Enjoy SEEfest at Your Home – Part 4
The SEEfest retrospective continues! Following is part four in the series of posts SEEfest at Your Home, featuring films that were included in previous Festivals.
You can find Part 1 here, Part 2 here and Part 3 here. And, please let us know which films you’re revisiting or watching for the first time. We’d love to know which are your faves.
Glory
The second feature by the Bulgarian directing duo, Kristina Grozeva & Petar Valchanov, focuses on a quiet, undemonstrative railway worker who happens to find a large amount of money scattered around the railway tracks. His decision to report the find to the police triggers disturbingly hilarious chain of events. Winner of 19 awards at international festivals including Best Film in Kolkata, Hamptons, Boulder, Gijon, special mentions and nominations for top prizes in Locarno and Ghent, and other awards. GLORY screened at SEEfest 2017.
GLORY is available free of charge on Tubi.
Watch Wonderful New SEE Movies & Support our Indie Cinema Friends!
For the price of a ticket you can:
1. discover excellent new films from South East Europe;
2. support shuttered cinemas that are the lifeline of indie filmmakers, and
3. increase your coolness factor.
Laemmle, Lumiere Cinema and The Frida Cinema each offer a wide variety of films for you to stream online.
Filmmaker News
Vojin Vasović’s Project @ Bordeaux Market Winner of Best Pitch at 2016 SEEfest Project Accelerator, Vojin Vasović was selected to present his new feature animation project at the Cartoon Forum in Bordeaux last month. It is based on his animated short “Twice Upon a Time,” screened at SEEfest 2018.
THANK YOU and STAY SAFE!
We appreciate all of you who continue to be engaged with SEEfest and have given us great feedback on our weekly virtual program offerings. The feedback we have received and support from organizations and individuals are more important than ever. Thank you, be safe and enjoy the company of movies from all over our beautiful world.
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.
Enjoy SEEfest at Your Home – Part 3
The SEEfest retrospective continues! Following is part three in the series of posts SEEfest at Your Home, featuring films that were included in previous Festivals.
You can find Part 1 here, and Part 2 here. And, please let us know which films you’re revisiting or watching for the first time. We’d love to know which are your faves.
LOSERS
Inseparable friends Elena, Koko, Patso, and Gosho are high school students in a small provincial town in Bulgaria. They mockingly call themselves ‘losers’ as a self-deprecating reference to the society at large. Hapless Koko is in love with rebellious Elena, who harbors hopes of becoming a singer. When a rock band of traveling musicians comes to town things get complicated, giving birth to new love affairs, disappointments, and realizations that come with growing up. In the great ensemble cast Elena Telbis and Ovanes Torosyan shine.
First screened in the U.S. at SEEfest 2016 and picked up for distribution by Synergetic Films. Directed by Ivaylo Hristov. Main cast: Elena Telbis, Ovanes Torosyan, Georgi Gotsin
LOSERS is available on Amazon.
BRASSLANDS
Wild, riotous brass music draws tens of thousands of people each year to a tiny Serbian village of Guča for the largest brass band competition festival in the world. The performers highlighted in the film include an American brass band from New York, named ’Zlatne Uste,’ and a veteran Serbian trumpeter returning to the festival to defend his status as a reigning champion. Screened at SEEfest 2014.
Directed by: Meerkat Collective – Adam Pogoff, Bryan Chang, Jay Arthur Sterrenberg. Featuring: Demiran Cerimovic, Dejan Petrovic, ‘Zlatne Uste’ Balkan Brass Band.
BRASSLANDS is available on Amazon Prime.
BALCONY
Shot in one continuous take, this hilarious and many-times awarded short film from Kosovo is a finely crafted study of human nature and capacity for ‘much ado about nothing.’ Screened at SEEfest 2014.
Directed by Lendita Zeqiraj. Main Cast: Arben Bajraktaraj, Sevdai Radogoshi, Osman Ahmet.
BALCONY is available on Amazon Prime.
HALF SHAVED
In post-communist Romania, a barber recognizes his former torturer as his latest customer. What ensues is a reverse cat-and-mouse situation with barber holding the razor in his hand. Screened at SEEfest 2014.
Directed by Bogdan Muresanu. Main cast: Victor Rebengiuc, Michel Horatiu Bob, Alexandru Georgescu.
HALF SHAVED is available on Amazon Prime.
A STEP INTO THE DARKNESS
Shot on location under extremely dangerous conditions in Iraqi cities of Arbil and Mosul, and in Adiyaman, Urfa, and Istanbul, Turkey, the film follows a young woman, the sole survivor of a US-led operation against insurgents in her village in US-occupied Iraq. She is rescued by the members of a radical Islamist organization and brought to Istanbul, where she is groomed by a charismatic religious figure to carry out his devastating plan. The Film screened at SEEfest 2010.
Directed by Atil İnaç. Main cast: Suzan Genc, Selen Ucer, Serdal Genc, Rana Cabbar, Selim Bayraktar.
A STEP INTO THE DARKNESS is available on Google play.
SUPERMAN, SPIDERMAN OR BATMAN
A young boy goes on a journey with his worried father. Like the titular comic books superheroes, he too wishes to save his mother suffering from a heart condition. Screened at SEEfest 2013.
Directed by Tudor Giurgiu. Main cast: Zsolt Bogdan.
SUPERMAN, SPIDERMAN OR BATMAN is available on Amazon Prime.
DINNER FOR FEW
In this acclaimed short animation, a dinner turns bloody in an allegorical depiction of the modern Greek society beset with economic troubles. Screened at SEEfest 2015.
Directed by: Nassos Vakalis.
DINNER FOR FEW is available on Amazon Prime.
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.
15th SEEfest Cultural and Literary Salon to Explore “Boundaries of Belonging”In South East Europe
The 15th annual South East European Film Festival (SEEfest) running April 29-May 6 in West Hollywood and Beverly Hills, announced today the theme for the 2020 Cultural and Literary Salon: “Boundaries of Belonging: Culture, Identity, and Narrative in South East Europe.”
The Salon will explore contemporary artistic approaches to identity, nostalgia, and narrative representation. Using the conflict-ridden history of South East Europe as a springboard for a wide-ranging discussion, a diverse panel of specialists will offer perspectives on past and current issues of belonging.
Panelists will question the limits of art in expressions of difference—cultural, ethnic, linguistic, and political—to consider how historical processes shape our understanding of self in an increasingly hybrid world.
The Cultural and Literary Salon will take place on April 15, 2020, at 7 PM at the West Hollywood Council Chambers at the West Hollywood Library, 625 N. San Vicente Blvd, West Hollywood, CA 90069. RSVP Required. Tickets are free and can be reserved here.
This program is 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.
Festival passes will go on sale in March. Individual tickets will go on sale on March 16.
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 Art and Culture; and ELMA, Foundation for European Languages and Movies in America.
Follow SEEfest on Social…
SEEfest at 15: Whose is this song?
Warning: singing can be a dangerous business! Ever since we took the road trip with Bulgarian filmmaker Adela Peeva in 2006 with her iconic film, it has been a non-stop movie travel through competing histories, similar yet antagonistic cultures, always peppered with characteristic black humor and idiosyncratic music. The Balkan Sound entertained our audiences through many more music and ethnomusic documentaries throughout SEEfest’s decade and a half.
Whose is this song? was our first opening film in 2006
And it all began with Whose is this song? in 2006, at the Goethe-Institut Los Angeles, our original home where SEEfest was welcomed and nurtured by programmer Margit Kleinman and media manager Stefan Kloo.
Nicholas Wood wrote about the film in the International Herald Tribune and mentioned some interesting details.
“The film does not attempt to define where the song originally came from, although Peeva said she was given numerous differing explanations, including the possibility that it had been introduced by soldiers from Scotland who were based in Turkey during the Crimean War.
In Greece it is known as “Apo Xeno Eopo,” or “From a foreign land,” and in Turkey it is called “Uskudar,” after the region of Istanbul.
The Turkish version was the subject of a film, “Katip” (The Clerk), directed by Ulku Erakalin in the 1960s, and the singer and actress Eartha Kitt recorded a version of the song, also called “Uskudar,” in the 1970s.”
Whose is this song? is available in the U.S. thanks to DER, Documentary Educational Resources collection in Watertown, Massachusetts. Check it out! It’s well worth it, and still very much relevant.
Whose is this song?
70 min, 2003
in Bulgarian, Turkish, Greek, Albanian, and Bosnian
with English subtitles
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, literary and art talks, retrospectives, and community events. The 15th festival will take place from April 29 to May 6, 2020.
Stay up to date with SEEfest Events and join us on our Facebook Page.
Tickets Are On Sale Now For All Screenings And Events
SEEfest 2019 Kicks Off in 2 Weeks
Tickets are on sale now for all SEEfest 2019 features, shorts programs, and special events. Screenings will take place in West Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Echo Park and other locations — find all the venues here and don’t forget to go Metro! Plan your trip using the Trip Planner on the venue page.
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.
A SAMPLING OF SEEFEST PREMIERES!
See more of the festival lineup online and get your festival pass and single tickets today on Eventbrite.
I ACT, I AM
Los Angeles Premiere!
Bosnia Herzegovina, Slovenia, Croatia
Director: Miroslav Mandic
May 9 at 9:30 pm at Laemmle Music Hall Beverly Hills
Talk about method acting! Three stories examine, through actors, the paradox of life stripped bare of societal constraints. In each story, an actor is either researching or playing a role, eventually beginning to live the life of the character.
Watch the trailer and get tickets here.
BORDERS, RAINDROPS
North American Premiere!
Bosnia Herzegovina
Directors: VLASTIMIR SUDAR, NIKOLA MIJOVIĆ
May 6 at 9 pm at Laemmle Music Hall Beverly Hills
Jagoda, a city girl, is on a summer visit to her extended family in the Balkan countryside overlooking the Adriatic. Her presence awakens hope, love, and the sense of mystery.
Watch the trailer and get tickets here.
OCCUPIED CINEMA
North American Premiere!
Serbia
Director: SENKA DOMANOVIĆ
May 6 @ 8 pm at Echo Park Film Center
An engrossing documentary about guerrilla action initiated by young activists taking over a long-abandoned privatized cinema in Belgrade. The occupation revitalizes the cinema over the course of a year with 500 screenings, dozens of concerts and public discussions, and participation from hundreds of artists, activists, and filmmakers.
Watch the trailer and get tickets here.
What Does “Premiere” Mean?
Do you know precisely what it means when a screening is labeled as a Premiere?
World Premiere: first official screening of the film.
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.
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/
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.