Balkans Beyond Borders organized the event “Let’s talk about last year’s big bad crises” at REX Cultural Center in Belgrade on 6 of April 2012. The projected films were a selection from the Balkans Beyond Borders Short Film Festival 2011 and the Film Making Workshops 2011 that both had as title “Who’s afraid of the Big Bad Crises?”. The audience in Belgrade, where Balkans Beyond Borders Short Film Festival started its journey in the Balkans, had the opportunity to get more familiar to Balkan contemporaneity, get inspiration and discuss upon the films with the team of BBB.
Programme:
Part 1- 19:45
Democracy is to Choose, animation, Vid Rajin, Serbia, 2009
“Democracy is to Choose’ presents the sins of our society, and its possible atonement. It was part of the global Democracy Video Challenge competition (organised by the US State Department), and one of the three European Region finalists in 2009. Since then it has been screened at workshops and festivals in the United States, Sweden, Serbia and Kosovo.
A Glass of Wine and Nothing More, fiction, Cristina Groşan, Romania, 2010
What happens when you have questions by the time you should have found the answers? How do you put society on hold? Five girls, one guy. They’re looking for love. He doesn’t know what he’s looking for. Sputnik (A Glass of Wine and Nothing More) talks about the romantic encounters of Mihai, the women that surround him, and Russian satellites.
The Camion, Animation, Ilir Kaso, Albania, 2009
The story moves between the present and the past of a passionate man whose memories keep alive his dream, desires, and passion.
Regaining the Face, experimental documentary, Pance Prendzov, BBB Film Making Workshop, Skopje, 2011
The film is about the crisis of the people that were trapped in the biggest earthquake in Skopje which occurred on July 26, 1963 and killed over 1,070 people, injured between 3,000 and 4,000 and left more than 200,000 people homeless. About 80 percent of the city was destroyed.
The film is a visual representation of the period after the earthquake, how Skopje is rebuild and how Skopje and its citizens are overcoming crises.
Marios and the Raven, fiction, Yiannis Bougioukas, Greece, 2010
On his fifty-third birthday, Marios seems to have everything he ever wished for, until a bird dropping from the blue sky reveals his happiness to be far more fragile than it seemed.
Part 2- 21:55
Zdrăngăneală (how to speak without words), video art, Andreea Muscurel, Romania, 2010
Miscommunication leads to misunderstandings, which often leads to anger, which often leads to crisis. To avoid crisis we must learn to stop the rhetoric and go back to the subtleties of human communication. This experimental dance short explores the idea that we can have entire conversations without saying a single word. Armed with her tap shoes and noise-maker, dancer Lejla Muhic playfully interacts with the neighbourhood of Bjelave,Sarajevo.
Burek, fiction- experimental, Fran Atopos Conte, BBB Film Making Workshop, Skopje, 2011
Burek is the invented story of a man living in the Bazar area in Skopje. Bazar is known for its large Albanian muslim population. Its goal is to show how culture is like food in the Balkans, different names for same ingredients, same names for slightly different foods: like Burek, which you can find everywhere in the Balkan area, but never quite the same as the one from your hometown. Burek is the Balkan pizza: each one makes it according to his/her background.
The Crevice, Experimental, Ira Dika, Albania, 2010
Rea is a young girl who lives alone in an abandoned house. With the little money that she’s got, she decides to go and buy something to eat. She’s getting ready putting on a fake smile, earplugs and closing her eyes with two stickers. Before she goes out one of the stickers falls into a crevice. When this happens, she sees the real world from the outside like she has never seen it before.
ESCARGOT. Animation, Manuel Šumberac, Croatia, 2010
Two armies of snails fight for the same purpose, the last bud on the stem, but the bud belongs to another world ….
Love At Last, fiction/documentary, Stasha Tomic, Serbia, 2011
Alisa and Verica are best friends since childhood, but when faced with the most important decision for Romani women of marriage and sexual maturation they make entirely different decisions. Love at last is a docu-fiction love story about two young women and their coming of age in a heavily tabooed Roma community in southernSerbia. Love At Last was shot on authentic locations with an entirely Roma non-actor youths cast.
The Pond, mockumentar, Dimitris Argyriou, Greece, 2010
What does the EU have in common with a duck pond? More than meets the eye…
Amateur, fiction, Rudi Prifti, Albania, 2011
The story of an old musician who is afraid of leaving nothing behind him. So he turns his attention to a young pianist, classifying his work.