Guardians of the Frontier (2002)

Three female friends embark on a journey of sexual self-discovery in Maja Weiss’s award-winning Slovenian drama Guardians of the Frontier (2002). A lyrical and provocative coming-of-age story, the film is a fable about three young girls who travel by canoe down the Kolpa River––the waterway dividing Slovenia from Croatia. Politics and history are explored en route, but it’s the sexual blossoming of protagonists Alja (Tanja Potocnik), Zana (Pia Zemljic), and Simona (Iva Krajnc) that gives the film its bite. You’ll be scrambling to find a paddle when you see what these Balkan beauties are up to in the woods.