The Birthday Party

A couple of jovial life-long drunkards run into a shy architecture undergrad, whose way of seeing things will be transformed as the trio wanders from pub to pub in search of a buried treasure.

This utterly surprising debut gets cinematically richer with every twist and turn – allowing for moments of fabulously deranged buddy comedy, touching a sense of Western, always staying true to being a descent into the abyss of the human mind and desire.

For decades, Kinoatelje has explored the cinematic heritage of the Gorizia area, tracing memories and stories that cross borders. From this legacy emerges a new chapter: an episodic film entrusted to a new generation of filmmakers. This collective film was shot in Gorizia in the summer of 2025 - among streets and rivers where stories intertwine, in a threshold city shaped by its own pulse. Under the artistic direction of filmmaker Alessandro Comodin, and inspired by Sandro Scandolara’s book Nostro cine quotidiano, five filmmakers - Laura Samani, Ester Ivakič, Otto Lazić-Reuschel, Jan Devetak and Francesco Sossai - have dismantled the border to create a polyphonic portrait of the city.