The 11th Balkans Beyond Borders Short Film Festival DIGITAL EDITION awarded the short film Sticker by Georgi Unkovski (North Macedonia) with the BBB BEST FILM AWARD. The festival was held from 1 to 4 October with live-streamed screenings sessions in the Balkans Beyond Borders and Youtube channel under the thematic contrUst: It is you who makes the difference. More than one thousand people attended the home edition screenings participating in the live chat and the voting poll. The Festival managed to embrace the differences between the cultures and construct a bridge of trust and mutual understanding among people from all over the world. The Audience had the opportunity to watch a strong in a quality programme consisting of the Competition Program that included 32 short films of young Balkan artists who got inspiration by “contrUst” and the non-competition program consisting of BBB FOCUS – France, BBB BEYOND & BBB& co), encompassing awarded short films from well known European Film festivals.
Following a ten-year journey to the Balkans and Europe, the 11th edition of the BBB short Film Festival, traveled this time to everyone’s home. Adapting to the current peculiar circumstances the Festival went digital and brought several short films to the audience’s home through live streaming. The viewers had the opportunity to experience a unique trip, leading them to the comprehension of other cultures.
The BBB Jury Team 2020 was a women power team consisting of Nesrin Cavadzade, Turkish actress and director, Jacqueline Letzou, Greek writer and director and Mihaela Constantinescu, director of Buzau International Film Festival. While the BBB awards 2020 were sponsored by the Delegation of the EU to Turkey. The short film Sticker by Georgi Unkovski (North Macedonia) got the BBB BEST AWARD (1000€), as the Jury admired the director’s ability to remind the viewer about the absurdism of bureaucracy while maintaining a great sense of humor. They also highlighted the mesmerizing central performance that kept the audience absorbed until the end.
The Visit by Djordje Vojvodic ( Montenegro) received the FIRST ENTRY AWARD (500€). Aiming to inspire and support the work of young artists, the BBB Short Film Festival has a special prize for debut entries among the selected participants. The Visit has managed to capture the jury’s attention through a well-balanced blend of tensions and human emotion. The film exhibits a good level of understanding of human nature, differences between generations and some still taboo subjects in the Balkans. The Jury team applauded as well the acting and cinematography which was quite impressive for a first film project, according to their opinion.
The BBB audience voted for once more the film that touched them the most, giving the BBB AUDIENCE AWARD (300€) to Sea, Soil and Asphalt by Egemen Yilmaz ( Turkey). The voting was held through the online platform Direct Polls sponsored by the Biennale of Western Balkans.
The BBB Jury members decided to give their Special Mentions to the short films: He Loves My Eyes by Enxhi Rista( Romania), The Award by Lidija Mojsovska( North Macedonia) and Route-3 by Thanasis Neofotistos ( Greece).
The award-statues of the Festival were created by Solid 3D Printing and Scanning.
This year’s country of focus was France. In collaboration with MIYU Distributions, BBB hosted a special program of short animation films created by young independent artists. The live streaming was only available in Turkey. With the purpose of connecting short film festivals from around the world BBB Short Film Festival held a screening program, organised by the Izmir International Short Film festival. The screening program was enriched with short films from International Short Film Festivals. Adriatic Short Film Festival, BUZZ International Short Film Festival, Shortcutz Amsterdam and Salaud Morisset joined BBB Short Film Festival, intending to form a piece in a worldwide network of Short Film Festivals.
Moreover BBB Short Film Festival had the valuable support of the International film Festival of Izmir, the French Institute of Izmir, the Municipality of Izmir, the Biennale of Western Balkans cooperated with BBB. With the support of the Delegation of the EU to Turkey , the BBB Short Film Festival had access to short films that had been screened in the Human Rights Short film Competition.
Last but not least, the civil organization KINITRO was responsible for making the Festival accessible to the deaf and hard of hearing community.
The new artists and producers had the opportunity to join a three-hour online masterclass that encouraged the participants tο expand their knowledge about the creation of short films. They were given interesting and helpful tips about production, pitching and promotion by the instructor Phaedra Vocali, a Greek-based producer with huge experience in the field of short films production.
Check out our 11th BBB Short Film Festival online catalog.
WITH THE SUPPORT OF:
IN PARTNERSHIP WITH:
MEDIA SPONSORS:
