Get the Festival Pass to all SEEfest 2020 films!
Full-scale SEEfest 2020 program is live!
Are you ready to binge-watch the 2020 selection of new films from South East Europe? Travel with movies to a region where diversity and entangled histories lend rich material to filmmakers of all stripes. From WWII dramas to intense chamber pieces, movies about the wind – or Shakespeare plays starring women from rural Turkey; sci-fi political satire, and comic retelling of a marriage headed for divorce. These films take you to remote villages and the pains of acting auditions, atmospheric police procedural, and corporate takeovers of inner-city neighborhoods.
Movies are indeed a great way to travel, especially to a region with dozens of mostly small countries that are still the least known part of Europe for most Americans. Travel with SEEfest pass and visit South East Europe! Note: Available only to patrons in the U.S. All films with English subtitles.
TAKE THE JOURNEY ONLINE AND BUY FESTIVAL PASS
Book recommendation: An Armenian Sketchbook, by Vasily Grossman
Discover Armenia from the early 1960s in this wonderful account by Grossman, whose astute observations on human nature are uncannily applicable to our own times. The book is entertaining, a fast read, gripping, philosophical, and intimate, all at the same time. A major 20th-century writer, Grossman wrote about the WWII horrors as well as the horrors of the Stalinist era. His sketchbook on Armenia is a short-form masterpiece and an excellent introduction to Grossman’s other works.
An Armenian Sketchbook is available on Amazon.
Films from Yugoslavia’s storied cinematic past at Cannes Classics 2020:
Two unforgettable films from ex-Yugoslavia are included in this year’s Cannes Classics: Who’s Singing Over There? (1980, Serbia) by Slobodan Šijan; and The Ninth Circle (1960, Croatia) by France Štiglic. Hungarian 1968 Upthrown Stone by Sándor Sára is also featured in the selection, as well as two more Eastern European films: Polish The Hourglass Sanatory (1973) by Wojciech J. Has, and Russian July Rain (1966) by Marlen Khutsiev.
This year’s program will be shown, in whole or in part, by the festival Lumière in Lyon (October 10-18, 2020) and by the Rencontres Cinématographiques de Cannes (November, 23-26, 2020).
Cannes Classics 2020 complete selection can be found HERE.
SUPPORT SEEFEST
If you like our programming orientation and the cultural mission of SEEfest, consider making a donation to support our work. Thank you!
FRIENDS OF SEEFEST
SEEfest program and activities are supported, in part, by the California Arts Council, a state agency; Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors through the Los Angeles County Department of Arts and Culture; and by an Arts Grant from the City of West Hollywood. Special thanks to ELMA, and the Hollywood Foreign Press Association for their continued support of our programs.
Follow SEEfest on Instagram and Facebook where we post SEE news as it happens!
Watch “The Son” in SEEfest Virtual Cinema
The Son
Handsome adolescent Arman was adopted as a baby. Soon after his adoption, the parents got a biological son. Arman is constantly fighting the demons of his past, and, at the same time, he tries to protect his younger brother Dado (14) from all the challenges of today’s Sarajevo – drugs, guns, or going to war in the Middle East. The film follows a family struggling with internal tensions while fighting to survive in Bosnia.
THE SON is a second feature for director Ines Tanović. The film is currently playing in the SEEfest virtual cinema.
Full scale 2020 SEEfest program is here!
The full festival program is now online. Our team has worked hard to put together an engaging lineup of features, documentary, and short films. Information about all selected films is available on our website, at seefilmla.org. This year you can binge-watch the entire SEEfest selection of 2020 films. Please note that online viewing will be available for patrons in the U.S. only.
Classic book behind 2020 SEEfest movie: IZA’S BALLAD, by Magda Szabó
We invite you to read the novel that inspired one of this year’s SEEfest films in competition (Pilate). Written by the celebrated Hungarian writer Magda Szabó, the book, titled IZA’S BALLAD in English translation by George Szirtes, is a mother-daughter story that spans the bygone 20th century past and the new utilitarian age of neo-capitalist Hungary. Find the book HERE.
SUPPORT SEEFEST
If you like our programming orientation and the cultural mission of SEEfest, consider making a donation to support our work. Thank you!
FRIENDS OF SEEFEST
SEEfest program and activities are supported, in part, by the California Arts Council, a state agency; Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors through the Los Angeles County Department of Arts and Culture; and by an Arts Grant from the City of West Hollywood. Special thanks to ELMA, and the Hollywood Foreign Press Association for their continued support of our programs.
Follow SEEfest on Instagram and Facebook where we post SEE news as it happens!
SEEfest Launches 15th Edition Online July 15 – August 16, 2020
The 15th annual South East European Film Festival in Los Angeles (SEEfest), postponed in April due to the COVID-19 pandemic, announced the official launch of its 2020 edition which will run from July 15 – August 16, at the dedicated online outlet (athome.seefilmla.org).
“After months of incredible work by our very own dream team, the 2020 festival is happening online,” said Vera Mijojlic, Founder and Director of SEEfest. “It was truly a heroic effort. We battled technical issues, filmmakers reluctance, and lots of night time work – but we did it.”
In a joint statement the SEEfest Board of Directors noted, “While many other festivals have completely canceled their 2020 editions, SEEfest has not only kept up its programming, but managed to produce the full festival on one of the top software platforms in the world which serves the likes of Cannes, American Film Market, and Hollywood studios.”
The 2020 festival edition, SEEfest’s 15th annual, features a rigorously curated program of 57 films highlighting the cinematic expressions of South East Europe’s cultural diversity across twenty countries.
North American premieres in the program include, among others, three remarkable debuts: Romania’s Legacy, a rare psychological thriller from the country known for its trailblazing new wave cinema; Kosovo’s haunting story about motherhood and struggles with war times traumas in Zana; and mother-daughter story about aging in the modern world, Pilate, an adaptation of the novel by the celebrated Hungarian writer, Magda Szabó.
Also on the program are Bulgarian My Gypsy Road whose heroine is the first-ever Roma woman to graduate from the Academy of Dramatic Arts; and Bora, Stories of a Wind, a visually magnificent parable about freedom paying a poignant tribute to the multi-ethnic intersection of Slavic, Italian, and Germanic cultures in the Northern Adriatic.
All program information and links are published here.
Festival passes and individual tickets are available at https://athome.seefilmla.org/.
About the South East European Film Festival (SEEfest)
SEEfest presents cinematic and cultural diversity of South East Europe to American audiences and creates cultural connections through films, artistic and social events. SEEfest program and activities are supported, in part, by the California Arts Council, a state agency; Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors through the Los Angeles County Department of Arts and Culture; and by an Arts Grant from the City of West Hollywood. Special thanks to ELMA Foundation, and the Hollywood Foreign Press Association for their continued support of our programs.
Diary of Diana B at SEEfest 2020 Online Cinema
Watch “The Diary of Diana B.”
Austrian-born Diana Budisavljević leads the comfortable life of the Zagreb upper-middle class when in the fall of 1941 she learns that Jewish and Serbian (Christian Orthodox) women and their children are being taken to Ustasha camps where they are left to die of starvation and disease. Since the Jewish Community is only allowed to send provisions to the Jewish prisoners, the equally vulnerable Serbian women and children are left helpless.
This is the untold story of how Diana organized the largest rescue operation, a campaign that, by the end of World War II, will have saved more than 10,000 children from certain death.
Don’t miss this extraordinary historical drama currently playing in SEEfest virtual cinema.
Submissions for the 36th IDA Documentary Awards extended till July 28!
Submissions are open for the 36th Annual IDA Documentary Awards, the world’s most prestigious awards dedicated solely to the documentary genre, celebrating the best nonfiction programs and documentarians of the year!
Entry is open to any non-fiction shorts, features, series, and podcasts completed or publicly released between October 1, 2019, and December 31, 2020. Apply by July 7, 2020!
Films from SEE region in Cannes Cinéfondation selection
Congrats to three student films that made the Cannes Cinéfondation selection: Agapé by Márk Beleznai, Budapest Metropolitan University, Hungary; Contraindicatii by Lucia Chicos, UNATC “I. L. Caragiale,” Romania; and Nihče ni rekel, da te moram imeti rad by Matjaž Jamnik, UL AGRFT, Slovenia.
SUPPORT SEEFEST
If you like our programming orientation and the cultural mission of SEEfest, consider making a donation to support our work. Thank you!
FRIENDS OF SEEFEST
SEEfest program and activities are supported, in part, by the California Arts Council, a state agency; Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors through the Los Angeles County Department of Arts and Culture; and by an Arts Grant from the City of West Hollywood. Special thanks to ELMA, and the Hollywood Foreign Press Association for their continued support of our programs.
Follow SEEfest on Instagram and Facebook where we post SEE news as it happens!
SEEfest 2020 Extended Dates Plus Virtual Jury Awards
SEEfest extends 2020 festival dates to August
We are pleased to announce the dates of the extended festival run in 2020: From virtual cinema soft launch on June 24 to full program launch on July 15 through Aug 16. During the extended run, a curated program of 57 films will be showcased in our virtual theaters online. Please visit program pages on our website to find out more about the films in this year’s lineup, and start watching early releases.
Jury Awards of the 15th SEEfest
In an exceptionally difficult year our heartfelt thanks go to the members of SEEfest 2020 juries whose awards pay tribute to outstanding films in seven competition categories:
BEST FEATURE FILM, GRAND JURY PRIZE
Zana, by Antoneta Kastrati
Honorable Mention: Omar and Us, by Maryna Er Gorbach & Mehmet Bahadır Er
BEST DOCUMENTARY
Ex-aequo:
Queen Lear, by Pelin Esmer; and Bora, Story About a Wind, by Bernhard Pötscher
Honorable Mention: Come Find Me, by Diana Nicolae & Noriflorentina Vito
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY IN A FEATURE FILM
Dávid Hartung, cinematographer, Pilate
Honorable Mentions – shared:
Virginie Saint-Martin, cinematographer, God Exists Her Name is Petrunya
Sevdije Kastrati, cinematographer, Zana
Jani-Petteri Passi, cinematographer, Corporation
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY IN A DOCUMENTARY FILM
Bernhard Pötscher, cinematographer, Bora, Story About a Wind
BEST SHORT FICTION
The Dude, by Alexandros Kakaniaris
Honorable Mention: When I’m at Home, by Ivana Todorović
BEST SHORT DOCUMENTARY FILM
Then Comes the Evening, by Maja Novaković
Honorable Mention: A Cat is Always Female, by Martina Meštrović, Tanja Vujasinović
BEST SHORT ANIMATION
Passage, by Igor Ćorić
Honorable Mention: Two, by Emre Okten
Congratulations to all filmmakers!
Interview with COMMON STORY filmmaker
We continue to profile filmmakers whose new movies are featured in our 2020 edition. This week we invite you to hear from Gordan Kičić, who spoke with SEEfest team member Azra Isaković about his film, and the triple role he played in COMMON STORY as director, producer and lead actor. Make sure to follow SEEfest youtube channel for more interviews and trailers to come. You can watch the interview here.
Submissions Now Open for the 36th IDA Documentary Awards!
Submissions are open for the 36th Annual IDA Documentary Awards, the world’s most prestigious awards dedicated solely to the documentary genre, celebrating the best nonfiction programs and documentarians of the year!
Entry is open to any non-fiction shorts, features, series, and podcasts completed or publicly released between October 1, 2019, and December 31, 2020. Apply by July 7, 2020!
SUPPORT SEEFEST
If you like our programming orientation and the cultural mission of SEEfest, consider making a donation to support our work. Thank you!
FRIENDS OF SEEFEST
SEEfest program and activities are supported, in part, by the California Arts Council, a state agency; Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors through the Los Angeles County Department of Arts and Culture; and by an Arts Grant from the City of West Hollywood. Special thanks to ELMA, and the Hollywood Foreign Press Association for their continued support of our programs.
Follow SEEfest on Instagram and Facebook where we post SEE news as it happens!
SEEfest Online Edition Launches with COMMON STORY
SEEfest Goes Live with Lighthearted COMMON STORY
Filled with genuine warmth and gentle humor, Common Story (Serbia, 2019, 91 min) takes us through the saga of an actor, Veljko Radisavljević, who believes that the entire universe has conspired against him. He is a walking problem convinced that all the discord in his life is created by people around him, which is why he often gets into comic conflicts with friends, family, colleagues, and even random passersby.
Waiting for the big role that he thinks will solve all his troubles, Veljko slowly begins to come to grips with the real problems in his life.
Directed and produced by the lead actor, Gordan Kičić, this U.S. premiere marks the launch of SEEfest online edition. Don’t miss this rare lighthearted film from South East Europe, and a successful feature debut of a popular actor.
Watch COMMON STORY in the virtual screening room.
Interview with ZANA filmmakers
We begin a series of interviews highlighting filmmakers behind some of the films in the official selection of SEEfest 2020, starting with the L.A.-based team of ZANA. Check out the conversation Hipolito Munoz had with director Antoneta Kastrati, cinematographer Sevdije Kastrati and producer Casey Cooper Johnson. Make sure to follow SEEfest YouTube channel for more interviews and trailers to come, like this interview with ZANA filmmakers.
Summer Festival Jam
Transilvania International Film Festival in Cluj-Napoca, Romania, usually slated for June, will be held outdoors from July 31-Aug 9, preceded by Pula Film Festival in Croatia taking place July 18-26 in the beautiful outdoor venue Arena, one of only six surviving amphitheaters from Roman times. On the heels of these two festivals, Sarajevo will welcome visitors to its 26th edition taking place Aug 14-21 in several outdoor venues.
SEE filmmakers on the move: Ioana Mischie VR project goes to Cannes
Tangible Utopias, poetically dubbed as ‘noetic science and hope-filled vision’ VR project by Romanian filmmaker Ioana Mischie is one of 23 selected for Cannes XR industry platform. Last year two of her other projects were successfully presented at SEEfest Accelerator.
SUPPORT SEEFEST
If you like our programming orientation and the cultural mission of SEEfest, consider making a donation to support our work. Thank you!
FRIENDS OF SEEFEST
SEEfest program and activities are supported, in part, by the California Arts Council, a state agency; Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors through the Los Angeles County Department of Arts and Culture; and by an Arts Grant from the City of West Hollywood. Special thanks to ELMA, and the Hollywood Foreign Press Association for their continued support of our programs.
Follow SEEfest on Instagram and Facebook where we post SEE news as it happens!
Zana Online – Kosovo’s Entry for 2020 Oscars Best International Feature
From SEEfest 2020 lineup: ZANA is now available online
We are proud to present online the first of the 12 features in this year’s competition: ZANA, a remarkable debut by filmmaker Antoneta Kastrati, about a Kosovar woman’s struggles to reconcile the expectations of motherhood with a legacy of wartime brutality. Actress Adriana Matoshi superbly portrays the anguish and heartbreak of her post-war life, haunted by her long-suppressed past and pressured by family to seek treatment from mystical healers for her infertility.
The online viewing is made possible by our distribution partner, Synergetic, which has already acquired the U.S. rights for the film. Watch this great movie, beautifully lensed by cinematographer Sevdije Kastrati, director’s sister, whose previous work includes ‘The Marriage,’ screened at SEEfest 2018. ZANA was also Kosovo’s Oscar submission.
Watch ZANA in the virtual screening room.
A whole new film calendar in 2021
Most if not all major entertainment industry dates in the U.S. are under review. Starting with the Oscars announcement about extended eligibility period and likely new date for the ceremony in April instead of February, many festivals, awards shows, trade events and conferences will also adjust their 2021 calendars.
New podcast for documentary filmmakers: WHAT’S UP WITH DOCS?
Check out this new podcast about all things of interest for documentary filmmakers. Hosted by long-time SEEfest Accelerator mentor and advisor, Toni Bell, and produced by her IDA colleague Ranell Shubert, the podcast launched with a conversation featuring Tracy Rector, Seattle, WA – based Choctaw/Seminole filmmaker, and co-founder of Longhouse Media, an indigenous media arts organization, home of the nationally acclaimed program Native Lens. Congrats!
SUPPORT SEEFEST
If you like our programming orientation and the cultural mission of SEEfest, consider making a donation to support our work. Thank you!
FRIENDS OF SEEFEST
SEEfest program and activities are supported, in part, by the California Arts Council, a state agency; Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors through the Los Angeles County Department of Arts and Culture; and by an Arts Grant from the City of West Hollywood. Special thanks to ELMA, and the Hollywood Foreign Press Association for their continued support of our programs.
Follow SEEfest on Instagram and Facebook where we post SEE news as it happens!
2020 SEEfest Events Available Online
SEEfest on YouTube
A young crew, under the direction of California State University at Long Beach film student Daylyn Paul, put together a short documentary featuring interviews with several people working with SEEfest in various capacities. They added a few clips from the upcoming 2020 festival lineup as no more in-person interviews were possible due to COVID-19. We thank Daylyn and her fellow students, and invite you to check out their work!
Another short video on the SEEfest channel gives a closer look at our Accelerator scene workshop. We are grateful to the four L.A. based actors for making this an enjoyable and worthwhile experience for writers who participated in this year’s Accelerator.
SEEfest filmmaker at Palm Springs International Shortfest
Our alumna Tahmina Rafaella, the multi-talented Azerbaijani writer/director/actress whose feature debut film INNER CITY premiered at SEEfest 2017, will have her new short fiction film A WOMAN as part of the Palm Springs International Shortfest online. Congratulations to Tahmina, and we look forward to showcasing her new work for SEEfest audiences as well.
Love Balkan dancing?
Cafe Aman, the long-running folk dance appreciation classes and get-togethers founded and organized by Ian Price and Madelyn Taylor had its first facebook-live event on June 13. Join the merry and very diverse group of Angelinos for a taste of exuberant kolo dancing. It’s great exercise, too!
SUPPORT SEEFEST
If you like our programming orientation and the cultural mission of SEEfest, consider making a donation to support our work. Thank you!
FRIENDS OF SEEFEST
SEEfest program and activities are supported, in part, by the California Arts Council, a state agency; Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors through the Los Angeles County Department of Arts and Culture; and by an Arts Grant from the City of West Hollywood. Special thanks to ELMA, and the Hollywood Foreign Press Association for their continued support of our programs.
Follow SEEfest on Instagram and Facebook where we post SEE news as it happens!
Slovenian Film Retrospective and Remembering Christo
From the SEEfest archives
In 2011 SEEfest partnered with UCLA Film & Television Archive and the Slovenian Film Center to present the first-ever L.A. retrospective of Slovenian post-WWII cinema. Titled Slovenia Begs to Differ, the program featured VALLEY OF PEACE (Dolina Miru), 1957 Cannes Film Festival’s Best Actor Award for John Kitzmiller in the role of the stranded American paratrooper; and VESNA, 1953 socialist rom-com which was so popular that Slovenia’s highest film honor was also named ‘Vesna;’ The pretty actress Metka Gabrijelčič (pictured above) appeared in two more films before leaving acting for a career in civil engineering!
On the playbill were also THE RAFT OF THE MEDUSA (Splav Meduze, 1980), a whimsical throwback to the dada movement in the Balkan backwaters of the 1920s, when Serbian homegrown Zenitism blew some welcoming breath of fresh air onto the art scene; DANCE IN THE RAIN (Ples v dežju, 1961), an enigmatic drama of love between a brooding young painter and an older actress, played by the lovely Duša Počkaj; and PAPER PLANES (Na papirnatih avionih, 1967), featuring an ad man romancing a young ballerina in the Slovenian Alps.
Ten films were shown at the Billy Wilder Theater housed at the Hammer Museum in Westwood. The films were screened from 35mm archival prints, courtesy of the Slovenian Film Center.
We remember Bulgarian-born artist Christo
Christo was famous for his monumental projects, wrapping landmarks around the world and creating temporary installations such as floating piers, field of umbrellas, or gigantic curtains and pyramid-like structures made of oil barrels. His partner in life and in art, Jeanne Claude, died in 2009. Take a journey through his works and browse the project portfolio.
FRIENDS OF SEEFEST
SEEfest program and activities are supported, in part, by the California Arts Council, a state agency; Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors through the Los Angeles County Department of Arts and Culture; and by an Arts Grant from the City of West Hollywood. Special thanks to ELMA, and the Hollywood Foreign Press Association for their continued support of our programs.
Follow SEEfest on Instagram and Facebook where we post SEE news as it happens!
Meet the SEEfest 2020 Jury
The Jury of the 15th SEEfest
Judging the films in competition for this year’s virtual edition of the festival are 21 members of the entertainment community who will choose the best feature, documentary, and short films as well as vote on the achievement in cinematography.
The Jury members for Best Feature Film are renowned actresses Joanna Cassidy and Denise Grayson, and former director of programming and founding board member of the Austin Film Society, Chale Nafus.
In narrative documentary jury, they are joined by award-winning producer, director, and camerawoman Michelle Paymar, IDA Documentary Awards Competition Manager Ranell Shubert, and writer/director George Paul Csicsery.
Producer Tessa Bell, editor Robin Katz and actress/director Melanie Mayron are judging short fiction; documentary filmmakers Christine LaMonte, James Tumminia and Åsa Kalmér are judging short documentaries; and Spanish filmmaker Nathalie Martinez, director of Animation Is Film festival Matt Kaszanek and photographer Brian McCarty are judging short animation.
Two cinematography juries, one for feature films and one for documentaries, feature six more distinguished artists: designer and documentary director Arnold Schwartzman, cinematographers Anette Haellmigk, Alan Caudillo, Attila Szalay, and David Frederick, and concept designer and illustrator, Milena Zdravkovic.
Meet the 15th SEEfest Jury here.
Filmmaker news: Another successful writer
Filmmaker Varta Torossian, who participated in SEEfest Accelerator this year to hone her pitching skills, entered the ISA Pitch Challenge (International Screenwriters Association) and was selected as a finalist. Congrats to Varta, and good luck with the next step!
Learn about more new creative voices here.
Films from the archives: Mexico in the Balkans!
Enjoy this entertaining documentary by Slovenian filmmaker Miha Mazzini about the unique YuMex, Yugoslav Mexico musical craze in communist Yugoslavia. The film is 45 minutes long and it is available for free on YouTube.
SUPPORT SEEFEST
If you like our programming orientation and the cultural mission of SEEfest, consider making a donation to support our work. Thank you!
FRIENDS OF SEEFEST
SEEfest program and activities are supported, in part, by the California Arts Council, a state agency; Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors through the Los Angeles County Department of Arts and Culture; and by an Arts Grant from the City of West Hollywood. Special thanks to ELMA, and the Hollywood Foreign Press Association for their continued support of our programs.
Follow SEEfest on Instagram and Facebook where we post SEE news as it happens!