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Home > Screenings > ORF-Enterprise GmbH & Co. KG > Slovenia - Where Nature Comes First

Director: Marc Graf

Producer: A co-production by ORF, ARTE, NDR Doclights GmbH and dreiD.at Filmproduction in association with ORF-Enterprise

Executive Producer: Gernot Lercher

Writer: Christine Sonvilla

Genres: Documentary


52 min., 45 min.

Slovenia? For many, if not most passengers on any international airliner, Slovenia is easily missed while crossing its territory in less than ten minutes. A hiker on the ground, however, would be forced to explore, within an entire life-time, the stunning variety of natural monuments, scenic landscapes and wildlife lined up along a one-hundred-mile transect from sea to summit – from the olive gardens of Slovenia’s Mediterranean coast to the snow-covered peaks and high pastures of the Julian Alps.

Connoisseurs have described Slovenia as “a world in a nutshell”, and with some justification: nearly two thirds of the country’s area are greened by unbroken woodland that reminds of Canada. Ancient Mediterranean oaks, beech forests with canopies like cathedrals, hanging pine woods clinging to near-vertical, inaccessible mountainsides up to the treeline harbour more pristine habitats than countries ten times the size of Slovenia. Fairy-tale canyonlands with enormous labyrinthic cave systems eroded from limestone karst by crystal-clear emerald rivers evoke the dark magic of natural wonders in South-East Asia. As if to prove the healthy state of its nature, this tiny country boasts the highest brown bear density on the globe, with close to thousand bears sharing wild habitats with lynx, jackals, deer and many other species, including the Ural owl, a choosy raptor when it comes to habitat quality.

Ibex and chamois roam rugged ridges along the northern border. Slovenia’s lakes and rivers are the realm of a wide range of freshwater wildlife, including the world’s biggest trout, the Marmorata, an iconic endemite. Where Alpine rivers reach the sea and pink flamingos come to visit traditional salt gardens along the coast. Slovenia’s natural heritage is impressive – but even more amazing is the intimate, harmonious co-existence of the country’s human population with its wild fauna and flora which has been awarded the top position on the United Nation’s list of most sustainable lifestyle and makes it a model for the 21st century.