''A Summer in a Sea Shell'' ( sl, Poletje v školjki) is a 1985 Slovenian

teen film Teen film is a film genre targeted at teenagers, preteens, or young adults by the plot being based on their special interests, such as coming of age, attempting to fit in, bullying, peer pressure, first love, teen rebellion, conflict with par ...

directed by

Tugo Štiglic Andres Solomon (November 30, 1905 – November 3, 1952), better known by his stage name Togo, was a Filipino actor, comedian and vaudevillian, famous as one half of the comedy team Pugo and Togo during the 1930s to 1950s until his death, which he ...

. It was followed by ''A Summer in a Sea Shell 2'' ( sl, Poletje v školjki 2) in 1988.

Plot

''A Summer in a Sea Shell''

Tomaz spends his last summer before he becomes a teenager playing by the sea and fighting rival groups of children from nearby towns. The children get along once they discover that someone is stealing shellfish from a local fisherman, who is also their friend. They come together to try to find the person responsible by using Tomaz's supercomputer named

Vedi Vedi ( hy, Վեդի), is a town and urban municipal community in the Ararat Province of Armenia, located along the Vedi River, south of the capital Yerevan, and southeast of the provincial centre Artashat. According to the 2011 census, the pop ...

. When they succeed in catching the thief, the fisherman gives Tomaz a seashell as thanks for his help. Tomaz also finds his first love Milena during that summer.

''A Summer in a Sea Shell 2''

Three years after the events of the first film, Tomaz and Milena meet again in

Ljubljana Ljubljana (also known by other historical names) is the capital and largest city of Slovenia. It is the country's cultural, educational, economic, political and administrative center. During antiquity, a Roman city called Emona stood in the a ...

. Tomaz joins the same dance club as Milena, but the club is scheduled for closure and in order to save it, the members of the dance club try to stop it from closing by performing a dance show.

Cast

* David Sluga (Tomaž) * Kaja Štiglic (Milena) *

Dare Valič Dare may refer to: Places * Dare, East Timor, a city * Darè, Italy, a commune * Dare County, North Carolina, United States * Dare, Virginia, United States, an unincorporated community Name * Dare (name), a list of people and fictional cha ...

(Tomažev oče) * Boris Kralj (Luka) *

Majda Potokar Majda Potokar (1 March 1930 – 25 April 2001) was a Slovenian film and theatre actress. Daughter of actor Lojze Potokar, she graduated in 1952 from the Ljubljana Theatre, Radio, Film and Television Academy. Before graduation she appeared in ...

(zdravnica) * Jure Sotlar (Filip) * Marjana Karner (Tomaževa mama)

Production

Štiglic came up with the idea for the films by thinking of his daughter Kaja Štiglic, who also starred in the films, because she liked to dance. The music in the first film, including the song ''Prisluhni školjki'' (''A Song In a Seashell''), was written by

Jani Golob Jani Golob (born 18 January 1948) is a Slovenian composer, violinist, arranger and professor. His music opus is often on the thin line of classic, pop and jazz. Golob has composed operas, ballets, orchestral works, chamber and vocal music, as w ...

and performed by the keyboard player

Miha Kralj Miha Kralj (; born 22 August 1949) is a Slovene composer, singer, performer and record producer. He is a pioneer in the electronic, ambient and new-age musical genres in Slovenia and former SFR Yugoslavia. He is also called "Yugoslavian Jean ...

. David Sluga, who played the role of Tomaz, was chosen to audition for the film because of his dancing. Sluga originally had no interest in auditioning for the film until he realized that it was a starring role, and after the film's premiere, he originally felt that fame was a burden. The cast and film crew did not stay in touch with each other after the second film's production. The film was the first Slovenian

coming-of-age Coming of age is a young person's transition from being a child to being an adult. The specific age at which this transition takes place varies between societies, as does the nature of the change. It can be a simple legal convention or can b ...

film to feature popular music and dancing.

Reception

The first film won the Grand Prix award at the

Giffoni Film Festival The Giffoni International Film Festival is an Italian children's film festival which takes place annually in Giffoni Valle Piana, Campania. It began in 1971. The Giffoni International Film Festival typically has around 100,000 guests and has had ...

, a film festival in

Saint-Malo Saint-Malo (, , ; Gallo: ; ) is a historic French port in Ille-et-Vilaine, Brittany, on the English Channel coast. The walled city had a long history of piracy, earning much wealth from local extortion and overseas adventures. In 1944, the A ...

, and a film festival in

Szeged Szeged ( , ; see also other alternative names) is the third largest city of Hungary, the largest city and regional centre of the Southern Great Plain and the county seat of Csongrád-Csanád county. The University of Szeged is one of the m ...

. An article published on the online version of the Slovenian newspaper ''

Dnevnik Dnevnik means "The Daily" or "Daily News" in South Slavic languages. It can also be translated as "Diary". Closely related Slavic variants of the word are Deník (Czech) Dziennik (Polish) and Дневник (Russian). It may refer to: ;In broadc ...

'' states that when someone asks Slovenians what their favorite film is, ''A Summer in a Sea Shell'' might be among them. '' Večer'' wrote that the film was one of the best youth romances of the 1980s. Due to the first film's success, a sequel titled ''A Summer in a Sea Shell 2'' was released in 1988. The sequel takes place in

and continues the story of the couple in the first film.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Summer in a Sea Shell 1980s teen films Slovenian comedy films Yugoslav comedy films Slovene-language films