Enjoy SEEfest at Your Home – Part 5

The pre-festival events that launched the 2020 SEEfest

The 2020 edition of SEEfest officially began last week with the Cultural and Literary Salon, our now traditional pre-festival event. A wide-ranging discussion covered many aspects of this year’s festival theme, Boundaries of Belonging. We paid tribute to Fellini’s centennial and his magical cinematic universe, announced the upcoming BRIDGES book about the cultural bridges of South East Europe, touched on the French 1920’s famous court case that still challenges our conceptions of identity, and discussed minority cultures and language as homeland.

The presentation also gave SEEfest viewers a rare behind-the-scenes glimpse into the 3D design work on Black Panther, a film that featured an altogether imagined universe. Note: the video replay of the Salon will be posted online soon. 

We are grateful for the support of the City of West Hollywood, the Instituto Italiano di Cultura Los Angeles, the Austrian Consulate General Los Angeles, and UCLA Center for European and Russian Studies.

Concurrently SEEfest launched the 2020 series of workshops for this year’s participants of the festival’s industry platform, Accelerator for new projects in development. The second round of workshops took place towards the end of April, with 15 participants from Eastern Europe, Canada, and the U.S.

Thank you to European Languages and Movies in America (EMLA), Hollywood Foreign Press Association, International Documentary Association, Film & Ink, Synergetic, California Arts Council, Los Angeles County Arts & Culture, and the City of West Hollywood for their ongoing support of SEEfest programs.

Films from SEEfest Archives

Back in 2012, the festival traveled to Austin, Texas for a special presentation of the cinema of South East Europe – thanks to the legendary director of programming and one of the founding board members of the Austin Film Society, Chale Nafus. It was an honor to be included in his long-running signature series, Essential Cinema. Some of the films SEEfest presented can be viewed on Prime Video. Here are links to the previous SEEfest At Your Home posts: Part 1 here, Part 2 here, Part  3, and Part 4. 

Find these films online: Fuse, Witnesses, and The Trap.

Friends of SEEfest

Laemmle, Lumiere Cinema, The Frida Cinema, and New Filmmakers L.A. each offer a wide variety of films for you to stream online.

You can now deduct 100% of your contribution in 2020!

Consider making a donation to SEEfest and taking advantage of the provisions in the COVID-19 stimulus package regarding charitable giving, specifically aimed at non-profits: Charitable Giving Tax Deduction The stimulus legislation lifts the existing cap on annual contributions for itemizers from 60 percent of adjusted gross income (AGI) to 100 percent of AGI for contributions made in 2020.

Additionally, an “above-the-line” or universal charitable giving incentive for contributions made in 2020 of up to $300. This provision will now allow all non-itemizer taxpayers (close to 90% of all taxpayers) to deduct charitable contributions from their tax return, an incentive previously unavailable to them.

Click the donate button or send a check made out to the South East European Film Festival, and mail to 7119 W. Sunset Blvd., Unit 306, Los Angeles, CA 90046. Thank you!

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 Art and Culture; and presented with the support of the City of West Hollywood. For more info on WeHo Arts programming please visit www.weho.org/arts or follow via social media @WeHoArts. Special thanks to ELMA, and the Hollywood Foreign Press Association for their continued support of our programs.