In 10 days’ time begins the 12th edition of Student international Film Festival – STIFF, searching for what is left behind us – emotions, memories, movements, mementos and changes.

This year STIFF brings 31 films from 15 countries. It gathers directors that think about the world we leave for future generations and the world we build. In eight carefully curated programme blocks we explore phenomena that leave a TRACE – a touch that changes us, a word that resonates, or a decision that initiates a new beginning.

This year’s theme – TRACE – is a continuation of earlier festival themes, pivots of reflection about films screened at STIFF. After ESCAPE that marked last year’s ways of exploration on the liberation from constraints in search of freedom, this year TRACE directs us towards what is left behind movements, experiences or decisions. Earlier themes led the audience through different worlds – FEAR, DREAM, PLAY, SOUND, COMMUNICATION, SOCIAL ISSUES – each in its own way questioning the human need to connect, understand, and change. TRACE is a theme that, symbolically, gathers all these paths, inviting us to take a break and look back, recognise where we were, who we have touched, and what made us the way we are.

As always, STIFF remains a meeting point of young authors and the audience – a space where stories, feelings and new perspectives are shared. Over the years, this festival has grown into a unique platform that entices a dialogue between cinema and society, a space that offers young authors an opportunity to reach the audience that really listens.

Entry to all screenings is free, as STIFF believes art and cinema should be available to everyone.

Join us in Art-kino from 27th to 29th November, let’s discover together which film will leave the deepest TRACE.

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The International Student Film Festival — STIFF is organized by Filmaktiv and the Student Cultural Center of the University of Rijeka, in co-organization with Art-kino and with the support of the Croatian Audiovisual Centre (HAVC), the City of Rijeka, Primorje-Gorski Kotar County, the Rijeka Tourist Board, the Serbian National Council, the Council of the Serbian National Minority, and the Goethe-Institut Kroatien. The work of Filmaktiv is supported by the Kultura Nova Foundation and the National Foundation for Civil Society Development.