Fantasy
Three tomboy friends in Slovenia find their ideas about gender, desire and identity challenged when they meet Fantasy, a trans woman.
Mihrije, Sina, and Jasna are best friends in their early twenties, navigating life in a conservative Slovenian society on their own terms. Their friendship takes an unexpected turn when they meet Fantasy, a trans woman who opens up new possibilities of desire, identity, and self-expression. As their relationships evolve, the three friends are drawn into a journey of self-discovery that challenges what they thought they knew about themselves and each other. Based on Kukla’s award-winning short film Sisters (2020), Fantasy expands its world into a bold coming-of-age story about friendship, identity, and the courage to imagine a different future.
SCREENINGS
Saturday 7 November 12:15
Programme section(s): Cinema Current
Original title: Fantasy | Year: 2025 | Runtime: 98′
Country: Slovenia, North Macedonia | Language: Slovenian, Albanian, Serbian, Bosnian, Macedonian | Subtitles: English
Cast: Sarah Al Saleh, Alina Juhart, Mina Milovanović, Mia Skrbinac
Director: Kukla | Production: Lija Pogačnik, Barbara Daljavec, Vlado Bulajić – December; Krug Film | Screenplay: Kukla | Cinematography: Lazar Bogdanović | Editing: Lukas Miheljak
FESTIVALS & AWARDS (SELECTION)
Locarno Film Festival, 2025 – World Premiere | Slovene Film Festival, 2025 – Best Production Design, Best Costume Design, Best Make-Up, Best Original Music, Special Achievement Award | Thessaloniki Film Festival, 2025 – Special Mention | Sarajevo Film Festival, 2025 – Best Performance (Woman) | Trieste Film Festival, 2026 – Best Film, Cineuropa Award | SEEfest, 2026 – Best Film, Best Cinematography, Best Cast
DIRECTOR’S BIO
Kukla (Katarina Rešek, Brežice, 1991) is a Slovenian film director. She graduated from the Academy of Theatre, Radio, Film and Television in Ljubljana. She is the author of the award-winning short film Sisters (2020), which received the Grand Prix at the Clermont-Ferrand Short Film Festival in 2021. She has also directed a number of short films and notable music videos for regional artists. Her debut feature film Fantasy was selected for prestigious industry programmes and workshops, including Cinéfondation. Kukla is also active in advertising and music production.
DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT
The idea first came to me about ten years ago when I was directing a music video and the protagonists were tomboy girls in grey sweats, riding motorbikes and training together. That image of the “forgotten ones” in baggy clothes with ponytails low down by the hair line, who somehow remained prisoners of their family and their environment for not fitting the rigid rule lines of womanhood in patriarchal Balkans, got stuck in my head and sparked a cascade of memories and visions, from sworn virgins (virdžinas), which is a big and complex part of Balkan history, to the legacy of turbo folk culture today… In the film I wanted the woman to look at herself, if possible, with her own eyes but also show the gender alchemy, the diversity, the tension, the violence and the contradictions that not only shape this region but societies everywhere.
