Slovenia unveils candidate for Oscar nomination
Little Trouble Girls (Kaj Ti Je Deklica), the award-winning feature debut by Urška Djukić, has been picked as Slovenia's entry for consideration in the best international feature category at the 2026 Oscars.
With its intimate yet universal narrative, the film transcends personal boundaries and raises broader questions about physicality, identity, and growing up as a girl, the Slovenian Federation of Filmmakers' Guilds said in announcing the pick on 9 September, CE Report quotes The Slovenia Times.
Djukić's sensual coming-of-age film has already won the best film debut award of the International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESCI) at this year's Berlin International Film Festival and several other awards abroad.
The film centres on Lucija, a shy 16-year-old who joins a girls' choir, where she becomes friends with Ana-Marija. When the choir goes to a countryside convent to spend a weekend practising, Lucija's interest in a dark-eyed construction worker puts their friendship to a test.
In a new environment, Lucija explores her emerging sexuality and questions her beliefs and values, which affects the harmony of the choir.
Her world is presented in a subtle and lyrical way by intertwining music and the world of sounds with masterful images, which creates a rich atmosphere and a multidimensional space that subtly hints to the feelings of the 16-year-old, the judges for the Slovenian Oscar nomination entry said.
Djukić combines intimate details - close-up images of the body, colours and voices - with a strong symbolism that expresses tension between freedom and repression. The film encourages self-reflection on the processes of growing up and universal questions of freedom, they added.
Little Trouble Girls was made in co-production between Slovenia, Italy, Croatia and Serbia. The film is currently screened in UK cinemas and is set to be be shown in France, Italy, Japan and the US.
The list of 15 countries shortlisted for the Oscar will be published on 16 December and the top five contenders on 22 January. The Oscars will be presented on 15 March.
