The Annual South East European Film Festival #SEEfest is back in Los Angeles with its 13thedition, bringing world premieres, European talent and an Industry Accelerator with seminars, panels and 1-on-1 meetings to The City of Angels. From April 26th through May 3rd the festival will showcase movies from this culturally rich area in the South East of Europe and will delight Angelenos with a selection of features, documentaries and short films in the Competition, Special Screenings, and New Filmmakers Los Angeles (NFMLA) categories.
Opening the festival on April 26thwith a red carpet gala will be the international premiere of “Hawaii” from Romania, a wonderful escape story by the prolific Spaniard and Romanian transplant Jesús del Cerro. As previously announced, during the opening night gala Austrian/ Romanian Academy-Award nominated director Robert Dornhelm will be bestowed with the SEEfest Legacy Award.
Highlights of the festival include the 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. Furthermore “Men Don’t Cry”, the debut feature by Bosnian filmmaker Alen Drljevic about war veterans in a group therapy for PTSD; the 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”, an animated delight about a king with a split personality by the multi-talented Vojin Vasovic; Azerbaijan’s “Pomegranate Orchard” by Ilgar Najaf, a contemporary family saga inspired by Anton Chekhov’s “The Cherry Orchard”; and winner of the prestigious IDFA Best Feature-Length Documentary Award,
“The Other Side of Everything” by Mila Turajlic (“Cinema Komunisto”), an intimate story about one of Serbia’s most powerful democracy proponents will close the festival on May 3rd. The Closing Night will include a red carpet gala, a reception after the film and the Award Ceremony for the #SEEfest18 competition.
Over 80% of the films in competition are premieres, two are world premieres, five are international premieres and 13 are North America premieres.
Launched three years ago, the SEEfest Accelerator platform is an industry section of the festival, structured as a series of sessions with small group of filmmakers and 1-on-1 meetings with Hollywood professionals. It has become a go-to platform for the independent filmmakers from Eastern Europe and those who live and work in Los Angeles. Three days of workshops and sessions with Hollywood professionals provide insights and feedback, practical tips and a testing ground for pitching and shopping the projects. Previous participants have been invited to the Berlinale project development and Sarajevo festival talent campus. The winner from 3 years ago has completed his animated short Twice Upon a Time, which is in this year’s program.
Ten projects have been selected for the 2018 Accelerator. All workshops and meetings will be held at the Library campus in West Hollywood over three days on April 27, 28 and 29. All workshops, meetings and parking is free of charge. For more information: http://seefilmla.org/2018-accelerator-program/
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. It was founded in 2006 by Vera Mijojlić, long-time film critic and cultural entrepreneur. The 13thAnnual South East European Film Festival (SEEfest) will take place April 26 – May 3and will bring a large selection of feature, documentary and short films to the Writers Guild Theater, Laemmle Music Hall and West Hollywood Council Chambers/ Library campus.
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!
Academy Award and Emmy nominated director Robert Dornhelm will receive the South East European Film Festival (SEEfest) Legacy Award during the opening night of the 13thAnnual Film Festival. The prolific Austrian Film & TV director will receive the award during the red carpet gala event on April 26th, 7 PM at the Writers Guild Theater in Beverly Hills (135 S. Doheny Dr, Beverly Hills, CA 90211).
Romanian-born Dornhelm is a symbol of the escape from the communist regime through his film creations and legacy. Destiny would take him to Austria and the United States where his films received international recognition. His 1977 documentary film, “The Children of Theatre Street,” was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature. He directed the TV miniseries “Anne Frank: The Whole Story” (2002), which received 3 Golden Globe and 11 Emmy nominations including Best Director for Dornhelm and an Emmy win for Best Miniseries. He also directed “Echo Park” (1985), “Requiem for Dominic” (1990), “Sins of the Father” (2002), “War and Peace” (2007), Amanda Knox: Murder on Trial in Italy” (2011), and most recently the critically acclaimed international series “Hotel Sacher” (2016) and “Maria Theresia” (2017).
The 2018 SEEfest Legacy Award will be presented to Robert Dornhelm not only for his body of work, but also for his inspiration to young filmmakers and his dedication to telling socially-critical stories.
“It is a special privilege for us at SEEfest to recognize those artists of South East European heritage whose legacies enrich cinema,” says Vera Mijojlic, founder and director of SEEfest. “We are honored to pay tribute to Romanian-Austrian filmmaker Robert Dornhelm for outstanding achievements in cinema and television in Europe and America both.”
SEEfest will screen “The Crown Prince” (2006) on April 28 at the Laemmle Music Hall in Beverly Hills.
For additional information, trailer, movie stills, and tickets, click here.
About Robert Dornhelm
Director Robert Dornhelm, an accomplished filmmaker in many arenas, has been impressing audiences the world over for many years. By winning broad acclaim not only for his Emmy-winning mini-series “Anne Frank: The Whole Story,” but also for his excellent telefilms “Sins Of The Father” and “RFK,”Dornhelm has established himself as a contemporary filmmaker of great range and versatility.
Most recently, the former Academy Award nominee filmed the critically acclaimed TV series “Maria Theresia” and “Hotel Sacher”, which was a rating hit in Europe. In 2011 he directed the Lifetime film “Amanda Knox: Murder on Trial in Italy” in Rome, but his subjects have been varied and eclectic.
Born in the provincial Romanian city of Timisoara, Dornhelm began his directing career as a prolific documentary filmmaker in Austria, his adoptive country and home since age 13. His first works to receive widespread international attention were “The Children Of Theatre Street” and “She Dances Alone”, both of which were selected for competition at the Cannes Film Festival. “The Children of Theatre Street” chronicles the lives of the young students of the Kirov Ballet and was nominated for an Academy Award, while the strikingly original “She Dances Alone” tells the story of Nijinska, daughter of the legendary Nijinsky. Dornhelm’s bittersweet comedy “Echo Park”, set in the quirky LA neighborhood of the same name, marked his transition into fictional filmmaking. He went on to direct “Cold Feet” for Avenue Pictures before returning to Romania to shoot the docudrama “Requiem for Dominic”. Requiem received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Foreign Film and was Austria’s Official Selection for the 1991 Academy Awards.
In 1992, NBC & Warner Brothers engaged him to direct “Fatal Deception: Marina’s Story”, for which Helena Bonham Carter received a Golden Globe nomination. Political thriller “The Break” opened the 1995 Dublin International Film Festival and, the following year, his adult fairy tale, “The Unfish,” marked the second time Austria selected a Dornhelm film as its submission for the Academy Awards. Lauren Bacall and Dennis Hopper starred in the quirky Dornhelm comedy, “The Venice Project,” which was selected for competition in the 1999 Venice Film Festival.
Robert’s 2001 mini-series for ABC, “Anne Frank: The Whole Story,” earned 11 Emmy nominations and resulted in a win for Best Miniseries. “RFK,” which he filmed for F/X, received critical acclaim, as did his CBS film “Suburban Madness” and his Lifetime movie “Identity Theft: The Michelle Brown Story”. In 2006, Robert returned to Vienna to film “The Crown Prince,” which told the tragic story of the heir to the doomed Austro-Hungarian Empire, followed by his eight-hour adaptation of Tolstoy’s epic “War and Peace” in Italy, Lithuania, Germany, and Russia.
While helming “Spartacus,” Dornhelm skillfully managed a crew of 400 and a cast of 12,000 extras. His work brought him to the attention of Steven Spielberg and DreamWorks SKG, who hired him to shoot the first episode of their two-hour limited series “Into The West”. The series, a multi-dimensional look at the settlement of the American West circa 1824-1892, began airing in June 2005 and won two Emmy Awards. The six films that make up “Into the West” are the most expensive ever produced by TNT and represent a $100 million investment.
Robert Dornhelm and his wife Lynn split their time between their homes in Malibu, Calif. and Vienna.
About “The Crown Prince”
Rudolf – the true story of a royal rebel and his tragic love. Indelibly linked to the tragedy of Mayerling, the name of Crown Prince Rudolf still evokes mystery and conspiracy, thwarted hopes and unfulfilled love.
Rudolf is raised since his earliest childhood to succeed his father Emperor Franz Joseph to the throne of Austria-Hungary. Well-read and passionately liberal-minded, Rudolf is exactly the kind of man Vienna needs to calm the Empire’s restive nations and maintain peace in Europe. Yet the political establishment and Rudolf’s own father stand between him and the exercise of power. Kept away from political affairs by the Emperor’s conservative councilors, longing for the affection of his constantly traveling mother Empress Elisabeth (“Sisi”), Rudolf begins publishing flaming diatribes against his father’s government under a pseudonym and indulges in many romantic affairs.
In Prague, he falls in love with a Jewish girl; but when she dies mysteriously after Rudolf’s true identity is discovered, he feels responsible for her death and realizes that his role prevents him from ever finding happiness. He thus resignedly agrees to marry Stephanie of Belgium. It is a loveless marriage that brings the dynasty “only” a daughter… Then, a ray of light brightens his life: Mary Vetsera, a ravishing young baroness who has idolized Rudolf since her childhood. Their passionate affair gives Rudolf new strength and courage, yet trouble continues to brew…
Rudolf clearly sees that without a radical change of policy the Austro-Hungarian Empire cannot survive in Europe’s new balance of power. Together with his liberal friends, he is ready to force his father to abdicate. But the emperor’s spies are faster. In a dramatic confrontation, Franz Joseph tells him that he is not fit to succeed him. And he also forbids Rudolf to divorce Stephanie. Seeing no way out of his dilemma, Rudolf plans to commit suicide in his hunting lodge at Mayerling. Mary is with him. Unwilling to live without him, she begs him to take her life before he takes his…
With Max von Thun, Klaus Maria Brandauer, Julia Jentsch, Vittoria Puccini, Sandra Ceccarelli, Omar Sharif and Christian Clavier.
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. It was founded in 2006 by Vera Mijojlić, long-time film critic, and cultural entrepreneur. The 13thAnnual South East European Film Festival (SEEfest) will take place April 26 – May 3 and will bring a large selection of feature, documentary and short films to the Writers Guild Theater, Laemmle Music Hall, and West Hollywood Council Chambers/ Library campus.
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 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.
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.
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!
You are invited… Trieste Literary Salon
Focusing on the cultural climate of Middle Europe/Mitteleuropa in 1910
Sponsored by Austrian-American Council West
Thomas Harrison, author of the seminal book “1910“, and professor in the UCLA Department of Italian. His research focuses especially on Italy and Austria, and the region of Trieste and northern Adriatic from 1860 to the present.
John Agnew is the Distinguished Professor of Geography with research interests in Political Geography, International Political Economy, European Urbanization, and Italy.
Nina Bjekovic, a Ph.D. candidate, specializes in 19th and 20th-century Italian culture and literature. She is currently researching the literature of prominent authors of the Slovene minority in Northern Italy.
Tzvi Rafael Rivlin is an independent scholar from the Université de Montréal. His scholarship examines language critique in late-Habsburg Austria, the politico-cultural concept of Mitteleuropa and the literary culture of Trieste.
MODERATOR: Trieste-born journalist and actress MariaCristina Heller has appeared in, among others, “Law and Order,” “Angels and Demons,” and the TNT series, “The Last Ship.”
April 17 at 7 pm
West Hollywood Council Chambers (library building) | 625 N. San Vicente Blvd | West Hollywood, CA 90069
Free Validated Parking. RSVP Required. Tickets are free.
This program is presented with the support of the City of West Hollywood’s WeHo Arts program. For more information, please visit www.weho.org/artsor follow via social media @WeHoArts.
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!
Rudolf – the true story of a royal rebel and his tragic love. Indelibly linked to the tragedy of Mayerling, the name of Crown Prince Rudolf still evokes mystery and conspiracy, thwarted hopes and unfulfilled love. 
Thomas Harrison, author of the seminal book “1910“, and professor in the UCLA Department of Italian. His research focuses especially on Italy and Austria, and the region of Trieste and northern Adriatic from 1860 to the present.