The Summer Cinema is part of the Inclusion Film Festival project, which aims to bring topics of inclusion, diversity, and mutual understanding closer to audiences through films and discussions. Each evening will offer a unique cinematic story and a conversation with guests who will provide new perspectives on the world around us.
At the same time, we strive to make the Summer Cinema accessible to the widest possible audience. Screenings will be accessible for wheelchair users, and selected dates will include accessibility measures for people with hearing or visual impairments. Thanks to subtitles, the films will also be accessible to international visitors. Each screening offers different accessibility measures. Information about this specific event can be found in the Accessibility section below.
The Young Girls of Rochefort (1966) – First Time in Slovakia!
The opening evening of the Summer Cinema will feature Jacques Demy’s iconic French musical The Young Girls of Rochefort. The film will be screened in Slovakia for the very first time in a digitally restored version with Slovak subtitles, English subtitles, and Slovak descriptive subtitles for Deaf and hard-of-hearing audiences.
Before the screening, there will be a discussion with writer and Kapitál magazine editor Soňa Uriková and emerging screenwriter and director Teodor Sanov. Moderated by dramaturg and film curator Ema Nemčovičová, the discussion will explore watching films as a form of escapism, why inclusion in visual arts matters, and how culture is created in different social contexts.
About the film
Twin sisters Delphine and Solange live in the pastel-coloured town of Rochefort. Every day they dream of meeting the love of their lives. Yet whenever destiny seems about to bring them together, kindred spirits narrowly miss one another. When a travelling fair arrives in town, the lives of Rochefort’s dreamlike inhabitants become even more intertwined. Unfortunately, chance has terrible timing.
Starring the legendary Catherine Deneuve, Françoise Dorléac and Gene Kelly, accompanied by the timeless music of Michel Legrand, multiple Academy Award and Grammy Award winner.
French director Jacques Demy is one of the most important figures in world cinema. He began making films in the 1960s—a period of economic prosperity, revolutions, political liberalisation, and above all, creative freedom and experimentation. Demy transforms the world and its realities into fairy-tale settings where characters sing and dance despite lives that are not always idyllic. In doing so, he suggests that song and dance can be as natural as walking through a city.
The film pays tribute to the American musical tradition, while its distinctly European character lies in the melancholic undertones of its story. By building an ideal world, Jacques Demy brings lightness into our reality while simultaneously awakening an awareness that such happiness may exist—perhaps just around the corner, yet likely forever beyond our reach.
The Young Girls of Rochefort is an ode to happiness, shadowed by the constant fear that life may slip through our fingers. Anyone seeing this film for the first time today is stepping into the golden age of cinema. It is not a superficial escape but a vivid, electrifying experience that rekindles our longing for joy.
For the filming in 1965, the façades of buildings in the real French town of Rochefort were completely painted white. At the request of its residents, the town still looks today much as Jacques Demy and his film crew transformed it.
Practical information
Where: Hviezdoslavova Street, Trenčín (in front of ODA)
When: 16 July 2026
Time: 20:00–22:30
Accessibility for this screening
This event is accessible for wheelchair users and people using other mobility aids. Designated parking and step-free access to the screening area will be available. A detailed accessibility map will be published before the event.
For Deaf and hard-of-hearing visitors, Slovak descriptive subtitles will be available, and the discussion before the film will be interpreted into Slovak Sign Language.
Audio description for blind and partially sighted audiences will not be available at this screening. Audio description will be available at the following screenings:Summer Open-Air Cinema: Can You Hear Me? (2025), Summer Open-Air Cinema: Summer School 2001 (2025), Summer Open-Air Cinema: Arco (2025).
Information about accessible toilets, designated parking and additional accessibility measures will be published before the event as part of a dedicated visitor guide.
If you require further information or support during your visit, please do not hesitate to approach designated organisers or volunteers on site, or contact us in advance at: emma.steiningerova@trencin2026.eu.
