Private Project

Discourse

In a near-future university where language is regulated and belonging depends on following the right things, a professor crosses an invisible line during his honest lecture. What begins as an ordinary academic moment gradually exposes the fragile boundary between free thought and silent compliance. As the students begin to form ideas and ask questions, a quiet shift takes place, hinting that even the smallest deviation can carry unforeseen consequences.

  • Domen Puš
    Director
    Slaves, The Last Embrace
  • Domen Puš
    Writer
    Slaves, The Last Embrace
  • Tim Luznar
    Producer
  • Robert Prebil
    Key Cast
    "Rok Podvratnik"
  • Kim Kranjc
    Key Cast
    "Katarina"
  • Selver Andjelkovic
    Key Cast
    "Dejan Rosić"
  • Eneja Štemberger
    Key Cast
    "Ana"
  • Tin Šoškič
    Key Cast
    "Dominik"
  • Domen Puš
    Key Cast
    "Security Guard 2"
  • Project Title (Original Language):
    Diskurz
  • Project Type:
    Short
  • Genres:
    Drama, Thriller
  • Runtime:
    13 minutes 18 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    November 15, 2025
  • Production Budget:
    4,000 EUR
  • Country of Origin:
    Slovenia
  • Country of Filming:
    Slovenia
  • Language:
    Slovenian
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    2.35:1
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Digital Cinema Package:
    Unavailable
Director Biography - Domen Puš

Domen Puš is a Slovenian actor, writer, and director working across narrative and documentary forms. His background as a performer shapes his directing style, with a strong focus on rhythm, subtext, and emotionally precise performances. Across his work, Puš is drawn to stories about identity under pressure and the ways institutions and social environments shape what people are allowed to think, say, and become.

He has directed ten short films, one feature-length documentary, and one feature film, while continuing to develop new projects that blend gritty realism with a controlled, cinematic tone. His storytelling often balances tension and intimacy, placing characters in moral gray zones where survival, loyalty, and personal truth collide.

Recent projects include Sužnji (co-directed with Tim Luznar) and Diskurz, a near-future short set in a surveillance-soaked university environment, reflecting his ongoing interest in discourse, belonging, and the cost of non-compliance. Alongside directing, Puš continues to work as an actor and writer, expanding a body of work that is socially engaged, performance-led, and visually grounded.

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

Discourse was born from a simple question: what happens when language stops being a tool for understanding and becomes a tool for sorting people into “safe” and “unsafe”? The seed of the film came directly from conversations with my college mentor, a political science professor who specializes in discourse. During a month-long trip to Canada, we debated the meaning of the term discourse obsessively in transit, over meals, in long stretches of silence between debates, and those talks followed me home and turned into this story.
I set the film in a university because it should be a home for free thinking, and turned it into a near-future system where surveillance and social pressure do the same work. Visually, the film is restrained and precise, with performances carrying the tension in what is not said.
The professor's last lecture shows us how we, as individuals, can make a difference. No matter how small.
Ultimately, Discourse is about the moment when silence stops being safe and becomes complicity, and how one honest sentence can change what a mind is willing to accept.