Director Andrina Mračnikar debuts first Austrian partisan film

Director and screenwriter Andrina Mračnikar released her feature film Mila/Marija, marking the first partisan film in Austrian cinematography.

The film premiered in Zürich, where it won an audience award. Mračnikar will show the film in Slovenia at the Liffe festival, where she will also present her documentary Korošec govori nemško alongside the pre-film Andri (1924 to 1944). Mračnikar describes the ongoing struggle for the Slovenian language in the Koroška region of Austria.

She notes that while membership in the European Union and cultural successes have reduced some stigma, speaking Slovenian still faces political scrutiny. Discrimination continues to affect the community, leading many people to stop speaking the language to their children. Recent incidents, such as a police action at the Peršmanovi homestead and the removal of Slovenian place names from local signs, have further fueled tensions. The film depicts the resistance of Koroška Slovenes against Nazi occupation.

Mračnikar explains that these people fought for survival after being forbidden from using their language and facing mass deportations to concentration camps. She chose to film in Slovenian to honor the history of a language that was systematically erased from public life. While the film will be dubbed into German to reach a wider audience, Mračnikar ensured that portions of the original language remain in the dubbed version to preserve the cultural heritage of the region.