FeKK is the largest international short film festival in Slovenia, with two competition programs focusing on short films from a variety of Southeastern European countries of the Balkan peninsula (Albania, BiH, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia) on one side and a Slovenian national competition programme on the other. The accompanying programmes bring curated thematic and historical programmes, retrospectives, guest festival programmes, industry events, workshops, panel discussions, masterclasses, exhibitions, live music acts and more.

The 11th edition of FeKK—Ljubljana Short Film Festival will be held in Ljubljana, Slovenia, from August 18 to 23, 2025.

The festival was established in 2015 by a group of young film critics, filmmakers, and cinephiles to spotlight the many different aspects of the short film form. FeKK aims to present films of the emerging generation of filmmakers on an international level, with an affinity for unique cinematic voices. The festival brings together authors, producers, curators, critics, and other film professionals from this region and elsewhere.

FeKK - Ljubljana Short Film Festival won the award for the best pitch in the Pitch Your Fest section at the Torino Short Film Market in 2021. FeKK is a member of the Short Film Conference.

- FeKK Grand Prix
The main festival award for the best film from both competition programs. The Grand Prix comes with a 1000€ monetary prize.

- FeKK BAL award
The international jury award for the best film in the international competition. The award comes with a 500€ monetary prize and 2000€ worth of VFX services by Aerodrom studio.

- FeKK SLO award
The international jury award for the best film in the national competition. The award also secures 4000€ in post-production services by 001 and Teleking.

- FeKK BAL Critics' Jury Award
The critic's jury award for the best film in the international competition.

- FeKK SLO Critics' Jury Award
The critic's jury award for the best film in the national competition.

- Audience Award for best Slovenian short film (Award presented by the ESFAA Festival Network).

- The distribution company Radiator Sales provides distribution consulting and will award the best Slovenian film.

- Nomination for the NCNA (New Critics New Audiences) 2025 award in partnership with the festival network - The END.

- Best VR Award

FeKK 2025
General Regulations

1 General information
2 Competition programs
2.1 Entry requirements
2.2 Technical requirements and fees
2.3 Premiere rule
3 Selection procedure
4 Selected short films
4.1 Hospitality
4.2 Presentation of the film at the festival
4.3 Jury and awards
5 Final provisions

1 General information
FeKK—Ljubljana Short Film Festival is a central Slovenian festival dedicated to short films. As an association and a platform, it has established itself well nationally, regionally, and internationally, gaining importance and esteem within the international community of filmmakers and festival-goers. The latter testifies to its membership in the renowned organization Short Film Conference or other diverse international collaborations, particularly in recent years when FeKK's collaborations on the national and regional levels have only strengthened.

FeKK was established in 2015 due to the need for a professional, systematised, and continuous platform dedicated to short film production in Slovenia, lacking audiences and infrastructure. In prior years, short film as a medium also recorded a rapid boom in Slovenia, mainly due to the general democratisation of filmmaking with digital technology becoming progressively available. The festival was initially launched by a small group of young film publicists, filmmakers, and enthusiasts connected under Društvo Kraken – or the Kraken Association for the Promotion of Short Film, founded in 2014. Since then, the association has been the central organising body of the festival and many other year-round activities dedicated to short film form. FeKK proved itself as a meaningful and necessary platform in a relatively short time, as evidenced by the thousands of yearly festival visitors and the continuous breakthrough successes of Slovenian short film productions at renowned national, regional, and international festivals and events.

2 Competition programs
The festival’s core activities are the short film screenings, which are grouped into several thematic sets. Two of them represent FeKK’s competition programs: the FeKK SLO and FeKK BAL competition programs. While the former includes recent national short film production, the latter focuses on contemporary short film production in Southeastern European countries of the Balkan peninsula (Albania, BiH, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia).

2.1 Entry requirements
We accept short films of all genres and formats to our two competition programs.

For the FeKK BAL competition program, short films from the following countries are eligible to participate: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Romania, and Serbia. For the FeKKSLO competition program, either Slovenian short film productions or films by Slovenian filmmakers are eligible.

The films eligible for competitions should be under 30 minutes long and have a completion date after January 1, 2024.

2.2 Technical requirements and fees
Short films must be submitted to the festival via the FilmFreeway platform. Submission fees are nonrefundable.

Rough cut versions can be submitted if the film has not been finalized before the end of the submission deadline and under the condition that the final version will be provided within the 30 days following the final submission deadline. However, the image editing process should already be completed at the time of submission (picture-lock).

If the submitted film contains non-English dialogue or text, English subtitles must be provided. The same applies to Slovenian language films.

The submission deadline for the 11th edition of FeKK is June 1, 2025.

2.3 Premiere rule

Although FeKK considers all submitted films for selection, preference may be given to films not yet screened at other film festivals nationally or abroad. FeKK preserves the right to do so in light of its endeavours to provide its audience and guests with new, yet unseen, productions relevant to their interests and expectations.

3 Selection procedure

The members of FeKK’s programming teams view all submitted films. One team is in charge of selecting films for each competition program.

The selection for both competition programs will be finished by July 1, 2025, the notification date. The applicants will be informed accordingly via the FilmFreeway website. If you do not receive notification by that date due to possible technical issues, please email us at info@fekk.si.

Selected films will have access to the official laurel for the “FeKK 2025—Official selection,” which they can use for advertising purposes on their communication channels.

4 Selected short films

Films selected for one of the two competition programs will be notified via email soon after being selected. The festival will inform the filmmakers of the deadlines for sending the screening copy, information about the film for the catalogue, and other requirements. The authors selected for the FeKKBAL competition program will also receive an invitation to visit the festival in person. Our hospitality team will provide them with more detailed travel and accommodation information.

4.1 Hospitality

FeKK encourages the visit of filmmakers to the festival and their participation in Q&A sessions following the screenings. With that, FeKK provides the audience a more wholesome experience of the film and filmmakers in-person involvement in the festival. In that regard, the festival commonly offers accommodation for up to 3 nights to a maximum of two representatives of the film, with transportation tickets partly being covered as well. As FeKK encourages environmentally sustainable travel, transportation costs are only subsidized if public transport is used (bus/train, if less than 600 km distance).

FeKK, however, reserves the right to change the terms in the future, as the reimbursement of travel costs and accommodation depends on the festival’s financial capacity.

4.2 Presentation of the film at the festival

If selected, the authors agree to a public film screening at the festival and/or potential online geo-blocked screenings during the festival. If the latter is different, the author should inform the festival team.

All competition films will be included in the online catalogue, with a short description of the short film and other relevant information. The films are also promoted on our social media accounts and web page as part of FeKK’s competition programs.

Films must be in DCP and HD format and equipped with English subtitles for public screenings at FeKK venues. Screening copies must be available via a download link upon request.

FeKK reserves the right to translate all films in the competition programs into Slovenian using dialogue lists.

The authors of selected films consent to their work being screened to the public free of charge. FeKK does not pay screening fees for films included in the competition programs.

4.3 Jury and awards

At FeKK, six members sit on two different juries: three on the International Jury and three on the Film Critics’ Jury. The jury members are professionals in the film industry, with the former consisting predominantly of international film professionals and the latter of established Slovenian film critics.

International Jury Awards:
FeKK Grand Prix Award
FeKK BAL Award
FeKK SLO Award

Film Critics’ Jury awards:
FeKK BAL Critics Jury Award
FeKK SLO Critics’ Jury Award

Audience Award for best Slovenian short film (Award presented by the ESFAA Festival Network).

The distribution company Radiator Sales provides distribution consulting and will award the best Slovenian film.

Nomination for the NCNA (New Critics New Audiences) 2025 award, established by The Network for Short Film Discourse - The END.

Best VR Award

5 Final provisions

Those submitting the films accept the above rules and terms.

The festival reserves the right to cancel or change the dates of the program sets and the schedule of films therein. The festival also reserves the right to decide upon all other matters related to the festival, competition programs, and its production.
If the participants have any other questions about the festival, please do not hesitate to email us at info@fekk.si.

Overall Rating
Quality
Value
Communication
Hospitality
Networking
  • Ciril Zupan

    Probably my favourite film festival. The staff are second to none, there is always a wide variety of films to be seen and the events are topical.

    September 2024
  • Peter Ireland

    Our film 'Line Rider' (wri/dir Simon Intihar) has played all over the world, and Simon says this was the best experience we've had at a festival. Wonderful fest, great audience, and truly a special experience for filmmakers!

    September 2024
  • Savina Smederevac

    loved everything about FeKK! <3

    September 2024
  • Amazing festival, high-level organisation; I am honoured to have participated!

    September 2024
  • i love love lovee fekk festival

    October 2023