Little Trouble Girls, debut film from Urska Djukic, opened the Perspectives section at the 75th Berlinale, where it won the FIPRESCI prize, and is now due to open the 38th Bolzano Film Festival Bozen (4 - 13 April 2025).
The film tells the story of Lucia, a young introvert, who sings in the choir of her Catholic school; during a weekend of rehearsals she begins to consider the world from a new perspective. New desires, beliefs and values bloom and she finds herself confronted by the first (big) disturbances of her life. In addition, she is beset by questions she had never considered before: who does my body belong to? How do you manage friendship, jealousy, attraction?
The film is a Slovenia/Italy/Croatia/Serbia co-production, produced by Spok Films, Staragara I.T., Izazov 365, Nosorogi, Non-Aligned Film, with the contribution of the Ministry of Culture, with the support of the Slovenian Film Centre, RTV Slovenia, Croatian Audiovisual Centre (HAVC), Friuli Venezia Giulia Film Commission.
The project, which cost € 1.6M, obtained funding from Italy’s Ministry of Culture (€110K from the 2021 minority co-production call); from the FVG Film Commission – PromoTurismoFVG (granted in the first part of the year with the Film Fund); from the Regional Audiovisual Fund; and from Eurimages.
The film will be distributed in Italy by Tucker Film.
The principal location of the film is a monastery in Cividale del Friuli, town in Friuli Venezia Giulia (province of Udine). Little Trouble Girls tells the story of seventeen-year-old Lucia from Ljubljana, who goes to Cividale with her school choir to rehearse the end-of-year concert. During three days of intensive rehearsals, Lucia begins to discover her body, feeling it change and develop as she confronts the awakening of her sexuality.
Twenty-two of the twenty-nine days of filming took place in Friuli Venezia Giulia: in the monastery of Santa Maria in Valle, the former monastic complex of San Francesco, via Monastero Maggiore and Ponte del Diavolo in Cividale del Friuli.
Other locations in Italy included San Pietro al Natisone, Pulfero and San Leonardo, the cave and the Church of San Giovanni d'Antro, the Kot waterfall and the beaches of Biarzo and Tiglio & Muz, on the Natisone. The remainder of the film was shot in Ljubljana, Slovenia.
The production engaged approximately 35-40 professionals for the entirety of the shoot, most of whom residents in the region, plus others for a total of 70 people.
• Little Trouble Girls location sheet.
"Cividale is one of the best locations I have ever shot a film: from my first time visit, I was fascinated by the city’s history and magical atmosphere” said director Urska Djukic. “The former Ursuline monastery gave me great inspiration for writing, to the point that I decided to set most of the film here. We will conserve beautiful memories of this experience which I hope will contribute to raising awareness of the unique nature of this place".
“Cividale is a warm, beautiful and welcoming city, I am so happy to have had my first professional experience here, which was super positive", added Jara Sofija Ostan, the film’s leading actress.