Two Films, One Heartbeat: Producers of ‘Frank’ and ‘Little Trouble Girls’ Explore Identity and Hope at IFFI 2025 Presser
A film changes you; it becomes your life and it shapes what you believe in: Ivo Felt, Producer of ‘Frank’
Every young person fights the same battle; between who the world expects them to be and who they truly wish to become: Mihec Černec, Producer of ‘Little Trouble Girls’
25 November 2025: With Goa’s sea breeze sweeping through the IFFI pavilion and cameras sparkling like stardust, Frank and Little Trouble Girls lit up the stage today, turning the press hall into a vibrant arena of emotion, reflection, humour, and sheer cinematic magic.
Producers Ivo Felt (Frank) and Mihec Černec (Little Trouble Girls) drew audiences deep into the worlds they crafted with care, one raw and unflinching, the other poetic and haunting, yet both alive with universal themes of pain, self-discovery, courage, and human connection.
Frank: A Story Carved from Hurt, Hope and Human Connection
‘Frank’ is the tale of 13-year-old Paul, a boy shaken by domestic violence and dropped into an unfamiliar town where he stumbles through life. Every choice he makes seems to push him deeper into chaos, until a strange, disabled man becomes an anchor he never knew he needed.
Producer Ivo Felt reflected on the film’s emotional origins with disarming sincerity, sharing, “The idea stayed inside me for almost twenty years, like a shadow, a memory. One day it just refused to stay quiet. That’s when Frank was born.”
He described the film as a quiet exploration of what becomes of children who carry invisible wounds. Felt also delighted the audience with his wry humour while talking about the challenges of filmmaking in a small country like Estonia. “We don’t just fight for funding, we chase it like an Olympic sport! Without taxpayer support, a film like Frank simply wouldn’t happen,” he noted.
Speaking about the transformation such stories spark within the cast and crew, he added, “A film changes you. It becomes your life. It shapes what you believe in.”
From Choir Notes to Courage: Little Trouble Girls Explores the Battle Between Expectation and Identity
Set during a weekend choir retreat in a convent, ‘Little Trouble Girls’ is the story of a shy teenage girl who tastes freedom, desire, rebellion, and the first spark of a worldview entirely her own. Her awakening threatens friendships, traditions, and the rigid expectations around her.
Producer Mihec Černec eloquently conveyed the heart of Little Trouble Girls as he spoke about its core journey of self-discovery. “Awakening never whispers, it arrives like a song you cannot unhear,” he said, describing the film’s emotional heartbeat.
Delving into the making of the film, Černec painted a vivid picture of its unique creative landscape. The team spent four immersive weeks filming inside sacred churches, capturing the ethereal discipline of choir life with live choral performances recorded directly on set. Guiding a 17-year-old lead actress, who balanced innocence with remarkable emotional depth, added another layer of delicate nuance to the process. The production also ventured into a mystical cave, a location Černec described as “a universe of its own.”
For him, these spaces transcended their physicality: “The church, the forest, the cave, they weren’t locations. They were characters. These spaces blessed the film.”
Černec further contextualized the film within Slovenia’s cultural fabric, noting the nation’s deeply rooted choral traditions and Catholic heritage. “We all grew up singing. And we all grew up with discipline” he remarked.
Reflecting on the film’s universal resonance, the producer observed that “every young person fights the same battle between who the world expects them to be and who they truly wish to become.” It is this quiet yet profound struggle, he said, that gives ‘Little Trouble Girls’, its unmistakable global heartbeat.
