Shooting for the sixth feature written and directed by Slovenian auteur Jan Cvitkovič, Hotel Alcohol, began on Monday 16 September in the town of Idrija. According to the plan, the shoot will last for 33 days and will include more locations in another Slovenian town, Ajdovščina, as well as in Gorizia, Italy.

The story follows an alcoholic nicknamed Bako, who decides to seek treatment in a psychiatric hospital. There, he meets Medea, a drug addict, and Drago, a psychiatric patient interested in chess. When the strict chief physician organises his own version of the Olympic Games, the trio forms a team called Hotel Alcohol. After they fail in the competition, they decide to run away to the coast, but the real trouble ensues when they run out of meds, and so they take over a pharmacy, where they all experience their own enlightenment.

Jan Cvitkovič is best known for his first two features, his debut Bread and Milk (2001), for which he won the Luigi De Laurentiis Award for Best Debut at Venice, and his sophomore effort Gravehopping (2005), which earned him the Best New Director Award at San Sebastián. After that, he made three more features, Archeo [+lee también:
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ficha de la película] (2011), Šiška Deluxe [+lee también:
tráiler
ficha de la película] (2015) and The Basics of Killing [+lee también:
crítica
tráiler
entrevista: Jan Cvitkovič
ficha de la película] (2017), several shorts and a segment of the Venice 70: Future Reloaded omnibus work.

“Since my childhood, my life has been closely intertwined with people with disabilities, alcoholics, psychiatric patients and addicts – unusual characters. I want to bring their world closer to people and demystify it, in a serious manner but combined with comic elements, as I believe that taboos can be broken through the prism of intelligent humour,” Cvitkovič said on the occasion of the beginning of the principal photography stage.

The cast is led by Gregor Bakovič, Dragan Milinović (the leading duo in Gravehopping) and Medea Novak (the star of Archeo). Ivo Barišić, Irena Kovačević, Mojca Fatur, Timon Šturbej and Ivo Ban will appear in minor roles, alongside other actors. In terms of the crew, the film will be lensed by Jure Černec and edited by Miloš Kalusek, and will feature a score by Edin Đambić and Niko Novak. Vasja Kokelj serves as the production designer, Tinka Prpar as the make-up designer, while the costumes are designed by Polonca Valentinčič and Elizabeta Njari.

Hotel Alcohol is being produced by Slađana Vide for the main production company, Staragara. The co-production companies are Propeler Film (represented by co-producer Boris T Matić) from Croatia, Independent Partners Film (represented by Torsten Neumann) from Germany and Solisticij from Slovenia. It was financially supported by the Slovenian Film Centre, RTV Slovenia, Nordmedia, the Croatian Audiovisual Centre and Creative Europe – MEDIA.