Conclusion of the 4th International Sport Film Festival

A new, rich festival day delivered morning film screenings for school youth, attended by skier Žan Kranjec. After visiting the children in the Cultural Centre hall, he joined his colleagues – alpine climber Sara Čopar, archer Žiga Ravnikar, and ski mountaineer Klemen Španring – all members of the Slovenian Armed Forces sports unit, as they were guests at the Mini Olympics in front of the 2nd Primary School Rogaška Slatina.

Early in the afternoon, a workshop on Social Film took place at the Rogaška Slatina Secondary School. In the late afternoon, while young filmmakers from the “Tradition in Trend” project watched their films on the big screen, a 3×3 basketball tournament was held in front of the 2nd Primary School Rogaška Slatina, organized by KK Rogaška Slatina.

Late in the afternoon, the closing festival ceremony with award presentations began. To start, we watched the documentary film Dragon from Koseze, together with its main protagonist, Goran Dragić, who also received a Lifetime Achievement Award for the promotion of sport. Matjaž Berger received the Lifetime Achievement Award for connecting culture and sport, while Matjaž Kek, the third recipient, unfortunately could not attend the ceremony. We also presented awards and prizes to the best primary and secondary schools in the aforementioned “Tradition in Trend” competition by the Slovenian Tourist Board.

The winning primary school was Osnovna šola Miška Kranjca from Velika Polana, and the winning secondary and tertiary school was Ekonomska srednja šola Novo mesto, Višja strokovna šola. Music teachers from Rogaška Slatina Music School, Alja Kroflič and Mr. Tkalec, conjured up some concert glamour with their musical performance.

We announced 8 winners of the film festival, each in their own category. Seven crystal plates from Steklarna Rogaška will be sent worldwide, while one remained in Slovenia, awarded to the film Dragon from Koseze. All other finalists received honorary awards, a crystal medal from Steklarna Rogaška, so no one left empty-handed.

Some audience members also didn’t leave empty-handed, as we drew several lovely prizes from our sponsors: Gorenje, Škocjan Caves Park, Park of Military History Pivka, and McDonald’s. And no stomachs remained empty, thanks to the homemade delicacies from the Gaja Association.

In summary, this fourth edition saw the quality bar of the festival’s execution raised, judging by the feedback from participants, both creators and viewers. This sets a new challenge for the organizers: how to surpass this in the coming year. This year’s successful execution is certainly also a result of the support from the Municipality of Rogaška Slatina, the Tourist Board Rogaška Slatina, the Slovenian Tourist Organization, the Slovenian Film Centre, and individual hotels in Rogaška Slatina, such as Hotel Slatina, Hotel Atlantida, and Hotel Aleksander.