Italian director Matteo Oleotto has finished shooting The Last Slap (L'Ultimo Schiaffo), a new Christmas comedy drama co-produced by the public broadcasters of Slovenia and Italy.

Siblings Jure and Petra live in a mountain village in Friuli Venezia Giulia. They dream to transform their old lakeside house into a modern bar with the reward from finding a lost dog, but things don’t go as planned, and Christmas turns into chaos.

The main roles are played by young Italian actors Adalgiso Manfrido and Massimilian Motta, joined by Giuseppe Battiston, Giovani Ludeno and Slovenian actor Primož Pirnat.

“The Last Slap is an exceptional example of film cooperation between Slovenia, Friuli-Venezia Giulia and Italy. The film, shot on locations in the Slovenian cultural space, goes beyond the physical borders between the two countries in its story,” Slovenian producer Jožko Rutar told FNE.

The Last Slap is produced by Michele Neri through Italian Staragara I.T. Productions and Jožko Rutar through Slovenian SPOK Films in coproduction with Rai Cinema and RTV Slovenia. The project is supported by the Slovenian Film Centre, FS Viba, the Italian Ministry for Culture, the Friuli Venezia Giulia Audiovisual Fund and the Friuli Venezia Giulia Film Commission.

“The budget is estimated at 1.7 million euros,” producer Jožko Rutar added.

This is the first project of the screenwriting residencies created as a part of the Gorizia - European Capital of Culture 2025.