SEEfest 2024

19TH ANNUAL SOUTH EAST EUROPEAN FILM FESTIVAL (SEEfest) ANNOUNCES FULL PROGRAM LINE-UP of 54 FILMS

Pascal Ladreyt and ELMA Foundation to be honored with the Legacy Award for Championing European Cinema in Hollywood
Opening ceremony at the Writers Guild Theatre on May 1st in Beverly Hills

The 19th annual South East European Film Festival #SEEfest, co-presented by ELMA, is bringing to Los Angeles U.S. premieres, European talent and an Industry Accelerator with panels and workshops, Writers Lab, Art and Music Salons, and Exhibitions. From May 1-8, the festival will showcase 54 movies, with 33 directed by women, from the culturally rich area of East and South-East Europe.

Opening the festival on May 1st with a red carpet gala at the Writers Guild Theater in Beverly Hills (135 S. Doheny Dr, in Beverly Hills) will be the Los Angeles premiere of Dragan Bjelogrlić's Serbian-French Co-production, “GUARDIANS OF THE FORMULA” a "knotty true story of the first human bone marrow transplant shaped into a superbly mounted ethical thriller." (Variety). During the opening night gala, the founder and executive director of ELMA, Pascal Ladreyt will receive the SEEfest 2024 Legacy Award for his tireless efforts to promote and advance appreciation for European cinema in Hollywood, especially by young audiences.

Other highlights of the festival include: from Romania, Tudor Giurgiu’s latest movie, powerful Libertate (Freedom), about a little known ’89 mayhem in a provincial town; from Georgia, lyrical and funny Blackbird Blackbird Blackberry, an endearing love story; from Belarus, heart-breaking Motherland about parents fighting against the regime that turns their sons into soldiers; string of short gems including an offbeat love story Highway of a Broken Heart (Greece), two breath-taking student Oscar winners Invisible Border (Austria) and Istina/Truth (Germany/Serbia); and from Croatia, Only When I Laugh, based on a true story of domestic violence and featuring another fantastic performance by Tihana Lazovic.

For the full program line up please visit: SEEfest 2024

Accelerator, industry platform of the festival, is structured as a series of sessions and workshops with a small group of filmmakers and Hollywood professionals as mentors. It has become a go-to platform for the independent filmmakers from Eastern Europe and those who live and work in Los Angeles. Two weeks of workshops and sessions with Hollywood industry experts provide insights and feedback, practical tips and a testing ground for pitching and shopping the projects. One of the films in this year’s official competition, Romanian feature Clara began as a project at the SEEfest Accelerator. 

This year 12 projects have been selected for the Accelerator, taking place from April 15 – April 27. All workshops and meetings are provided to filmmakers free of charge. For Accelerator participants and mentors, please visit: https://seefilmla.org/2024-festival-jury/accelerator-2024/

South East European Film Festival (SEEfest) presents cinematic and cultural diversity of South and Eastern Europe to American audiences and creates cultural connections through films, artistic and social events. It was founded in 2006 by Vera Mijojlić, long-time film critic and cultural entrepreneur. The films in competition come from 20 countries of South and Eastern Europe

 

FEATURE FILMS:

Blackbird Blackbird Blackberry – Georgia

Etero, a 48-year-old woman living in a small village in Georgia, never wanted a husband. She cherishes her freedom as much as her cakes. But her choice to live alone is the cause of much gossip among her fellow villagers. Unexpectedly, she finds herself passionately falling for a man, and is suddenly faced with the decision to pursue a relationship or continue a life of independence. Etero must grapple with her feelings and decide how to find her own path to happiness.

Director’s Bio

Elene Naveriani is a Georgian director now living in Switzerland. They graduated from the Tbilisi State Academy of Art in monumental painting in 2003. After receiving a Master's in Critical Curatorial Cybermedia from the HEAD Geneva (Geneva School of Art and Design), they start their studies in Cinema. Their graduation short film GOSPEL OF ANASYRMA (2014) was acclaimed for their distinctive signature and stance. Elene's work is one that makes invisible stories visible, makes unheard voices heard, and creates a space for marginalized lives. Elene practices a cinema of resistance. Their first feature I AM TRULY A DROP OF SUN ON EARTH (2017) premiered in Rotterdam and was awarded numerous prizes (Seoul, Xining, Valladolid, Porto). Elene also directed two further short films that received a lot of acclaim. RED ANTS BITE (2019) was nominated for Best Swiss Short Film Award and LANTSKY PAPA'S STOLEN OX (2018), a short documentary, premiered in Entrevues Belfort and won the Grand Prix Best Short. The film was also awarded in Tbilisi and Documenta Madrid. In 2021, their second feature film WET SAND made its World Premiere in Locarno in August 2021 and earned the Best Actor's Prize. Elene is currently developing two further feature projects.

Clara – Romania

Set on the background of economical migration, the film tells the story of Clara, a divorced Romanian mother in her thirties who needs to work abroad in Ulm, a German Town by the Danube river. She is as a babysitter for a little girl that is very fond of. At the same time, she had to leave behind her own 12-year-old son who is now in the care of his grandfather. They live in a poor Romanian village also by the Danube river. Feeling abandoned by his mother, the boy runs away from home in an attempt to reach his mother by traveling on a small boat upriver. In this context, Clara has to come back home and face the life she left behind: her responsibility for the actions of her son. She is torn between the love for her son and the maternal feelings for the little girl she babysits in Germany.

Director’s Bio

Sabin Dorohoi graduated the Film Academy from Bucharest as a film director. In 2013, he founded WTS - Western Transylvania Studios, a production company in the western part of Romania, to provide full production services for international projects from Western Europe or the U.S. He has produced short films and TV documentaries, some of them selected and awarded in film festivals around the world. His most internationally acclaimed creation was the short film, WAY OF THE DANUBE (2013), which won the grand prize at Oscar qualifying Chicago International Children’s Film Festival - USA. It was the only Romanian film ever to be screened partially during Eurovision Song Contest Viena 2015. It also won a cinematography award at Capalbio - Italy, the Young Public Award at CINEMED – Montpellier - France and was selected in many festivals around the world such as Palm Springs ShortFest, Nordkapp, Vilnius or California Independent Film Festival. CLARA (shot in 2022) will be his first feature film.

Excursion – Bosnia & Herzegovina

In Sarajevo, a teenager seeking validation claims that she had sex for the first time during a game of "truth or dare" among middle schoolers. Trapped in her own lie, she invents a pregnancy and becomes the center of a controversy that spirals out of control.

Director’s Bio

Una Gunjak was born and raised in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. Her first short film THE CHICKEN premiered at the Cannes Film Festival Critics' Week in 2014 and won the European Film Award for Best Short Film. Her other short film SALAMAT, made in Germany within the initiative Lebanon Factory, premiered at the Directors' Fortnight in 2017. EXCURSION is her first feature film and gained the support of Eurimages, Aide au Développement at Cinemed 2019, Hubert Bals Script and Project Development Fund, and Sorfond in 2021.

Guardians of the Formula – Serbia/France

October 1958, the Cold War is at its peak. The fear of a nuclear war is growing every day. Working on a secret experiment at the state nuclear institute Vinča in Yugoslavia, a group of young communist scientists led by Professor Dragoslav Popović get irradiated with a lethal dose of uranium. Under the veil of secrecy, in the middle of the night, on a special flight, they are sent to Paris to the Institut Curie clinic for experimental medical treatment headed by respected doctor Georges Mathé. Doctor Mathé, a fiery adversary to nuclear weapons, feels a genuine contempt for the work endeavors of Professor Popović and his team. On the other hand, they doubt Mathé’s true intentions to cure them. As they are left with only days to live, the medical team still has no solution. So, Doctor Mathé proposes to perform the first-ever human bone marrow transplant. Is it an experiment with human lives or does he truly want to help? Based on a true story.

Director’s Bio

Dragan Bjelogrlic is one of the greatest Serbian actors, directors, and producers. Apart from a successful acting career that lasted 40 years, in the last two decades, he also was devoted to producing and directing movies and TV shows, consequently becoming one of the most recognized and successful cinematographic creators in the entire region. As an actor, he played over 90 roles on film and TV series. He started directing in 2009. He directed three films that brought in 2,500,000 viewers to the movie theaters which makes him the most successful director in the Balkans in the last ten years. His last film TOMA attracted over 1,100,000 viewers and became the most seen film in the cinematographic history of the Balkans. The film TOMA closed the 2021 Sarajevo Film Festival. He directed the BLACK SUN series (2 seasons), which is the first series of the region streamed on the Amazon Prime platform. His directorial debut, MONTEVIDEO, GOD BLESS YOU was shown at over fifty international festivals (Moscow/Audience Choice Award, Warsaw/Audience Choice Award, Beijing/Grand Prix, Sao Paulo, Jakarta, etc.) and was the Serbian candidate for the Oscars. It won the Best Director and the Best Film award at the Serbian "FIPRESCI" association. He produced six films that together won over thirty awards on various film festivals and five TV series. Dragan Bjelogrlic was born on October 10, 1963. After finishing elementary and high school in Belgrade, he enrolled at the Faculty of Dramatic Arts (FDA). His first acting role in front of the camera was at the age of 15, as the character of Sava Jovanovic Sirogojno in the film BOSKO BUHA (1978). After graduating from the FDA in 1989, he had a number of roles that made him a well-known actor and also recognized as one of Serbia's leading artists. He attracted a lot of public attention with the role of Slobodan Popadic in the series BETTER LIFE (1987-1990). After that role, he was in the TV show FORGOTTEN (1990) and the films THE BLACK BOMBER (1992), FULL MOON OVER BELGRADE (1993), PRETTY VILLAGE, PRETTY FLAME (1996). So far, he has played in almost 60 films, about 30 TV shows and dramas and 11 theater plays. At the beginning of 1994, together with his brother Goran Bjelogrlic, he founded the production company, Cobra Film, which has produced some of the most famous theater plays, films, and TV series in Serbia and the Ex-Yu region. 

Libertate / Freedom – Romania

In the chaotic days of the December 1989 revolution that overthrew the Communist regime, the Transylvanian city of Sibiu becomes the scene of a violent assault on a Police unit that quickly escalates into a bloody confrontation between soldiers, policemen, civilian protesters and representatives of the secret police. In a desperate attempt to escape the siege, Police captain Viorel is captured by the army and thrown into an empty swimming pool along with hundreds of prisoners accused of being terrorists.

Director’s Bio

Tudor Giurgiu is a Romanian director, writer and producer, born in 1972 in Cluj-Napoca. In 1995, he graduated in directing from the Theatre and Film Academy in Bucharest. He was president of Romanian National Television TVR in 2005-2007. He is also a director of music videos and has made documentaries and short films. He owns Libra Film, an independent production company, and is the initiator and president of the Transylvania Film Festival in Cluj. His feature debut, LOVE SICK, premiered in 2006 at the Berlinale and was later a box-office hit in Romania. His short film SUPERMAN, SPIDERMAN OR BATMAN was screened at the competition WFF 2011. OF SNAILS AND MEN is his latest feature film.

Only When I Laugh – Croatia

Tina (28) lives in what appears to be an idyllic marriage in town on the Adriatic coast. She is a housewife who takes care of their 6-year-old daughter, while her husband Frane (32) provides for the family. Their relationship begins to change when Tina expresses her desire to complete the college education she had to abandon due to pregnancy. Despite initially consenting and supporting her, Frane starts showing disapproval, initially through minor acts of sabotage. Over time, conflicts become more frequent, and arguments turn increasingly violent.

Director’s Bio

Vanja Juranić is an independent filmmaker, Zagreb-born, Berlin-based. During her high school years in the USA, she was successfully engaged in different art forms, from photography, drawing, and painting to creative writing. Upon returning to her native country, she continued to express herself primarily in photography and video art. Vanja graduated from the Faculty of Fashion Design and Textile Technology at the University of Zagreb, but her passion for visual media led her in a different direction. Professionally, she began her career as a director and camerawoman of more than 100 music videos in the mid-nineties. As a non-formally trained filmmaker, she honed her skills as a participant in Berlinale and Sarajevo Talent Campus, John Truby TV Drama Seminar, Paul Haggis Directing the Actors Workshop, Robert McKee Story Seminar, and Robert McKee Love Genre Seminar.

The Trap – Bulgaria

Yovo lives in harmony with nature on the banks of the Danube. A wild boar has been brought to the island near his house and trapped in a fenced area, where it is to be killed in exchange for a bribe. An important foreign investor and hunting enthusiast is due to arrive in Yovo's village to authorize a dump for highly radioactive nuclear waste. The boar turns out to be bigger and wilder than expected and kills the hunting dogs. The only way the hunt can continue is if Yovo lends them his well-trained dog.

Director’s Bio

Nadejda Koseva was born in 1974 in Sofia, Bulgaria. After graduating from the National Academy for Theater and Film Art she directed the short fiction novel THE RITUAL, part of the omnibus film LOST AND FOUND, which premiered at Forum Berlin IFF 2005. Nadejda Koseva's next short fiction film, OMELET, won a special mention at Sundance Film Festival '09 among other awards worldwide. Her latest short film, TAKE TWO, traveled around the world after winning a special mention at its premiere at Sarajevo IFF '11. IRINA is her debut feature film. In 2005, together with Svetla Tsotsorkova, she founded the production company Front Film. Front Film produced the short fiction film, WALTZES AND TANGOS FROM THE VILLAGE OF WHITEWATER (dir. Ivan Vladimirov) - Locarno IFF '07, the feature films BUFFER ZONE (dir. Georgi Djulgerov), THIRST (dir. Svetla Tsotsorkova) - San Sebastian '15, EFA Discovery nomination '16 and SHIP IN A ROOM (dir. Lubomir Mladenov) - Tokyo IFF '17, Competition.

 

DOCUMENTARY FILMS:

Alexander – Albania

In 1990, a mechanic in Albania named Alexander Gruda undertook one of the most daring feats in recent human history. After being fired by the navy for dissidence, he hijacked a warship in order to gain freedom for himself and his family.

Director’s Bio

Ardit Sadiku is a filmmaker from Shkodër, Albania. He began making short films as a teenager and has directed/produced three narrative features as well as two documentary features. His work has been seen at festivals across Europe and the United States. Thematically, his films reflect an abiding interest in the global human struggle for freedom, in the context of the Cold War and beyond. His previous release, FREESTYLE TO MONTENEGRO (2021), played at various international festivals. ALEXANDER (2023), Sadiku's newest film, follows the surreal and epic journey of a man who escaped from Communist Albania by hijacking a warship along with his family and friends. The documentary, an Albanian-American co-production, was shot in New York City, Albania, Montenegro, and Australia.

Cent’anni – Slovenia

After surviving a terminal illness diagnosis, Blaz sets off to a grueling celebratory Giro d'Italia. With him is his partner, filmmaker Maja Doroteja Prelog, who is tasked with capturing the triumphant biking tour. What was initially planned as a ride from the Dolomites to Sicily to reclaim control of one's own life and celebrate overcoming their greatest fear, soon becomes a journey of self-discovery for the couple. The focus shifted and now Maja's experience and needs hold the lens. While the lens of the camera turns inward, the relationship unravels, revealing a brave examination of self and what it truly means to be together. CENT'ANNI is an emotional rollercoaster with heart-wrenching confessions and poetic visuals in the midst of beautiful natural sceneries, an unfiltered testament to love and change.

Director’s Bio

Maja Doroteja Prelog (1988) is Ljubljana based film director. Her short film, WILD EAST (2012), was awarded at the Festival of Slovenian Film for best student short. Since then, she has been a member of the art group RÁ., where she directed music videos for a world-renowned art music group Laibach. She wrote, directed, and produced her short experimental film, 2045 (2016), which received an award for the best of FeKK SLO at the Ljubljana short film festival FeKK 2016. CENT’ANNI is her debut.

Drifting – Turkey

Covered in dust, a city by the sea loses its identity and memories while drifting apart from sea and sky. The notable daytime “silhouettes” on construction sites become real characters at night with their longing for home, anxieties for unclear future and their young burned-out bodies. While watching the dramatic changes in urban texture, we meet two young Kurdish cousins working in constructions, just like their fathers and grandfathers did for decades. Ferhat is a teacher, waiting to be assigned while working in constructions. His cousin Emrah plans on going to the university to become a teacher. They both dream of a different life, wanting to break the vicious cycle of construction work. From dormitories to May Day street protests, we get glimpses of their life, hearing their stories of struggle, resistance, families, their hopes and dreams.

Director’s Bio

After studying English Literature at Istanbul’s Bogazici University, Somnur Vardar's passion for films, and interest in journalism led Vardar to the graduate Media Studies programme of New York’s New School for Social Research. Her documentary making career began at Turkey’s first news channel where wrote, produced, edited and directed projects on a wide range of issues, and left with lifelong friends and film partners.

El Shatt – Blueprint for Utopia – Croatia

Hundreds of frozen and starved people floating on boats in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea fleeing from the war... Familiar scenes that we are used to seeing in recent times. But the year is 1944, and the refugees are traveling from Europe to Africa. After Italian capitulation, and before the arrival of the German army, 28,000 Dalmatian Croats left their home villages and towns to live for two years under the tents in the middle of the Egyptian desert, in a kind of a communist model village that was formed to show the Allies how the new Yugoslavia will look like when the war ends. This is a story about them.

Director’s Bio

Ivan Ramljak, a multifaceted talent, wears several hats in the world of film. Ramljak is not only a director but also a discerning film critic. His insights and analyses contribute to the understanding and appreciation of cinema. Ramljak has directed a total of nine short films, including both fiction and documentary works. His collaboration with Marko Škobalj has resulted in four fiction shorts, while he has independently helmed four documentaries and an experimental film. As an independent curator, Ramljak curates the “Kratki utorak” (Short Tuesday) program at the Tuškanac cinema in Zagreb. This program provides a platform for showcasing short films, fostering creativity, and engaging audiences. His dedication to film extends beyond the screen. Ramljak’s passion for storytelling and commitment to independent production contribute significantly to Croatia’s vibrant film landscape. Despite challenges, he continues to champion thought-provoking cinema, making a lasting impact on both local and international audiences.

 

Kino Volta – Italy/Slovenia

In 1909, four fearless entrepreneurs and then-unknown Irish writer James Joyce met in Trieste, the main port of the Austro-Hungarian empire, where he convinced them to expand their cinema business and invest in the opening of Ireland’s first full time cinema. The Cinema Volta is not a historical documentary about the opening of a landmark cinema, but a light, spirited and modern personal search for the spirit of the people involved.

Director’s Bio

Martin Turk was born in 1978 in Trieste and graduated from the Ljubljana Film Academy (AGRFT). He is the author of three feature films, selected in numerous international festivals (Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival, Torino Film Festival, Busan International Film Festival, Sarajevo Film Festival, Cinemed Montpellier, Festa del Cinema di Roma - Alice nella città), eight short films and four documentaries. In 2009, he developed the screenplay for his debut film FEED ME WITH YOUR WORDS at the Cinefondation Residence of the Cannes Film Festival. He teaches Videofilm at the Academy of Art at the University of Nova Gorica (AU UNG).

Motherland – Belarus

As young Nikita apprehensively enters his military conscription, and Svetlana travels the country looking for justice for her dead son, activists rage in the street against state-led violence rooted in dedovshchina, the cruel abuse that turns boys into soldiers and is the very mechanism of fear and violence Belarus uses to control its populace.

Directors’ Bios

Alexander Mihalkovich is a Belarusian-Ukrainian director and producer. He graduated with PHD in librarian science and with MA in film directing at DocNomads international study program. His focus as a filmmaker is on long-term projects towards which he feels a close personal relationship. After creating several short documentary and experimental films, he made his debut feature film, MY GRANNY FROM MARS, which had a successful theatrical release in Ukraine and has been selected at numerous international film festival including DOK.fest München 2019, BelDocs Belgrade 2019, Sarajevo IFF DocuTalents Award 2018, Jihlava IDFF 2018, Neighbors From The East 2019 opening film, ArtDocFest / Riga IFF 2019, Kino FORUM Bialystok 2019 and many others. 

Hanna Badziaka hails from Minsk, Belarus. In 2009, she graduated with a masters degree in Philology from the Belarusian State University. She worked as a video journalist for independent online media and, later, for the only independent TV channel in Belarus. Her focus as a journalist is on social problems and daily life issues. After acquiring vast experience in creating in-depth video reports, she got interested in documentary filmmaking. She participated in creating several documentaries and worked as a director and scriptwriter for a TV project focused on short documentaries. She collaborated with Alexander during work on his films MY GRANNY FROM MARS and LEAVE PERMISSION.

Narrow Path to Happiness – Hungary

A young gay Romani couple from a remote village in Hungary has a dream so absurd that it seems impossible: making a musical film based on their lives. Against all odds, they move to Budapest just as the Hungarian government is becoming increasingly authoritarian and hostile toward LGBTQ+ people.

Director’s Bio

Katalin Oláh (Director-Producer-Editor) is a Hungarian filmmaker based in Budapest. After many years working as a producer, she switched focus entirely to directing and established Makabor Studio, an award-winning production company with her cinematographer husband. Her short fiction and documentary films have been nominated several times by The Hungarian Film Academy, and she was awarded the best editor prize in the documentary film category. Her documentary, THE BAR MITZVAH BOYS was nominated to compete in the PRIX EUROPA 2018. Her full-length documentary, MY DIGITAL NOMAD, developed at Crossing Border by EDN received best director's prize at several festivals. Her latest, CONQUERING TIME AGNES KELETI, has received the Fiprseci prize in 2022 at Cinefest international Festival as best Hungarian film of the year.

Non-Aligned: Scenes from the Labudović Reels – Serbia/France

NON-ALIGNED is a documentary feature-length film that takes us on an archival road trip through the birth of the Third World project, based on unseen 35mm materials filmed by Stevan Labudović, the cameraman of Yugoslav President Tito. NON-ALIGNED retraces the birth of the Non-Aligned Movement, examining how a global project of political emancipation was constituted by the cinematic image.

Director’s Bio

Mila Turajlić is a documentary filmmaker born in Belgrade, Yugoslavia. Her most recent film, a documentary diptych Scenes from the Labudović Reels: NON-ALIGNED and CINE-GUERRILLAS premiered at the Toronto IFF and IDFA in 2022. Her previous film, THE OTHER SIDE OF EVERYTHING premiered at the Toronto IFF in 2017, and went on to win 32 awards including the prestigious IDFA Award for Best Documentary Film. It was a New York Times Critics' Pick, and was named one of the best films of 2018 by The New Yorker's Richard Brody. The film was HBO Europe’s first co-production with Serbia, and had a record-breaking theatrical release in Serbia. Mila's debut documentary film CINEMA KOMUNISTO, premiered at IDFA and the Tribeca Film Festival, and went on to win 16 awards including the Gold Hugo at the Chicago Int’l Film Festival in 2011, and the FOCAL Award for Creative Use of Archival Footage. Theatrically released in France, UK, Italy, Slovenia, Croatia and Serbia, CINEMA KOMUNISTO was broadcast across Europe. In her work with archives, Mila researches the intersection of personal and national memories, always seeking to reactivate forgotten histories, through forms ranging from lecture performances and video art to analytical essays. In 2018 she was commissioned by MoMA in New York to create a series of archive-based video installations for their landmark exhibition on Yugoslav modernist architecture. In 2020 Mila was awarded a Fellowship at Columbia University's Institute for Ideas & Imagination to pursue her long-term artistic research project Non-Aligned Newsreels, a deep-dive into the archival materials resulting from Yugoslavia's ciné-collaborations with the decolonizing world. The project was selected for the prestigious Cph:Lab in 2021, and video works and performances from the project have been performed and presented at the Berlin Biennale, Belgrade Biennale and IDFA on Stage. She received her Phd in cinema from the University of Westminster, and her MSc and BSc in Politics and International Relations from the London School of Economics. Mila is a member of the TED Fellows 2021 cohort. The same year she was invited to join the Oscars Documentary Branch of AMPAS. In 2021 Mila was named Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres (Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters) by the Government of France.

The Third End of the Stick – Slovakia

Otherness in otherness. What does it mean to be different in a community that is excluded from the society? The film follows the fate of Romani, who have become a minority within a minority. Queer Romas search for their living space and dream of working abroad. A legless father of five children longs for a wheelchair. A Romani grandmother sacrifices her life for the health of her beloved grandson. Will Emil, a Romani man who found faith in God, be able to save his son from alcohol? Four stories from the poorest Roma settlements in Slovakia aim to break down prejudices between the Roma community and the white majority.

Director’s Bio

Jaro Vojtek (1968) graduated from the Film and Television Faculty in Bratislava. His feature-length documentary HERE WE ARE! (2005), about a Slovak family returning to Slovakia from Kazakhstan, premiered at Karlovy Vary. His film THE BORDER (2009), about a village in eastern Slovakia that lies on the state border, won an award at the Jihlava IFDF and was also presented at the IFFR. His debut feature film CHILDREN (2014) premiered at the Beijing IFF, where it was granted the Best Screenplay, Best Cinematography and Best Supporting Actress awards from the jury including directors Luc Besson and Kim Ki-duk.

 

SHORTS PROGRAM:

250KM, dir. Hasmik Movsisyan, 2022, Armenia, 22 mins, Narrative

When a war suddenly breaks out, a 14-year-old boy finds himself faced with a decision that could save his family. With no time to think, he embarks on a treacherous 250 kilometer journey to safety…

27, dir. Flóra Anna Buda, 2023, France, 10 min, Animation

Alice is 27 years old today. Even though she is suffocating a bit, she still lives with her parents and tends to live in her dreams to escape her dreary, everyday life. After a psychedelic party on a factory roof, she has a serious drunken bike accident. Will this give her the courage to become an adult?

A STEP BACK, dir. Sofija Nedeljković, 2023, Serbia, 23 min, Narrative

Dunja gets fired because of her pregnancy. This leads her on a path of bureaucratic and personal problems, making her rethink her surroundings. Dunja needs to find a way to make a better life for herself, and her child - through song.

AXINOS, dir. Anna Maria Kakona & Calliopi Villy Kotoula, 2023, Greece, 5 min, Narrative

A little girl tries her best to protect her beloved sand sea turtles from the busy summer beach.

CREEPY CRAWLIES, dir. Filip Zadro, 2023, Croatia, 19 min, Narrative

Cleaning your home with a bad vacuum cleaner is like walking in circles. When you’re done, you’re tired, and you’re still in the same place.

DELIRIJUM, dir. Darija Lazić, Serbia, 5 min, Animation

Two drunks are sitting at the bar in a tavern. The waitress serves them drinks. While drinking, they start competing to see who can drink more. With each new drink, their faces become more and more deformed. Their competition becomes chaotic, the shapes and colors on their faces change and become abstract... The waitress brings them the bill, the drunks sober up in a moment, they don't have to pay, which is why their heads end up on the wall of the bar.

DIGNITY KEEPER, dir. Sandro Rados, 2021, Germany, 8 min, Narrative

When mobile nurse Esma finds one of her patients dead, the strictly timed schedule of her day is thrown off balance. Between professional ethics and family obligations, she is faced with a difficult decision.

DYSLEXIA, dir. Nataša Glišović, 2023, Serbia, 5 min, Animation

A girl, faced with her dyslexia disorder, tries to compose a text on paper. With each new attempt, the girl experiences greater and greater frustrations, which are manifested in the form of playful and restless letters. The letters "dance" and transform around the girl, and as their confrontation approaches the climax, the girl's torment is symbolically depicted, along with her struggle to overcome the problem she lives with. Technique: hand-drawn 2D computer animation and paper cut out animation.

END OF THE ROAD, dir. Ivana Todorovic, 2022, Serbia, 19 min, Documentary

Željko and Viki sacrifice all they have to ensure a gentle end of life for discarded horses on their small plot of land. END OF THE ROAD examines mortality and the need for compassion, empathy and dignity to be extended to all living beings for the entirety of their lives' journey.

GAME, INTERRUPTED, dir. Ilayda Iseri, 2023, Turkey, 15 min, Narrative

In 1979, during their winter break, two siblings, aged 7 and 8, find their way out of boredom by switching from one game to another in a small apartment in Ankara. They must fix the course of events before their mother returns home.

GLASSES CRACK, TABLECLOTHS SPLINTER, dir. Anna R. Japaridze, 2022, Georgia, 15 min, Documentary

Since the advent of home movie footage, memory has entered into symbiosis with media — but, as decades pass, regimes change and file formats fall away, so too, does media disintegrate, and the memories depart alongside it.

HANDS: TRIPTYCH, dir. Kaja Rakušček, 2022, Slovenia, 5 min, Documentary

Three micro-portraits of hands show how the way of life is reflected on the hands of a bass player, a tattoo artist and a retiree.

HEAR THE VOICES FROM THE HOUSE, dir. Sabina Abubakirova, 2023, Azerbaijan, 18 min, Documentary

In Azerbaijan, Sanubar and a courageous group of women are determined to break the culture of silence and fear surrounding domestic violence and femicide, using their strength and solidarity to empower survivors and ignite change.

HER DRESS FOR THE FINAL, dir. Martina Mestrovic, 2023, Croatia, 9 min, Animation

One day my granny dyed her wedding dress black. She wanted to be buried in it.

HIGHWAY OF A BROKEN HEART, dir. Nikos Kyritsis, 2023, Greece, 11 min, Narrative

Somewhere, in the middle of nowhere, on an empty and badly lit part of an endless highway, Mary will do everything she can to win back the man who just broke her heart. But the night holds a big surprise.

HOW I LEARNED TO HANG LAUNDRY, dir. Barbara Zemljič, 2023, Slovenia, 23 min, Narrative

After a chance encounter, Oli and Miha become friends, or something more. Or less.

INVISIBLE BORDER, dir. Mark Siegfried Gerstorfer, 2022, Austria, 27 min, Narrative

A deportation in Vienna in the middle of the night. Police officer Nancy and her colleague Albert have the task of evicting a family. Together with a police unit, they ambush an Albanian family without a valid residence permit. The situation escalates and the events of the night leave everyone involved traumatized.

ISTINA (TRUTH), dir. Tamara Denić, 2023, Germany, 29 min, Narrative

A photojournalist is threatened by extremist groups in her Serbian home, and flees to Germany with her daughter. But then she also experiences increasingly strong threats and attacks in her new home.

LYUBIMA, dir. Maya Ivanova Vitkova-Kosev, 2023, Bulgaria, 27 min, Narrative

Lyubima, an artist in her 30s, is left by her partner. She needs to start anew, but the grief is there, as big as an African elephant…

MAMI, dir. Andrei Gheorghe & Marian Andrei, 2023, Romania, 12 min, Documentary

The documentary serves as a testament to the power of following one's dreams, no matter one's age.

MILENA, dir. Željko Stanetić, 2024, Serbia, 25 min, Narrative

With the arrival of Jelena, a journalist investigating the experiences of forcibly mobilized refugees during the war, begins Milena and Stevan's retelling of 1995, the year they fled their home in Croatia.

MY GRANDFATHER’S HOUSE, dir. Leylakhanim Ganbarli, 2023, Azerbaijan, 25 min, Documentary

Director Leylakhanim Ganbarli embarks on an emotional journey to Oglangala, her childhood village in Nakhchivan, Azerbaijan’s remote enclave, longing to reconnect with her late grandfather.

OCTOPUS BANANA HOTCHPOTCH, dir. Milanka Fabjancic, 2023, Slovenia, 8 min, Animation

A lively and dynamic journey through the lives of best friends, soulmates Mila and Mara. Two quite different life paths join in a wonderful adventure over many decades, enriched and driven by sisterly love.

OVERTHINKER, dir. Nemanja Mladenovic, 2023, Serbia, 13 min, Narrative

Filmmaker Alexander is having trouble writing a screenplay for a short film due to an upcoming deadline for his master's program application. His anxiety and frustration about not being able to write a suitable story, combined with self-doubt and fear of failure, are intensifying his inner conflicts.

PLAYBILL, dir. Dražen Bošnjak & Marko Vukušić, 2022, Croatia, 2 min, Animation

Escaping from a bank heist, a bandit finds himself in blandness of his life, when suddenly an opportunity shows up.

PROMISIUNEA (THE PROMISE), dir. Octavian Frecea, 2023, Romania, 20 min, Animation

In the ocean water polluted with garbage, a baby whale is saved by an 8-year-old boy and his father.

SCARLET, dir. Maria Bobeva, 2023, Bulgaria, 25 min, Narrative

Stella is a social worker from the State Child Protection Agency in Sofia, Bulgaria sent on a signal to check a house in a rundown area of the city. She enters the world of the 9-year-old Scarlet and her negligent mother - a victim herself, abused by a despotic boyfriend, a small-scale thug.

SELF-PORTRAIT ALONG THE BORDERLINE, dir. Anna Dziapshipa, 2023, Georgia, 50 min, Documentary

An abandoned house opens the door to revisit the past by bringing to life a unique, nearly destroyed image archive from the unrecognized territory on the border of the Black Sea: Abkhazia.

SUNNY’S CLOSET, dir. Carlyle King, 2023, USA, 22 min, Narrative, Out of Competition

“Sunset Blvd.” meets “The Blindside” with a little bit of “LaLa Land” for good measure!

SUPER, dir. Nikolas Kouloglou, 2023, Greece, 20 min, Narrative

On their way to the supermarket, Penny and James meet again for the first time.

THE DOLL, dir. Emine Uysal Berger & Ozgur Ceylan, 2023, Turkey, 20 min, Narrative

Gukla is a horror story about three women who come together in an abandoned mansion. When Fatma Teyze moves into the rundown mansion after her house is demolished due to urban renewal, she meets Dunya, an Afghan refugee who has just given birth. The two realize that there are beings other than themselves in the house.

THE SILENCE OF THE BANANA TREES, dir. Eneos Carka, 2022, Hungary, 24 min. Documentary

A father finds shelter in the memories he created together with his daughter to whom he hasn't spoken in years. The film transforms into a go-between in an attempt to unite them through images, sounds, and letters.

THE SONG OF FLYING LEAVES, dir. Armine Anda, 2023, Armenia, 13 min, Animation

A journey to a dream through an encounter between Suna, a 12-year-old girl who uses leaves as a blanket, and an old man who possesses secret knowledge. A reflection on friendship between a father and a daughter, a teacher and a student, an adult and a child, and the path that can turn the impossible into possible... The invented letters in the film are inspired by old Armenian symbols.

THE WALK, dir. Eleonora Veninova, 2023, Macedonia, the former Yugoslav Republic of, 24 min, Narrative

A young girl and her companion take a walk, where they discuss life and what happens afterwards.

TUG OF WAR WITHIN, dir. Aleksa Pašić, Serbia, 5 min, Animation

There is a constant battle of positive and negative emotions within each person's mind. They are depicted through the black and blue entities which are shapeshifting and colliding in an effort to suppress the other side. We must decide who will prevail, black or blue, light or darkness, or perhaps find a balance between both...

TOY, dir. Lucija Vrkić, 2022, Croatia, 3 min, Animation

In Toy, the only human protagonist is suffocated in silence, even better, is eaten by toys. Toys are, usually, a beautiful memory of childhood, but what if they’re also representing a negative person, or they've been used as props for violence, and were the only ones you were able to confide in when no one else believed you. In the end, the child finds herself cornered, alone and abandoned, unable to let go of the trauma. The only thing that is left is broken childhood memories woven into toys.

QUEER FIGHTERS OF UKRAINE, dir. Angelika Ustymenko & Alex King, 2022, Ukraine, 30 min, Documentary

Before the full-scale invasion, subversive collective Rebel Queers would defy the heteronormative and patriarchal world that so suffocated them by scrawling on the walls of Kyiv: ‘Queer Sex,’ ‘Make Queer Punk Again,’ and ‘Be Queer, Do Crime, Hail Satan,’ among others. The driving force behind Rebel Queers is Angelika Ustymenko, a non-binary and neurodivergent artist and filmmaker.

VALERIJA, dir. Sara Jurinčić, 2023, Croatia, 15 min, Documentary

This hybrid documentary takes us on a journey into a world without men. The island tradition is how the women choose the image on their grave that will represent them after they're gone.

WAKING UP IN SILENCE, dir. Mila Zhluktenko & Daniel Asadi Faezi, 2023, Ukraine, 17 min, Documentary

Ukrainian children are confronted with their past as they explore their new home in Germany: a former Wehrmacht military barracks.