Watch the SEEfest Trailer!

SEEfest 2019 is right around the corner, just 3 weeks away on May 1! Get a taste of the eclectic, audacious films in the 14th edition in the festival trailer.

This year’s SEEfest, running May 1-8, will explore the theme of cinematic audacity by drawing attention to filmmakers whose works grapple with complex existential, ethical, and historical questions in innovative, and provocative ways. You can secure your festival pass and Opening and Closing Night tickets, now on Eventbrite.

GET YOUR TICKETS

Tickets for many screenings – including the Opening and Closing Galas – are now available and will become available as we confirm screening dates and times.

Peruse the entire film lineup: 13 feature narratives, 7 documentary narratives, half a dozen shorts programs, and an interstellar Sci-Fi program await you! We are now putting the final touches on the Business of Film Conference and Accelerator program.

The 8-day Festival all-access pass is the best deal and includes the Opening and Closing Galas (receptions following the screenings!), as well as The Business of Film Conference.

LITERARY SALON: TALKING ABOUT AUDACITY IN ALL ITS FORMS

Next week, Wednesday, April 17th, is the Cultural and Literary Salon in West Hollywood. Join us as a historian, a literary critic, and an author come together for an evening of scintillating cultural exchange. We will roam across audacity in the literature, history, and cinema of South East Europe, where geopolitical borders act as audacious protagonists in sociocultural affairs. Includes a reception for all attendees.

Panelists:

Fatma Aydemir, Author

Thomas Harrison, UCLA Professor

David Shafer, CSULB Professor

Moderated by Nina Bjekovic, UCLA Ph.D. Candidate

At the West Hollywood City Council Chambers (adjacent to the Library)

Presented with the support of the City of West Hollywood’s Arts Division. Click here for details and to RSVP.

SEEFEST SPONSORS

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 Arts Commission; and presented with the support of the City of West Hollywood’s Arts Division. Special thanks to ELMA for continued support of our programs.

Meet the SEEfest Jury!

MEET THE JURY

Please meet the 2019 SEEfest Jury. Twenty accomplished jury members will select the winners for 7 major awards. Just a few of our distinguished jurors include:

Irina Maleeva, a Bulgaria-born actress who was discovered by Federico Fellini and appeared in three of his films, then went on to star opposite Orson Welles in his iconic version of The Merchant of Venice.
Yoram Kahana, a filmmaker who holds master’s degrees from UCLA in motion pictures and journalism. He has made more than 50 educational and commercial films about international cultures, crafts, anthropology and art, and is a long-time member and frequent Board director of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association.
Matia Karrell, an Academy Award-nominated writer, director and producer. She has been awarded fellowships including the Fulbright, American Film Institute (AFI) Women Director’s Fellowship, and the Disney-ABC Directing Fellowship.

Read about all of our festival jurors and juries at https://seefilmla.org/festival-jury/

LITERARY SALON – GUEST SPEAKERS ANNOUNCED

On April 17th, a historian, a literary critic, an actress, and an author will come together for an evening of scintillating cultural exchange. These dynamic panelists draw on their knowledge, experience, and anecdotes to contemplate the theme of audacity in all of its forms. Join us for the SEEFest Cultural and Literary Salon to explore audacity in the literature, history, and cinema of South East Europe, where geopolitical borders act as audacious protagonists in sociocultural affairs.

Panelists:

Fatma Aydemir, Author

Thomas Harrison, UCLA Professor

David Shafer, CSULB Professor

Moderated by Nina Bjekovic, UCLA Ph.D. Candidate

At the West Hollywood City Council Chambers (adjacent to the Library)

Presented with the support of the City of West Hollywood’s Arts Division. Click here for details and to RSVP.

FESTIVAL LINEUP NOW ONLINE

You can now explore the entire film lineup and start picking your list of must-see films. 13 feature narratives, 7 documentary narratives, half a dozen shorts programs, and an interstellar Sci-Fi program await you! Showtimes and tickets will be released shortly. Stay tuned for more details about the Business of Film Conference and Accelerator program!

SEEFEST SPONSORS

Opening Night Film & More Premieres Announced!

OPENING NIGHT FILM REVEALED…

Moon Hotel Kabul by Romania’s Anca Damian will open SEEfest with its West Coast premiere on May 1, 2019, at 7 PM at the Writers Guild Theater, 135 S. Doheny Drive in Beverly Hills.

Damian won Best Director Award at the Warsaw International Film Festival and the Mirada International Award at the Madrid Film Festival for this gripping mystery/thriller about Ivan, a charismatic but cynical investigative journalist with a sharp sense for story and no time for compassion. Everything changes after a one night stand in a Kabul hotel room with a translator named Ioana. Not long after their encounter, Ioana is found dead, and Ivan sets out on an investigation unlike any he has undertaken.

With all the best qualities of a sophisticated mystery and stellar lead performances, Moon Hotel Kabul will keep you guessing until the end.

“Anca Damian is the Agnès Varda of Romanian cinema: versatile, innovative, and audacious!” said SEEfest founder & artistic director Vera Mijojlić. “We are honored to open the 2019 South East European Film Festival Los Angeles with her latest daring work.”

This event is supported by the Blue Heron Foundation.

MORE PREMIERES

See more of the festival lineup online and get your festival pass today on Eventbrite.

DEEP CUTS
World Premiere
Croatia, 2018, 75’
Directors: Dubravka Turić, Filip Mojzes, Filip Peruzović

The thematic framework of the 3-story anthology feature film Deep Cuts is violence in all of its forms: as a destruction of intimacy, family, integrity, trust.

THE NIGHT OF THE BEAR
World Premiere
Romania, 2018, 77’
Director: Paul-Razvan Macovei

Three 17-year olds and would-be friends share emotionally-charged stories of their family life in the course of one summer night. Their often-absurd fights are mediated by the ironical appearance of a giant discarded teddy bear.

In his debut feature director, Macovei employs a unique story technique that will be especially appealing to young adult audiences (16 to 18-year-olds). He breaks the 4th wall to allow his subjects to talk directly to the audience and uses 2D animation featuring bears in lieu of people to illustrate family dynamics.

This screening is supported by the Romanian Cultural Institute, New York.

SUNRISE IN KIMMERIA
West Coast Premiere
Cyprus, 2018, 99’
Director: Simon Farmakas

A young villager gets caught in a tragicomic tug-o’-war, when a strange sphere, tracked by a foreign intelligence agency, crash-lands into his potato field.

Avoiding the stereotypical ethnographic comedies of the genre, the storyline intertwines the lives of the local villagers with the intelligence agents, combining the peasant-like naivety with international conspiracies and intrigues, conveying similarities that the latter has with the run-of-the-mill village rivalries and their struggle for authority and ownership.

Screening in the Sci-Fi program — stay tuned for more program announcements.

IRINA
North American Premiere
Bulgaria, 2018, 96’
Director: Nadejda Koseva

Irina is a part-time waitress in a small Bulgarian town. On the same day, she gets fired her husband gets into a serious accident, plunging them even deeper into poverty. To make ends meet, she becomes a surrogate mother.

With her emotions oscillating between disappointing family circumstances and new pregnancy, Irina confronts them with fierce determination and in her own unsentimental way discovers what it means to love and to forgive.

Winner of Best First Film, Best Actress and Union of Bulgarian Filmmakers award at the Golden Rose festival in Bulgaria, Special Jury Award for actress Martina Apostolova and Ecumenical Jury Award at Warsaw IFF, Best Feature Film Award at Tirana FF, Best First Feature Film Award & Best Actress Award at Cottbus FF, and Special mention to the actress Martina Apostolova at Tbilisi IFF.

This screening is supported by Calypso Media.

AUDACIOUS STORYTELLERS: SEEfest CULTURAL AND LITERARY SALON

A historian, a literary critic, an actress, and an author come together for an evening of scintillating cultural exchange. These dynamic panelists draw on their knowledge, experience, and anecdotes to contemplate the theme of audacity in all of its forms.

The SEEFest Cultural and Literary Salon will explore audacity in the literature, history, and cinema of South East Europe, where geopolitical borders act as audacious protagonists in sociocultural affairs.

Presented with the support of the City of West Hollywood’s Arts Division. Click here for details and to RSVP.

SEEFEST SPONSORS

SEEfest Grant Award from Hollywood Foreign Press Association

Fantastic news from SEEfest!

We are proud to share that the 14th edition of the South East European Film Festival LA is a recipient of a festival grant from the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA), home of the Golden Globes.

“We are greatly honored by this recognition and grateful to the Hollywood Foreign Press Association for supporting festivals that bring foreign language films to Los Angeles. This grant will help us provide mentorship for innovative projects and workshops for South East European filmmakers, and expand marketing to local film aficionados, educators, film scholars, and youth audiences, introducing them to cinematic gems from 18 South East European countries covered by the festival.”

-Vera Mijojlić, Founder & Artistic Director

Free screening and director Q&A

If you’re in the Long Beach area on Thursday evening. March 21, join us at California State University at Long Beach for a special free screening with the Jewish Studies Program of Gyula Gazdag’s 1985 documentary Package Tour. Following a group of Holocaust survivors and their children embarking on a tour to Auschwitz and Birkenau, The Package Tour asks why these people have come back – to remember? To try to understand how it could happen, and if it could happen again?

Gyula Gazdag is a director of film, theatre, and television productions and a professor at UCLA. He has served as the Artistic Director of the Sundance Directors Lab since 1997.

Followed by Q&A with director Gyula Gazdag and Vera Mijojlić

Literary Salon

Before SEEfest kicks off on May 1st, join us on April 17th at the West Hollywood Library for the literary and cultural salon Audacious Storytellers, with a thought-provoking interdisciplinary discussion of audacity in all of its forms. Through personal anecdotes, literary perspectives, and geopolitical histories, the panel will discuss the nature of audacity in an area of the world where borders continuously challenge national and cultural paradigms. Presented with the support of the City of West Hollywood’s Arts Division. Click here to RSVP.

Stay tuned for more announcements about the Opening and Closing Night films, a new sci-fi sidebar program, full film lineup, and the Business of Film Conference!

SEEfest Sponsors

First Peek at SEEfest Film Highlights!

SEEfest is excited to unveil the first batch of films for the 14th annual festival! This year’s SEEfest, running May 1-8, will explore the theme of cinematic audacity by drawing attention to filmmakers whose works grapple with complex existential, ethical, and historical questions in innovative, and provocative ways. You can secure your festival pass now on Eventbrite.

Just a few of the 56 films in competition:

The Delegation
North American premiere!

Bujar Alimani’s multiple award-winning powerhouse of a film from Albania probes the layers of oppression between a prisoner and his unlikely entourage in what is essentially a first-rate road movie, or as Cineuropa describes, “a dark, absurdist comedy as it depicts how the officials try to uphold a system that is obviously in the process of falling apart.” Winner of the Grand Prix at Warsaw International Film Festival, Trieste Award for Best Feature Film, as voted for by the audience, and the PAG Jury Award at Trieste International Film Festival.

Re-Generation
West Coast Premiere!

Emir Kapetanovic’s documentary about a group of Bosnian adolescents from all ethnic groups in search of a future that is not held hostage by the past.

Crush My Heart
North American Premiere!

The first feature by Slovakian director Alexandra Makarova is an Austrian Romeo and Juliet love story with Roma protagonists. Winner of “Best Screenplay” and “Audience Award” at European festivals, SEEfest welcomes the North American premiere!

Together
North American Premiere!

Emotionally charged story of a gay Slovenian man who fights for custody of his deceased partner’s daughter tackles persistent prejudice and social obstacles facing same-sex couples.

Scopophilia
West Coast Premiere!

From Greece, Natalia Lampropoulou and Ilektra Aggeletopoulou create a slick homage to Hitchcock’s Rear Window, using a webcam app on the computer.

Prisoner of Society
North American Premiere!

Winner of numerous Oscar® qualifying awards and the first Georgian short documentary to be nominated for European Film Academy Awards, Rati Tsiteladze’s Prisoner of Society is a beautiful portrait of a transgender man who can’t leave home.

Pre-Festival Event

Stay tuned for more announcements about the Opening and Closing Night films, a new sci-fi sidebar program, full film lineup, and the Business of Film Conference!

Community Partner Spotlight: International Documentary Association

On March 19th, join the IDA for a special 20th-anniversary of Doug Block’s 1999 documentary Home Page, which explored the emerging culture of the internet and led directly to the formation of The D-Word. The event will begin at 800 Degrees from 5:30 pm with a mixer, continuing with a special screening of Home Page at 8 pm at the historic Linwood-Dunn Theater. Director and D-Word founder Doug Block will be present for a Q&A after the film, moderated by former IDA Board President and longtime D-Word co-host Marjan Safinia. More details and tickets here.

SEEfest Volunteer Spotlight – Alex Blazina

SEEfest cannot exist without the fabulous volunteers who are working behind the scenes day in and day out, especially between January and May. We’re putting the spotlight on these dedicated cinephiles who make the annual festival a reality.

Alex Blazina comes to Los Angeles by way of Croatia. He’s studying film at California State University, Los Angeles and is a filmmaker, photographer, and storyteller, whose skills are an ideal match for creating fun, short content for social media. SEEfest is tapping into Alex’s talents for filmmaking to document behind the scene activities as SEEfest 2019 comes into being. You’ll be able to see Alex’s short films on our YouTube Channel, Facebook, and Instagram.

Here’s Alex Blazina, in his own words…

What attracted you to volunteer for SEEfest?

I was born and raised in Croatia, which is in the Southeast of Europe, so I have a strong connection with events and films from that area.

How long have you been involved with SEEfest and the Festival and what volunteer positions have you held?

This is my first volunteer year.

Are you involved in the film industry? If so, what do you do? How did you get started?

I am not involved in the industry. (Editor’s note: take a look at a recent video Alex shot on a road trip.)

What’s your favorite film and why?

Stanley Kubrick – The Shining. It’s a masterpiece that every film student should watch for its amazing cinematography and camera work that we all use today in our films. It is a film that defined the dolly tracking shots and long hallway scenes.

Tell us a bit about your life: where are you from; what do you do for a living; what do you love about Los Angeles and how long have you lived here?

I am from Croatia, born and raised. Moved to Britain to study film. Currently, I am in LA, doing a year abroad program studying film as well. What I love about LA is how different it is from other cities. You have everything you want here (sunshine, beach, ocean, mountains, skyscrapers, desert and many more). And also there are a lot cultures here. You meet people from different parts of the world, with great life stories.

What do you look forward to most about SEEfest2019?

Meeting people from the industry, seeing great films and just helping others find out about our past and culture.

Alex Blazina in front of Disney Hall, Los Angeles

Please say hello in the comments and welcome to Alex Blazina to SEEfest!

Click the button below to learn more about becoming a SEEfest Volunteer.

Psst! Please do us a favor and subscribe to the SEEfest YouTube Channel. We’ll be posting a lot more videos there this season!

Introducing The 14th Edition of SEEfest – Cinema of Audacity

The SEEfest team is excited to announce the Festival theme and poster design for the 14th Edition of SEEfest…

Cinema of Audacity.

The 2019 South East European Film Festival (SEEFest) in Los Angeles will explore the theme of cinematic audacity by drawing attention to South East European filmmakers whose works grapple with complex existential, ethical, and historical questions in innovative, and provocative ways. The festival will bring to the fore unconventional forms of artistic expression and cinematic representation that inform a diverse body of films. These works are further problematized by the region’s unique border dynamics.

SEEFest 2019 invites you to join us in celebrating filmmakers from South East Europe, whose nuanced sensibility to geopolitical boundaries underscores their transient, porous, and frequently contested nature.

Mark your calendar and join us May 1-8, 2019 as SEEfest presents internationally acclaimed films, art installations, film retrospectives, literary salons, and other events. The festival begins with our Opening Night Gala and ends with a Closing Night Gala, and in between enjoy a variety of shorts, documentaries, feature films, and special screenings.

Festival passes are now on sale and provide entry into all films and events during the eight-day festival. SEEfest Cine-Fan members enjoy a 20% discount on season passes and single tickets.

Support SEEfest and join today!

Theme art design by Elyas Beria.

SEEfest Volunteer Spotlight – Izaura Avitia

SEEfest cannot exist without the fabulous volunteers who are working behind the scenes day in and day out, especially between January and May. It’s high time we put turned the spotlight on these dedicated cinephiles who make the annual festival a reality.

To kick off the series of posts, we’re pleased to introduce you to Izaura Avitia, a new addition to the SEEfest Team and intern for this 2019 season. (more…)

The Academy Announces 87 Foreign Films Competing for Award

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced the 87 films from South-east Europe and around the world that will be competing this year for the Best Foreign Language Film award. Nominations for the 91^st Academy Awards will be announced on January 22, 2019. The ceremony will take place on February 24, 2019.

Below are this year’s submission from all the South-East European countries (and more!):

Belarus was the first country to announce its submission this year with Darya Zhuk’s drama Crystal Swan. Set in the 1990’s, a peripatetic young DJ is derailed by a typo in a forged US Visa application, forcing her to a backwater village where she is determined to fake her way to the American dream. This will mark the third Belarusian submission so far.

Bosnia and Herzegovina has selected the drama Never Leave Me directed by Aida Begić. This co-production with Turkey tells the story of three displaced Syrian boys living a difficult life as refugees in the magical, mythical Turkish city of Sanliurfa. Searching for recovery from a traumatic past, the children cross the path from destructiveness and hostility to meaningful existence and love. Bosnia won this category in 2001 with Danis Tanović’s No Man’s Land.

Bulgaria has chosen Ilian Djevelekov’s Omnipresent. The film’s protagonist is Emil, a writer and owner of an advertising agency who gradually becomes obsessed with spying on his family, friends and employees with hidden cameras. In October 2017, this feature triumphed at Bulgaria’s Golden Rose film festival, winning Best Film, Best Actor and Actress, as well as the Audience Award categories. In 2009, Stephan Komandarev’s The World is Big and Salvation Lurks Around the Corner made the shortlist but was not nominated.

Croatia will be represented by Ivan Salaj’s political comedy drama The Eighth Commissioner. It tells the story of an ambitious politician caught in a scandal and exiled to a remote island to keep him out of the public eye. There, he is tasked with organizing local elections – something his seven predecessors have failed to accomplish… Croatia has never been nominated in this category in the past.

Czech Republic has chosen Olmo Omerzu’s road-trip comedy Winter Flies. The story follows two mischievous adolescent boys who embark on a journey of misadventure and self-discovery. This film made its worldwide debut in July at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, where it won the Best Director category. Czech Republic has been nominated three times for the foreign language category, and won in 1996 with Jan Svěrák’s Kolya.

Estonia has selected Take It or Leave It directed by Liina Triškina-Vanhatalo. The film tackles themes of responsibility, single parenthood, and economic inequality. It tells the story of a 30-year-old construction worker who suddenly becomes a single parent when his ex-girlfriend delivers a baby girl, and informs him that she’ll put the child up for adoption unless he wants to take care of her. This is the third time Estonia has chosen a movie from producer Ivo Felt, whose 2014 Tangerines directed by Zaza Urushadze received the country’s only nomination.

Georgia has chosen Namme directed by Zaza Khalvashi. This lyrical feature had its international premiere at the Tokyo Film Festival. It is the story of a family determined to protect an ancient and venerated water source at all costs. Set in an idyllic rural location where Muslims and Christians live peacefully side by side, the ancient healing qualities of the water are threatened by the construction of a hydroelectric power station, which is blamed for the loss of the spring waters. Giorgi Ovashvili’s Corn Island made the shortlist in 2014 but was not nominated.

Greece will compete with writer-director Dora Masklavanou’s period drama Polyxeni. Set in 1955, the film centers on an orphaned 12-year-old girl, who embarks on a new life following her adoption by a prominent couple, seemingly unaware of devious designs on her large inheritance. Greece has been nominated five times for this category, with its most recent nomination for Yorgos Lanthimos’s 2010 feature Dogtooth (which lost out to Denmark’s In a Better Worlddirected by Susanne Bier).

Hungary has selected Sunset directed by László Nemes, which won the International Federation of Film Critics award at the 75^th Venice International Film Festival. Set in Budapest on the eve of World War I, the film follows a young woman who arrives from Trieste looking for work at the elegant hat store once owned by her parents. Rebuffed by the shop’s current owner, she is drawn into a mystery surrounding her long-lost brother. Nemes won the Oscar in this category for the Holocaust drama Son of Saul in 2016, marking Hungary’s second win after István Szabó’s Mephisto in 1982.

Kosovo has chosen Blerta Zeqiri’s debut feature The Marriage. The romantic drama focuses on the experience of a bride, unaware that the man she is about to marry is still in love with his best friend. It marks only the fifth year Kosovo has entered the race for an Academy Award, and the first time the country has submitted a film by a female filmmaker.

Macedonia has submitted Gjorce Stavreski’s Secret Ingredient for consideration. In this dramedy, an underpaid train mechanic gives his father a cake made of stolen marijuana to relieve his cancer pain. However, he is soon cornered by criminals searching for their drugs and the nosy neighbors who want a recipe for the mysterious “healing” cake. In 1995, Macedonia earned a nomination with Milcho Manchevski’s Before the Rain, but lost out to Russia’s Burnt by the Sun directed by Nikita Mikhalkov.

Montenegro is sending Gojko Berkuljan’s Iskra. This thriller follows a retired detective whose life is interrupted when his daughter disappears, and his investigation leads him back to his past. It marks only the fifth time Montenegro has competed in this category, and has yet to secure a nomination.

Romania will be represented by Radu Jude’s I Do Not Care If We Go Down in History as Barbarians. The film won the Crystal Globe for best film at the Karlovy Vary Film Festival. Set in present-day Romania, the film centers on a stage director preparing to mount a monumental historical re-enactment of an episode from the Holocaust: the massacre of tens of thousands of Jews by Romanian troops in Odessa. The title refers to an actual quote from a Romanian government minister in 1941. The director battles against official unease about the allegedly unpatriotic nature of the play, the trivialization of horrific historical events, and a revival of nationalist fervor in the country. Romania made the shortlist in 2012 with Cristian Mungiu’s Beyond the Hills but was not nominated.

Serbia will compete with Dejan Zečević’s Offenders. This thriller centers on three university students, who set up experiments around the city to prove the “Tetris” theory of chaos. Under that theory, human nature inevitably deteriorates from order to anarchy… Srdan Golubović’s thriller The Trap made the shortlist in 2008 but was not nominated.

Slovakia has selected The Interpreter directed by Martin Šulík as its entry. It tells the story of an 80-year-old man who finds a book by a former SS officer detailing his activities in Slovakia during World War II. Realizing that his parents were executed by the officer, he sets out to get his revenge but instead meets the officer’s 70-year-old son (Toni Erdmann star Peter Simonischek), who hardly knew his father. With the officer’s son acting as interpreter, the two men embark on a journey of discovery of the past and their own identity. Slovakia has not been previously nominated.

Slovenia has chosen Ivan, directed by Janez Burger (Silent Sonata). The film focuses on Mara, a young woman caught in a violent corruption affair and forced to make an impossible choice between the man she obsessively loves and her newborn son, Ivan. In September 2017, the film swept the Slovenian Film Festival, taking eight prizes, including Best Film, Best Screenplay, Best Cinematography, and Best Actress.

Slovenia has not been previously nominated.

Turkey’s contender will be Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s The Wild Pear Tree. This feature, which premiered in competition in May at Cannes, is Turkey’s fifth submission directed by Ceylan. The film tells the story of an aspiring writer who returns to his native village, where he pours his heart and soul into scraping together the money he needs to be published, only for his father’s debts to catch up with him. Ceylan’s Three Monkeys made the shortlist in 2008 but was not nominated.

Author:

Georges Aintablian is a Los Angeles based international film critic. He has been following Academy submissions for the last 20 years, and has a special interest in French films, Latin American Cinema (especially Mexico and Brazil), Middle Eastern films, and Asian Cinema (especially South Korea, China, and Japan). Georges speaks 8 languages, and writes about World Cinema and major film festivals in L.A. on his blog Cinémaniaque Films.

See his profile on Letterboxd.

Animafest Zagreb Celebrates 50th Birthday of Children’s Animation Hero

The cultural legacy of Professor Balthazar, the titular character of Croatia’s beloved animation series produced between 1968 and 1978, was celebrated with a range of screenings and public events at this summer’s edition of Animafest Zagreb, the annual world festival of animated film.

Created by a team of animators helmed by Zlatko Grgić for the Zagreb Film production company, Professor Balthazar(Profesor Baltazar) follows the adventures of a good-natured inventor as he applies a combination of science and optimism to offer solutions to unusual and seemingly unresolvable everyday problems of his compatriots. Balthazar’s imaginative creations not only help the citizens of Balthazar City, but also clear up obstacles worldwide, including at such locales as London, England, the Swiss Alps, and the South Pole. His in(ter)ventions frequently address the conflict between work and leisure, between socially beneficial activities and personal pleasure. Thus, the streetcar conductor Fabian, who loves to fly, comes to operate the city’s first and only airborne streetcar that functionally unifies his job and his hobby (The Flying Fabian/Leteći Fabijan, 1970). Similarly, a clock-loving mouse’s dream of living inside the Big Ben Tower becomes realized through the combined interventions of Balthazar, an horologist, and members of the British Parliament, who ensure that the clock can continue serving the public while the mouse takes up residence inside it as its keeper (Of Mice and Clocks/O mišu i satovima, 1970). Through storylines such as these and many others, the series of shorts entertained and educated generations of television viewers, while showcasing the creative range of the Zagreb School of Animated Films.

Reflecting on Professor Balthazar’s enduring legacy in the region, Croatian film and theater director Vinko Brešan summed up the humanist essence of the animated series: “What kept us glued to the television screen were stories about altruism, togetherness, and the image of the playful old professor whose childlike imagination brings all problems to a successful and happy resolution.” Other speakers at Animafest’s commemorative event remarked on the show’s timeless and universal moral messages of friendship and love as fundamental to its popularity among worldwide audiences, including those in Germany, the United Kingdom, Scandinavian countries, Canada, and Iran among more than thirty others. Indeed, the cartoon character’s recognizable brand has been used in recent decades to promote a range of products and services, including toys and stationery, fashion, restaurants and eateries, and the city of Zagreb itself as an artistic and creative destination. Animafest continues to build on that heritage with its annual festival, which received a record 1800 submissions for its 2018 iteration.

To learn more about Professor Balthazar and the role Zagreb Film has played in the development of animation locally and globally, click here.