Thrilled to announce that the short film The Professional Parent, directed by Erik Jasaň, has been selected to compete at the Kitzbühel Film Festival in Austria, where it will have its Austrian premiere. The festival will take place from 24 to 29 November 2026 and is accredited by the FIAPF.
The selection for Kitzbühel holds special significance for the film for another reason. After more than two years on the festival circuit, this is very likely to be the film’s final screening at a festival. The short film The Professional Parent has been selected as one of 12 international short films and will serve as the festival’s opening short film.
Synopsis:
The Professional Parent follows Ingrid, a struggling single mother living in an economically deprived village in Eastern Slovakia. Desperate to provide for her young daughter and elderly mother, she accepts a job as a professional foster parent to a Roma girl. As prejudice within her own family collides with the responsibilities of care, Ingrid is forced to navigate impossible moral choices between survival, love, and dignity. Told with quiet realism and documentary-like intimacy, the film explores how poverty and systemic discrimination shape human relationships, revealing the hidden cost of compassion in a society where care has become both a profession and a necessity.
Erik Jasaň is one of Europe’s most talented and promising young filmmakers and is already working on his next project, which will also be distributed by Mailuki Films.
Stay tuned, as we’ll be announcing further successes for our films very soon.
#mailukifilms #oscar #festival #filmmaker #bilbao
