4-8 November 2026 — Filmhuis Den Haag
dir. URSKA DJUKIC, EMILIE PIGEARD
Best Short Film at the European Academy Awards 2022. Four elderly women recall their lives when they were young, a time when the relationships between men and women were very different.
A compelling, humorous and serious animation reflects on grandmothers’ youth and the memories of their intimate life in the first half of the 20th century in Slovenia. It’s a moving testimony about the sex lives of women, about their violent husbands and abusive relationships. The film is based on the equally compelling anonymous testimonies of women published in Milena Miklavcic’s book “Fire, Ass and Snakes Are Not for Toys”. Individual images of pain and suffering, fear and resignation to fate come to life in a humorous animation, using imaginative gestures to overcome old taboos.
SHOWTIMES | Special Feature with Fran and Verka, Maldita. A Love Song to Sarajevo & Truth
Thursday, 23 November – 16:45
Sunday, 26 November – 14:30
BABICINO SEKSUALNO ZIVLJENJE | 2021 | 13 min | Slovenia, France
| PRODUCTION | Bostjan Virc – Studio Virc; Ikki Films |
| CAST | Doroteja Nadrah, Jure Henigman, Bozena Zabret, Mara Vilar |
| SCREENPLAY | Urska Djukic, Maria Bohr |
| ANIMATION | Emilie Pigeard |
| EDITING | Urska Djukic |
| LANGUAGE | Slovene |
| SUBTITLES | English |
FESTIVALS & AWARDS (SELECTION)
Cesar Awards, 2023 – Best Animated Short Film | European Film Awards, 2022 – Best European Short Film | 2ANNAS Riga International Short Film Festival, 2022 – Best Film | Go Short, 2022 – Best Animated Film | Tampere Film Festival, 2022 – Grand Prix | Festival International Music & Cinema Marseille, 2022 – Best Film | Annecy International Animation Festival, 2022
DIRECTOR’S BIO
Urska Djukic (1986) studied at the Academy of Arts in Nova Gorica. Her short film Bon Appetit, La Vie! won the award for Best Short at the National Festival of Slovenian Film 2016. She co-directed the short The Right One that was a part of the collective film See Factory Sarajevo Mon Amour, which premiered at Cannes Directors’ Fortnight 2019. The same year she was selected for the 39th Cinefondation Residence where she continued developing her debut, Little Trouble Girls.
Emilie Pigeard (1990) spent a year at the Sorbonne before entering the prestigious Arts Decoratifs school in Paris, specialising in animation. She earned a distinction for her short graduation film “Big Bunny Again”. In 2014, Emilie studied at the German Hochschule für Film und Fernsehen. Since then, she has been making films as a freelancer in Paris, while continuing to draw and run workshops for kids.