๐€๐ฌ๐ญ๐ž๐ซ๐…๐ž๐ฌ๐ญ ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐Ÿ๐จ๐ซ๐ž๐ฆ๐จ๐ฌ๐ญ ๐š๐ง๐ ๐ฅ๐จ๐ง๐ ๐ž๐ฌ๐ญ-๐ซ๐ฎ๐ง๐ง๐ข๐ง๐  ๐ฌ๐ก๐จ๐ซ๐ญ ๐Ÿ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฆ ๐Ÿ๐ž๐ฌ๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ๐š๐ฅ ๐ข๐ง ๐‘๐ ๐Œ๐š๐œ๐ž๐๐จ๐ง๐ข๐š.

The editions of our ASTERFEST Film Festival (established 2005) are dedicated to the professional short film culture and emphasise its affirmation, popularization and valorization towards the international audience.

We present the festival programme in few selected categories: Global Fiction, AsterDocs, Animotion, Merry-Diones, and Tributes.

๐Ž๐ฎ๐ซ ๐ฌ๐ฉ๐ž๐œ๐ข๐š๐ฅ ๐€๐ฌ๐ญ๐ž๐ซ ๐ฅ๐š๐ฎ๐ซ๐ž๐š๐ญ๐ž๐ฌ ๐š๐ฆ๐จ๐ง๐  ๐จ๐ญ๐ก๐ž๐ซ๐ฌ ๐ฐ๐ž๐ซ๐ž: ๐™๐ž๐ฅ๐ข๐ฆ๐ข๐ซ ๐™๐ข๐ฅ๐ง๐ข๐ค, ๐‹๐š๐ข๐ฅ๐š ๐๐š๐ค๐š๐ฅ๐ง๐ข๐ง๐š, ๐‘๐š๐ง๐ ๐ž๐ฅ ๐•๐ฎ๐ฅ๐œ๐ก๐š๐ง๐จ๐ฏ, ๐Š๐ข๐ฆ ๐‹๐จ๐ง๐ ๐ข๐ง๐จ๐ญ๐ญ๐จ, ๐๐จ๐ซ๐ข๐ฌ ๐†๐ž๐ซ๐ซ๐ž๐ญ๐ฌ, ๐•๐ž๐ข๐ญ ๐‡๐ž๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ž๐ซ, ๐‹๐ฃ๐ฎ๐ฉ๐ค๐š ๐ƒ๐ณ๐ฎ๐ง๐๐ž๐ฏ๐š, ๐Œ๐ข๐ ๐ฎ๐ž๐ฅ ๐‡๐ž๐ซ๐ฆ๐จ๐ฌ๐จ, ๐‰๐š๐œ๐ค๐ข๐ž ๐’๐ก๐ž๐ฉ๐ฉ๐š๐ซ๐, ๐Š๐ข๐ซ๐จ ๐”๐ซ๐๐ข๐ง, ๐Š๐š๐ญ๐š๐ฅ๐ข๐ง ๐‹๐š๐๐ข๐ค...

In the previous 19 years we have chosen around 1000 films from over 60 countries in the competitive categories.

AsterFest is an annual festival event with physical screenings in the city of Strumica.

Awards & Prizes

The main awards for the best AsterFest short film competition are: GOLDEN HORSESHOE for Best Short, SILVER HORSESHOE for Best Short, BRONZE HORSESHOE for Best Short, "Aco Aleksov" Award for Best Auteur, "Gjorgi Abadziev" Award for Best Screenplay, Special Jury Mention(s) etc.

๐Ÿ“ฃ๐Ÿ๐Ÿ– ๐€๐ฌ๐ญ๐ž๐ซ๐…๐ž๐ฌ๐ญ ๐–๐ข๐ง๐ง๐ž๐ซ๐ฌ
๐Ÿ–‡GOLDEN HORSESHOE for ๐ˆ๐•๐€๐‹๐”
๐Ÿ–‡SILVER HORSESHOE for ๐‡๐„๐ƒ๐†๐„๐‡๐Ž๐†
๐Ÿ–‡BRONZE HORSESHOE for ๐๐ˆ๐๐‚๐‡
๐Ÿ–‡"GJORGI ABADZIEV" โ€” Best Screenplay Award for ๐“๐‡๐„ ๐’๐‚๐‘๐ˆ๐๐“
๐Ÿ–‡"ACO ALEKSOV" โ€” Best Director Award for ๐“๐€๐’๐Š
๐Ÿ–‡JURY MENTION for ๐€๐ ๐ˆ๐‘๐ˆ๐’๐‡ ๐†๐Ž๐Ž๐ƒ๐๐˜๐„
๐Ÿ–‡JURY MENTION for ๐“๐€๐‹๐„ ๐€๐๐ƒ ๐‚๐Ž๐‘๐Ž๐๐€
๐Ÿ–‡JURY MENTION for ๐‹๐”๐Š๐€
๐Ÿ–‡BEST MACEDONIAN SHORT for ๐“๐‡๐„ ๐’๐Ž๐”๐๐ƒ ๐Ž๐… ๐’๐ˆ๐‹๐„๐๐‚๐„
๐Ÿ–‡BEST STUDENT SHORT for ๐“๐‡๐„ ๐๐„๐– ๐๐„๐†๐ˆ๐๐๐ˆ๐๐†

We've also screened short films from directors such as Adrian McDowall, Adrian Sitary, Ali Asgari, Anastasia Kouzyakova, Anders Walter, Andrew Chesworth, Andrey Paounov, Anne-Marieke Graafmans, Arsim Fazlia, Baloji, Bartosz Kruhlik, Benjamin Cleary, Bernard Dichek, Bill Plympton, Biljana Garvanlieva, Birgitte Staermose, Bobby Pontillas, Christoph Schwartz, Corinna Giesen, Dawn Westlake, Dimitar Anakiev, Elizabeth Hobbs, Eno Milkani, Evgeny Solomin, Finlay Pretsell, Guy Nattiv, Helena Trestikova, Ilja Kok, Ingrid Kamerling, James Lucas, John Last, Jonnie Hurn, Joรฃo Gonzalez, Juanita Wilson, Juliana Neuhuber, Kahane Cooperman, Kamil Polak, Konstantin Bronzit, Levon Minasian, Liam Saint-Pierre, Loic Gaillard, Marija Dzidzeva, Martin Strange-Hansen, Martina Carlstedt, Mat Kirkby, Miha Knific, Mike Rymer, Mira Erdevicki, Nicolas Neuhold, Olga Lucovnicova, Panayotis Kravvaris, Paula Onet, Pjotr Sapegin, Pooya Badkoobeh, Rainer Ludwigs, Riz Ahmed, Ross White, Runar Runarsson, Samir Karahoda, Sasha Damjanovski, Stephanie Assimacopoulo, Stephen Keep Mills, Tibor Kocsis, Tom Berkeley, Tom Van Avermaet, Uri & Michelle Kranot, Vijay S. Jodha, Vladimir Peroviฤ‡, Willem Timmers, Zarko Ivanov, Zvonimir Juric etc.

Rules & Terms

๐€๐’๐“๐„๐‘๐…๐„๐’๐“ ๐‘๐„๐†๐”๐‹๐€๐“๐ˆ๐Ž๐๐’

1. ๐‘‚๐น๐น๐ผ๐ถ๐ผ๐ด๐ฟ ๐ผ๐‘๐‘‡๐ธ๐‘…๐‘๐ด๐‘‡๐ผ๐‘‚๐‘๐ด๐ฟ ๐‘ƒ๐‘…๐‘‚๐บ๐‘…๐ด๐‘€๐‘€๐ธ
๐€๐ฌ๐ญ๐ž๐ซ๐…๐ž๐ฌ๐ญ ๐ˆ๐ง๐ญ๐ž๐ซ๐ง๐š๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง๐š๐ฅ ๐…๐ข๐ฅ๐ฆ ๐…๐ž๐ฌ๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ๐š๐ฅ ๐Ÿ๐จ๐ฎ๐ง๐๐ž๐ ๐š๐ญ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐›๐ž๐ ๐ข๐ง๐ง๐ข๐ง๐  ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐ง๐ž๐ฐ ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ž๐ง๐ง๐ข๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฌ ๐š๐ข๐ฆ๐ž๐ ๐š๐ญ ๐ฉ๐ซ๐ž๐ฌ๐ž๐ง๐ญ๐ข๐ง๐  ๐œ๐ฎ๐ฅ๐ญ๐ฎ๐ซ๐š๐ฅ ๐ค๐ง๐จ๐ฐ๐ฅ๐ž๐๐ ๐ž ๐š๐ง๐ ๐ญ๐ซ๐ž๐ง๐๐ฌ ๐ซ๐ž๐œ๐จ๐ซ๐๐ž๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ซ๐จ๐ฎ๐ ๐ก ๐œ๐จ๐ง๐ญ๐ž๐ฆ๐ฉ๐จ๐ซ๐š๐ซ๐ฒ ๐Ÿ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฆ & ๐ฏ๐ข๐๐ž๐จ ๐ญ๐ž๐œ๐ก๐ง๐จ๐ฅ๐จ๐ ๐ข๐ž๐ฌ ๐ฆ๐š๐๐ž ๐›๐ฒ ๐ฉ๐ซ๐จ๐Ÿ๐ž๐ฌ๐ฌ๐ข๐จ๐ง๐š๐ฅ ๐๐ข๐ซ๐ž๐œ๐ญ๐จ๐ซ๐ฌ ๐Ÿ๐ซ๐จ๐ฆ ๐„๐ฎ๐ซ๐จ๐ฉ๐ž๐š๐ง ๐š๐ง๐ ๐ง๐ž๐ข๐ ๐ก๐›๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ข๐ง๐  ๐œ๐จ๐ฎ๐ง๐ญ๐ซ๐ข๐ž๐ฌ, ๐”๐ง๐ข๐ญ๐ž๐ ๐Š๐ข๐ง๐ ๐๐จ๐ฆ, ๐ˆ๐ซ๐ž๐ฅ๐š๐ง๐, ๐€๐ฆ๐ž๐ซ๐ข๐œ๐š๐ฌ, ๐‚๐š๐ง๐š๐๐š, ๐’๐œ๐š๐ง๐๐ข๐ง๐š๐ฏ๐ข๐š, ๐€๐ฌ๐ข๐š, ๐€๐Ÿ๐ซ๐ข๐œ๐š, ๐ˆ๐ง๐๐ข๐š, ๐‚๐ก๐ข๐ง๐š, ๐€๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ญ๐ซ๐š๐ฅ๐ข๐š, ๐๐ž๐ฐ ๐™๐ž๐š๐ฅ๐š๐ง๐, ๐‰๐š๐ฉ๐š๐ง, ๐‘๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ฌ๐ข๐š, ๐๐ž๐ง๐ž๐ฅ๐ฎ๐ฑ, ๐๐š๐ฅ๐ญ๐ข๐œ, ๐’๐„๐„ & ๐๐š๐ฅ๐ค๐š๐ง ๐œ๐จ๐ฎ๐ง๐ญ๐ซ๐ข๐ž๐ฌ ๐š๐ง๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐จ๐ญ๐ก๐ž๐ซ ๐ฉ๐š๐ซ๐ญ๐ฌ ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐ฐ๐จ๐ซ๐ฅ๐.
๐€๐ฌ๐ญ๐ž๐ซ๐…๐ž๐ฌ๐ญ ๐ข๐ฌ ๐š๐ง ๐ฎ๐ง๐ข๐ช๐ฎ๐ž ๐ฉ๐ฅ๐š๐ญ๐Ÿ๐จ๐ซ๐ฆ ๐ฌ๐ฉ๐ž๐œ๐ข๐š๐ฅ๐ข๐ฌ๐ข๐ง๐  ๐ข๐ง ๐ฌ๐ก๐จ๐ซ๐ญ ๐š๐ง๐ ๐๐จ๐œ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ž๐ง๐ญ๐š๐ซ๐ฒ ๐Ÿ๐จ๐ซ๐ฆ, ๐ž๐ฌ๐ญ๐š๐›๐ฅ๐ข๐ฌ๐ก๐ž๐ ๐ข๐ง ๐Ÿ๐ŸŽ๐ŸŽ๐Ÿ“.
๐“๐ก๐ž ๐Ÿ๐ž๐ฌ๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ๐š๐ฅ ๐ก๐š๐ฌ ๐š ๐ญ๐ž๐ง๐๐ž๐ง๐œ๐ฒ ๐ญ๐จ ๐ž๐ฑ๐œ๐ก๐š๐ง๐ ๐ž ๐š๐ฎ๐๐ข๐จ๐ฏ๐ข๐ฌ๐ฎ๐š๐ฅ ๐ข๐๐ž๐š๐ฌ ๐š๐ง๐ ๐ฆ๐ž๐ฌ๐ฌ๐š๐ ๐ž๐ฌ ๐›๐ž๐ญ๐ฐ๐ž๐ž๐ง ๐ฐ๐จ๐ซ๐ฅ๐/๐„๐ฎ๐ซ๐จ๐ฉ๐ž๐š๐ง/๐๐จ๐ฆ๐ž๐ฌ๐ญ๐ข๐œ ๐Ÿ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐š๐ค๐ž๐ซ๐ฌ ๐š๐ง๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐Ÿ๐ž๐ฌ๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ๐š๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ฎ๐›๐ฅ๐ข๐œ.
๐€๐ฌ๐ญ๐ž๐ซ๐…๐ž๐ฌ๐ญ ๐œ๐จ๐ง๐ญ๐ข๐ง๐ฎ๐จ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ฅ๐ฒ ๐ฉ๐ซ๐จ๐ฆ๐จ๐ญ๐ž ๐ข๐ง๐๐ž๐ฉ๐ž๐ง๐๐ž๐ง๐ญ ๐š๐ฎ๐ญ๐ก๐จ๐ซ ๐Ÿ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฆ ๐ฌ๐ฎ๐›๐ฃ๐ž๐œ๐ญ๐ฌ.

2. ๐‘†๐ธ๐ฟ๐ธ๐ถ๐‘‡๐ผ๐‘‚๐‘
In selecting films, organizers will concentrate equally on both artistic merits and actually expressing content. The Organizer will accept the selected applications for films on contemporary digital techniques. The organizer will be free of all obligations whatsoever to enter such a film for the selection. Works praising racism or pornography are not accepted.

3. ๐ถ๐‘‚๐‘€๐‘ƒ๐ธ๐‘‡๐ผ๐‘‡๐ผ๐‘‚๐‘ ๐‘ƒ๐‘…๐‘‚๐บ๐‘…๐ด๐‘€๐‘€๐ธ๐‘†
The Artistic Director will decide on the admission and selection of any film to the Competition projections. English subtitles are recommended on the copies for preview.

4. ๐บ๐ฟ๐‘‚๐ต๐ด๐ฟ ๐น๐ผ๐ถ๐‘‡๐ผ๐‘‚๐‘, ๐ด๐‘†๐‘‡๐ธ๐‘…๐ท๐‘‚๐ถ๐‘†, ๐ด๐‘๐ผ๐‘€๐‘‚๐‘‡๐ผ๐‘‚๐‘ ๐‘ƒ๐‘…๐‘‚๐บ๐‘…๐ด๐‘€๐‘€๐ธ
We have three main categories with selections of the best new short fiction, short docs and animation shorts by authors from all world regions, produced 2022, 2023 and 2024.
๐Ž๐ง๐ฅ๐ฒ ๐Ÿ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฌ ๐ฉ๐ซ๐ž๐ฌ๐ž๐ง๐ญ๐ž๐ ๐š๐ฌ ๐Œ๐š๐œ๐ž๐๐จ๐ง๐ข๐š๐ง ๐ฉ๐ซ๐ž๐ฆ๐ข๐ž๐ซ๐ž๐ฌ ๐ญ๐ก๐š๐ญ ๐ฆ๐ž๐ž๐ญ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐œ๐ซ๐ข๐ญ๐ž๐ซ๐ข๐š ๐š๐ซ๐ž ๐ž๐ฅ๐ข๐ ๐ข๐›๐ฅ๐ž ๐Ÿ๐จ๐ซ ๐œ๐จ๐ฆ๐ฉ๐ž๐ญ๐ข๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ๐ž ๐ฌ๐ž๐ฅ๐ž๐œ๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง.

5. ๐‘†๐‘ƒ๐ธ๐ถ๐ผ๐ด๐ฟ ๐‘ƒ๐‘…๐‘‚๐บ๐‘…๐ด๐‘€๐‘€๐ธ๐‘†
TRIBUTES (Films dedicated to authors and themes), MERRY-DIONS (Special themes), student films, domestic films and some other programmes. For these categories, there is no limited length, but we prefer short and middle-length duration. The list of films accepted to the competition run and to the special programs will also be published on the Festival website and on the other advertising materials.

6. ๐‘ƒ๐‘…๐ผ๐‘๐ธ๐‘†
The International Festival Jury will award the Grand Prix โ€“ GOLDEN Horseshoe, SILVER and BRONZE Horseshoe, ACO ALEKSOV Author Award, GJORGI ABADZIEV Screenplay Award. The Festival board awards the ASTER Honorary Award and other SPECIAL AWARDS for continual (or lifetime) achievement in International/European/World filmmaking and in the field of authorโ€™s film art. There are some Gratitudes and Recommendations, Jury Mentions, Public Choices etc.

7. ๐‘ƒ๐‘…๐‘‚๐ฝ๐ธ๐ถ๐‘‡๐ผ๐‘‚๐‘๐‘†
Films in the Competition may be additionally shown no more than two times during the Festival activities.
Screenings will be held in places of the City of Strumica, RN Macedonia.
Any other screenings require special permission from the producer or author.

8. ๐บ๐‘ˆ๐ธ๐‘†๐‘‡๐‘†
The film author will be invited to present the film, as a special AsterFest guest.

9. ๐น๐ผ๐‘๐ด๐ฟ ๐‘…๐ธ๐‘€๐ด๐‘…๐พ๐‘†
The submission of a film for participation in the AsterFest will be taken to mean acceptance of the conditions of these rules. Decisions in all matters not covered by these Regulations shall be taken by the Organizers represented by the official Festival Direction but in accordance with additional AsterFest rules. When applied, the Production or Distribution Company and the Author - the lender of the base (film) declare to be empowered by the Production Company to lend the base (film). The person named in this point commits to refrain from withdrawing from the Festival. The base (film) is lent to the Festival on double condition that the Festival strictly abides by The AsterFest Regulations & Codex, organization activities of Revolution Production and the additional clauses agreed upon by this Film Entry Form. The applicant also gives permission to the Organizer for the use 10 (ten) seconds from the film for the festival trailer. The digital copy of the film print will be kept in the Archive of the AsterFest and will be used for research and educational aims.
๐…๐ž๐ž๐ฌ ๐œ๐š๐ง๐ง๐จ๐ญ ๐›๐ž ๐ฐ๐š๐ข๐ฏ๐ž๐ ๐ฎ๐ง๐๐ž๐ซ ๐š๐ง๐ฒ ๐จ๐ญ๐ก๐ž๐ซ ๐œ๐ข๐ซ๐œ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฌ๐ญ๐š๐ง๐œ๐ž๐ฌ, ๐ฌ๐จ ๐ฉ๐ฅ๐ž๐š๐ฌ๐ž ๐๐จ ๐ง๐จ๐ญ ๐œ๐จ๐ง๐ญ๐š๐œ๐ญ ๐ฎ๐ฌ ๐ญ๐จ ๐ซ๐ž๐ช๐ฎ๐ž๐ฌ๐ญ ๐ญ๐ก๐š๐ญ ๐ฐ๐ž ๐ฆ๐š๐ค๐ž ๐š๐ง ๐ž๐ฑ๐œ๐ž๐ฉ๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง, ๐š๐ฌ ๐ฐ๐ž ๐ฐ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฅ ๐ง๐จ๐ญ ๐›๐ž ๐š๐›๐ฅ๐ž ๐ญ๐จ ๐๐จ ๐ฌ๐จ.

10. ๐ด๐น๐‘‡๐ธ๐‘… ๐‘†๐ธ๐ฟ๐ธ๐ถ๐‘‡๐ผ๐‘‚๐‘
If the film is selected, applicants must send online (via e-mail, Vimeo, WeTransfer or a similar way) a clear HD format of the film: HD H264 encoded Quicktime movie, and other attached materials (srt. file with English subtitles, very short synopsis in English, film photos, poster, trailer).

4 Reviews
Overall Rating
Quality
Value
Communication
Hospitality
Networking
  • Anna Dvorak

    Goran, the festival director and the whole AsterFest team are so hospitable, diligent and welcoming! They made our first time in Macedonia so special for the world premiere of our short film Pinch. For an independent and small festival, they are well organised and really go out of their way to make things comfortable for their guests. The calibre of selected shorts is high, it was amazing to be screening alongside films who have been nominated and have won academy awards. It was also such a great networking opportunity, with many wonderful special guests including a very talented jury. Excited to see this festival continue to be successful and grow. Hoping we can return again in future!

    August 2023
    Helpful
  • Deyan Angelov

    It is a great experience, a well-organized festival in a beautiful city full of friendly people with a lovely screening venue - an amphitheater; the screenings take place at night, so you get to watch many short films underneath the stars, which creates a spectacular atmosphere. The organizers ensure the filmmakers' accommodation and comfort. There is a monastery you can visit nearby that offers some breathtaking views.

    August 2023
    Helpful
  • Dawn Westlake

    It's always a wonderful honor to have my work included in this brilliant festival. They communicate well and always have lovely graphics and promotions for all the films on their website and social platforms.

    August 2023
    Helpful
  • D. Mitry

    Amazing Festival! Thank you so much to all the organizers!

    August 2023
    Helpful