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/
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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 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.
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
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.
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
Read more and RSVP on the SEEfest site.
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
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.
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
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!
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 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.
13th Annual South East European Film Festival Full Program Line-Up
About the South East European Film Festival (SEEfest):
Not a Cine-Fan yet? Join SEEfest today!
Become a Cine-Fan and engage with other SEEfest members, make new friends and join the journey of cinematic and cultural discovery. Cine-Fan Members receive a 20% discount on Festival Passes and Tickets.
Annual General Membership is $55. Student membership is $30. All are welcome! Click here to join today. THANK YOU!
SEEfest’s Passport to Trieste Festival Opens on April 26th, 2018
SEEfest’s Passport to Trieste Takes Angelenos on a Cinematic Journey to South East Europe
The 13th annual South East European Film Festival (SEEfest), April 26 – May 3, brings a large selection of feature, documentaries and short films to the Writers Guild Theater, Laemmle Music Hall and West Hollywood Council Chambers/Library campus, highlighting a bygone era of 100 years ago centered around Trieste, once a major port of the Habsburg empire and a magnet for artists like Rilke and Joyce.
As a crossroads between Austrian, Italian, Slavic and Jewish cultures on the peripheries of Habsburg Austria, modern Italy, and the Balkan Peninsula, Trieste has been defined by its proximity to borders erased and redrawn with unusual frequency.
Contested and contemplated by poets, scholars, novelists, and filmmakers, it has been depicted as a microcosm of plurinational civility, an uncanny non-place or as a site of mystery and political intrigue, in works of narrative fiction and non-fiction that blur the line between myth and reality.
SEEfest invites you to reflect on this city as a metaphor for the ironies, uncertainties and possibilities that characterize not only the South East European experience, but many facets of our global age; shifting and disappearing borders, fervent nationalisms, placeless places and the multiplicity of identities that are confluent, and sometimes conflicting, in us all.
Festival visitors will be given the facsimile of a passport book and receive a stamp at each event they attend during the program, with prizes awaiting those completing the entire journey.
Irina Maleeva presents “Gypsy in my Soul”
Pre-festival events include musical theater Gypsy in My Soul starring Irina Maleeva on April 6, 7:30 PM at the WACO Theater Center in North Hollywood, featuring memorable songs and dances from the Gypsy musical tradition. Tickets for this one-night-only show are available on Eventbrite.
Trieste Literary Salon is on April 17 at 7 PM at the West Hollywood Council Chambers with UCLA professor Thomas Harrison, author of “1910” in conversation with John Agnew, distinguished professor of Political Geography; Tzvi Rafael Rivlin, Trieste cultural scholar from Montreal, Quebec; Nina Bjekovic, PhD candidate in Italian studies researching the literature of prominent authors of the Slovene minority in Northern Italy; and moderator MariaCristina Heller, Trieste-born actress and journalist.
RSVP is required for the Trieste Literary Salon. Tickets are free.
Featured Films
Highlights of the festival include documentary film Trieste, Yugoslavia by Alessio Bozzer about the 1970-1990 shopping bonanza when Yugoslavs traveled to Trieste in droves to buy jeans and other coveted Western garments; The Nearest Elsewhere. A Journey to Slovenia, by Elisabetta Sgarbi, traveling to Trieste’s next-door neighbor Slovenia.
Men Don’t Cry is the debut feature by Bosnian filmmaker Alen Drljevic about war veterans in a group therapy for PTSD; Bulgarian WWI satire Enemies by Svetislav Ovcharov; The Miner from Slovenia, Hanna Slak’s thriller-like exploration of dark secrets from the past; Twice Upon a Time animated delight about a king with a split personality by the multi-talented Vojin Vasovic; and documentary The Other Side of Everything, portrait of a country by Mila Turajlic (Cinema Komunisto), winner of the top award at the International Documentary Festival Amsterdam.
The specific brand of humor and zest for life against all odds make these stories universal, transcending language and borders. They open doors into another experience altogether and by taking us on a journey halfway across the globe help us to better understand challenges in our own backyard.
Festival passes, and tickets to pre-festival events are available on https://seefest18.eventbrite.
About the South East European Film Festival (SEEfest)
SEEfest presents the cinematic and cultural diversity of South East 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.
Not a Cine-Fan yet? Join SEEfest today!
Become a Cine-Fan and engage with other SEEfest members, make new friends and join the journey of cinematic and cultural discovery. Cine-Fan Members receive a 20% discount on Festival Passes and Tickets.
Annual General Membership is $55. Student membership is $30. All are welcome! Click here to join today. THANK YOU!
The 13th Edition of SEEfest kicks off on April 26, 2018!
Meet Festival Programmers June 3rd, Columbia College Hollywood
Our friends from the Valley Film Festival have organized a Panel with festival programmers on Saturday, 6/3. This event is FREE to attend. Tickets are available at FilmFreeway. Location: Columbia College Hollywood, 18618 Oxnard Street, Los Angeles, California 91356. Moderator: Ken Storer, Writer, Law and Order, Special Victims Unit.
Dances with Films (@DancesWithFilms) June 1-11, 2017 @ TCL, Hollywood
DTLA Film Festival (@dtlaff) September 21-30, 2017 @ Regal Cinemas, Downtown LA
Hollywood Shorts (@hollywoodshorts) Monthly @ The Attic, Hollywood
LA Film Festival (@filmindependent) June 14-22, 2017 @ ArcLight Cinemas, Culver City
SEE Fest (@seefilmla) April 2018 @ Various Venues (West Hollywood & Beverly Hills)
The Valley Film Festival (@ValleyFilmFest) October 25-29, 2017 @ Laemmle NoHo 7, North Hollywood
Schedule:
5:00pm – Network with peers & colleagues over complimentary tea, coffee, and green drinks from our generous sponsors:
Pete’s Coffee in Tarzana – @PeetsCoffee
David’s Tea in Woodland Hills – @davidstea
Troy Casey in Los Angeles – @Mr.Healthnut
5:30pm – Panel Discussion on Programming + Screening of Selected Shorts
7:30pm – More networking over pizza, courtesy of The Valley Film Festival (@valleyfilmfest), and salad donated by Stonefire Grill (@stonefiregrill)
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Whether you are a professional in the film industry, a student of the arts, or a lover of foreign films, SEEfest is your cultural hub.
Become a Cine-Fan and engage with other SEEfest members, make new friends and join the journey of cinematic and cultural discovery.
Annual General Membership is $55. Student membership is $30. Click here to join today.
On “Defending Cinema in Los Angeles”, the Manifesto of Locarno in L.A.
Los Angeles, 22 April 2017 — Opening night of the inaugural Locarno in Los Angeles film festival at Downtown Independent needs to be recognized for its bold effort to rescue the city from the non-stop, wall-to-wall, suffocating onslaught of ever more commercial glut. We desperately need a revolution of our mental eating habits saturated with the sugary drinks of 80% CGI sprinkled with faux sentimentality that treats us as unsuspecting kindergarteners, an easy prey for inducing a life-long addiction to nonsense.
Los Angeles is at the cutting edge of the 21st century artistic frontier in many creative disciplines and we deserve better in cinema too. This is not a question of “liking” a film. It is healthy to dislike, to critique, to shout at the programmer who put you through the rigmarole of watching “slow film” that is so opaque that it makes you angry – and that provokes you to express your opinion and engage in a heated discussion with your next-seat neighbor, perhaps a nerdy cinephile who drives you crazy with haughty references to movies you have never seen or heard of. It is healthy! As it was healthy when the LA Phil embarked in 1992 on a bold adventure with the young conductor Esa Pekka-Salonen who pushed the orchestra, as well as the audience and sponsors, to experience avant-garde programming with contemporary, experimental, innovative composers. Today LA Phil is the envy of the music world, and a world-class orchestra.
Avant-garde gives new life to everything, even the standard, run-of-the-mill programs. We need cinema that will challenge us, enrage, puzzle and delight in ways we didn’t even know we could be stimulated. It gives health-food nourishment to our poor aneurism-clogged brains and nudges our cerebral power plant to awake from the stupor of the tiresome new age and science-averse pretentious spirituality. We need it to jolt us to a state of wonder by bringing bold cinema to our Hollywood shores.
Vera Mijojlic
Artistic Director of SEEfest
Two SEE films on the LoLA program on Sunday, 4/23: All the Cities of the North, with Serbian director Dane Komljen in person; and Scarred Hearts, by Romanian director Radu Jude.
Locarno in L.A. web site
We invite you to join us NEXT WEEK at the 12th edition of SEEfest, April 27 – May 4. Buy your festival pass today!
*NOTE: SEEfest Cine-Fan Members get a 20% discount on Festival Passes and tickets. Click here to join and get your promo code.
The Constitution Opens the 12th Annual SEEfest on April 27
Nebojša Glogovac. Photo by Hà Kin
The Constitution by Croatian director Rajko Grlic is the Opening night film of the 12th edition of SEEfest on Thursday, April 27 at the Writers Guild Theater in Beverly Hills, at 7:00 PM.
Winner of the Grand Prize of the Americas at the Montreal World Film Festival, and Best International Feature Film Award of the Santa Barbara Film Festival 2017, among other awards, The Constitution has enjoyed critical and commercial success wherever it was shown.
Tickets are now available for SEEfest Opening gala and screening of The Constitution.
April 27 at the Writers Guild Theater
135 South Doheny Drive, Beverly HIlls
Doors open at 6:00 pm
Film screens at 7:00 pm
Reception immediately following the film
Tickets – $20 includes screening and reception
*SEEfest Members get a 20% discount on Festival tickets.
SEEfest 2017 Festival Passes Available Now!
SEEfest 8-Day Full Access Festival passes are now on Sale!
Get your 8-Day Full Access Festival pass here.
42 days…We’re counting down to the opening gala for SEEfest on April 27.
We are pleased to announce you can get the Festival Full-Access pass for 8 days of screenings, panels, The Business of Film Conference, events and networking without worrying about getting a seat.
The Festival schedule is just about nailed down and will be announced soon.
Because of space limitations in most of our theatres, only 50 46 Festival passes are available. Tickets for individual screenings will be available in the coming weeks.
Get your Festival pass today, before they sell out. Limited to 2 passes per member.
See you on April 27 at the opening gala!
NOTE: SEEfest Cine-Fan Members get a 20% discount on Festival Passes and tickets. Click here to join and get your promo coupon code.