Balkans Beyond Borders Short Film Festival is an annual thematic Film Festival that takes place in a different Balkan city each year. It celebrates Balkan diversity and engages audience and creators to reflect on pressing contemporary issues through the medium of short film. The festival is a creative cultural space with a competition programme built around a different theme each year, curated screening programmes, cultural events like photo exhibitions, visual art events, master classes and workshops, performances and networking events.
This year we delve into the theme ‘human traces’. Pondering upon our need to re-articulate the word 'beauty', we encounter the footprints that we, humans, have been imprinting on earth through our everyday practices. This realisation exposes a fundamental misconception regarding our relationship with the environment and living beings. What we consider beneficial for ‘our-selves’ does not necessarily hold true for the delicate ecosystems we inhabit. What is ‘beauty’ in the era of the Anthropocene?
The 15th edition of the Balkans Beyond Borders Short Film Festival will take place in September, on the island of Spetses, in Greece. Through a selection of short films, the festival becomes a space to present new narratives and experiences on the notion of place - ‘topos’ and the climate crisis within the context of human activity. Thus, the 15th BBB SFF invites us to collectively re-imagine our understanding of 'beauty', and how we might create a more enriched, diverse, and inclusive society.
Eligible short film submissions
Age: short films by filmmakers up to 35 years old, or older than 35 under the condition that their submitted film is their debut
Origin: filmmakers with their origin from a Balkan country or/and their film to be a Balkan production
Duration: up to 30 minutes
Genre: fiction, animation, experimental and documentary short films, video art
Subject: short films relevant to the festival’s topic ‘human traces’
All submissions will go through our Preselection Committee which consists of young professionals from the film industry ensuring that finalists meet all eligibility criteria. The final Jury Team consisting of well known professionals from the film industry will select the BBB Best Film which will be awarded with 1000 euros and the BBB First Entry Award, along with three Special Mentions. The Audience will vote for the BBB Audience Award.
BBB strives to create a diverse and open community of filmmakers, artists, creative individuals and everyone interested to share and present their work and experience through film, to meet and collaborate with other passionate people, and co-create a space of inclusion and creative exploration. The main objective of BBB is to motivate and empower young peoples to creatively investigate and reflect upon their environment, cultural landscape and experiences, and re-imagine what belonging and living in the Balkan region might mean to them.
2024 Destination: Spetses, Greece
Since 2010 the Festival has taken place in Belgrade, Tirana, Athens, Bucharest, Sarajevo, Thessaloniki, Sofia, Brussels, Novi Sad and again Athens), Izmir, Pristina, Bitola and Niksic featuring over 420 Balkan and over 200 non-Balkan short films. In every Festival we invite participating directors, guest speakers, BBB Ambassadors and local partners in order to create a hub for productive networking and cooperation among the region’s stakeholders. It is all about a growing community of artists, researchers, journalists, and partners.
Best Film Prize (1000€)
Audience Prize (300€)
New Entry Prize (400€)
- April 2024
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Mihai Dragolea
October 2023 - November 2021
- November 2021
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Fivos Imellos
October 2021
