The 12th edition, Balkans Beyond Borders Short Film Festival awarded with the Best Film Prize the short film “When The Morning Dawns” by Karmen Obrdalj from Bosnia & Herzegovina, a film about choice and being a film which seduced our Jury by the atmosphere, the acting and the soundtrack, which translates a particular universe.
The 12th Balkans Beyond Borders Short Film Festival took place in Pristina, at Kino Armata from 28 to 31 under the thematic “Skin to (Screen to) Skin”. This year challenged us and for many of us it broke an established pattern of global life, but also made us realise more than ever our common heritage and our common vulnerability. Therefore, Balkans Beyond Borders featured a programme of 33 short films Balkan productions and co-productions by young filmmakers covering this thematic through several aspects representing filmmakers from the whole Balkan region.
The BBB Jury Team 2021 consisted of Burcu Biricik, Turkish actress, Luana Bajrami, French actress/director from Kosovo and Drita Llolla, Montenegrin Film Festival director. The short film “When the Morning Dawns” by Karmen Obrdalj (Bosnia & Herzegovina) got the BBB BEST AWARD (1000€), as the Jury admired its atmosphere and holistic approach to the thematic, the relationship with the other, the body and its own image change. All leading to indecision and expectation that calls for a choice.
Burcu Biricik announcing the First Entry Award mentioned in her speech that she is very happy to be part of the festival and that it was a pleasure to watch all of these amazing films questioning our existence, our traumas, the identities we hide behind from reaching to a point of disappearance. The First Entry Award (500€) was given to the animation film Butterfly and Mouse by Mira Yankova (Bulgaria). The Jury stated that they loved that this film used a different language of expression and metaphors in order to express its thematic. In the category First Entry Award Balkans Beyond Borders aspires to open the road to innovative debut Balkan productions.
The BBB audience voted for once more the film that touched them the most, giving the BBB AUDIENCE AWARD (300€) to the short film Plastic Dream by Merve Bozcu (Turkey). The voting was held through the online platform Direct Polls sponsored by the Biennale of Western Balkans.
The award-statues of the Festival were created by Solid 3D Printing and Scanning.
Moreover, the BBB Jury gave their personal Special Mentions to the short films that touched them most according to their perceptions and taste: Burcu Biricik gave her Special Mention to the short film North Pole, Marija Apcevska (North Macedonia, Luana Bajrami to the short film Climate Change by Yasemin Demirci and Drita Llolla to the short film Where are you now? by Eneos Çarka (Albania).
The Screenings programme included a good deal of shorts. This year’s country of focus was Hungary. In collaboration with BUSHO Short Film Festival, BBB hosted a special program of short films created by young independent artists from Hungary. BBB & co programme was devoted on Kosovan filmmakers and framed by the PriFest (Pristina International Film Festival).
Following an 11-year journey to the Balkans and Europe, the 12th edition of the BBB short Film Festival continues to provide an open floor for free expression and problem-solving and act as a stage of fruitful discussion and collaborations. Therefore, the audience and the invited filmmakers and artists had the opportunity to join the festival’s parallel events such as: ‘BBB meets the Cine-Balkan Females’, a parallel networking and experience sharing event moderated by Vjosa Berisha, Festival director of PriFest and “Gala of Curiosities” artistic exhibition as part of the project ECHO II “Traditions in Transition” which was co-funded by Creative Europe. You can see the full programme of the 12th BBB Short Film Festival at the online catalog.
Moreover BBB Short Film Festival had the valuable support of the Pristina Municipality.
Last but not least, the civil organization KINITRO was responsible for making the festival’s competition programme accessible to the deaf and hard of hearing community.
Balkans Beyond Borders, a Greek based organization aspiring to become a stage of cultural diplomacy in the region and get established for its mission towards Balkan cooperation it brings its programme ot its base. Therefore, the Competition Programme of the 12th BBB Short Film Festival alongside with a great deal of parallel activities and special screenings will travel to Athens in December for the ATHENS EDITION.
More information is available on our website, our Facebook and our Instagram page (Balkans Beyond Borders). Contact us at info@balkansbeyondborders.eu.
