zaatari refugee camp in Jordan, now home to over 50,000 Syrian refugees. In this film, you will be able to turn your gaze 360 degrees and get a visual understanding of the environment surrounding hundreds of thousands who are on the run, stepping into a reality no one should have to experience.

The second film available is “The Displaced.” The 10-minute video follows three children — Oleg from Ukraine, Chuol from South Sudan, and Hana, a Syrian refugee living in a camp in Lebanon — through their respective worlds: their friends, their villages, their lives. You hear their stories while walking alongside them in fields, sitting with them amid rubble, and witnessing the frantic scramble to receive food dropped from aid planes.

Lidija Zelović has been portraying her displaced family in the Netherlands since 1993, since they fled their war-thorn home in Sarajevo. Her film essay exposes the duality that all migrants live with: what is “home”? By doing so, the filmmaker draws attention to disruptive social and political developments in the Netherlands, which she recognizes from her native (fallen apart) Yugoslavia. Drawing from her family film archive, Zelović alternates scenes at home – discussions about politics and football on Sundays with her parents and brother, her son growing up, the holidays “at home” in Bosnia – with political events in the Netherlands, such as political murders, scandals involving government discrimination, growing social polarization, increasing unrest in society and the acceptance of radical right-wing politics at the center of power. Home Game offers a sometimes funny, often confrontational and always sincere look into Zelovićʼs life, which functions as a mirror for the current political climate in The Netherlands and many other countries around the world.

The film screening will be followed by a discussion (in English):

How to recognise warning signs of the rise of authoritarianism in a democratic society? Director Lidija Zelović finds the same patterns of social polarisation, political violence, and normalisation of extremism in the Netherlands today as she remembers from Bosnia preceding the breakup of Yugoslavia. Her film uncovers an unsettling reality – societies systematically overlooking the gradual onset of nationalism and intolerance until it’s too late.

In the discussion following the film, we will examine our collective “blind spots”: why we don’t see fascism until it is too late, how extremism is normalised in everyday life, why we refuse to see the historical parallels, and what our Slovak and Central European “blind spots” are. Should we be concerned about the current onset of populism and authoritarianism in Europe, or do we think that our society is immune to it? Where are the boundaries between “normal” politics and dangerous extremism?

Guests:

• Lidija Zelović, director of the documentary film
• Pavol Hardoš, political scientist

Hosted by Peter Ivanič, journalist and university educator.

The discussion is organised in collaboration with the media initiative “The World Between the Lines”, co-financed by SlovakAid.

After the sudden death of his wife, Petr Jochec, the main protagonist of the film, must take on the care of his two adolescent children, Vanesa and Petr, who suffers from a severe autism spectrum disorder. The widowed father used to work away from home often, but now he must single-handedly look after his family and keep it together. Even though many fathers might abandon their families in such a situation, Mr. Jochec chooses to face the challenge head-on, enduring a daily struggle – from selflessly caring for both his children and ensuring the family’s financial stability to managing everyday household tasks. The film captures the Jochec family’s efforts to lead a normal life, explores the limits of love and parenthood, and depicts how each family member copes with their new and difficult circumstances. It also touches on often overlooked topics, such as the social support system and the lives of caregivers, while ultimately emphasizing the power of human bonds during life’s most challenging moments. “What About Petey?” is a realistic exploration of life on the edge of societal, physical, and emotional boundaries.

The screening will be followed by a discussion with the film's director in Slovak and Czech language.

In a Sudan torn apart by years of war, this documentary immerses us in the daily fight of young Sudanese. Their stories, both harrowing and inspiring, remind us of the ability to find hope even in the darkest of circumstances. This documentary is a call to attention to a forgotten crisis, and a tribute to the power of creativity as a tool of survival and resistance.

The screening of this film at the festival was supported by UNHCR.

Olivia Popp, a member of the festival's international programming team, will introduce the film in English.