16th Balkans Beyond Borders Short Film Festival
– DISTORToΠia – How do you mirror reality –
BBB Cross-Border Screening
The 16th edition of the Balkans Beyond Borders Short Film Festival celebrates the spirit of collaboration and regional connectivity through the BBB Cross-Border Screening, taking place on Thursday, 6th of November 2025 ,the opening day of the festival.
This year, the BBB Cross-Border Screening which is a simultaneous screening in many cities, will unite audiences from Timișoara (Romania), Veliko Tarnovo (Bulgaria), Tirana (Albania), Bitola and Struga (North Macedonia), Pescara (Italy), Prizren (Kosovo), Kalamata and Kozani (Greece), Bajina Bašta and Belgrade (Serbia) and , Istanbul, the festival’s host city, creating a shared cinematic experience that transcends borders and time zones.
The BBB Cross-Border Screening refers to the Competition Programme screening session of the 16th BBB SFF titled “Unexpected incidents’ distortions” and derives from the 16th BBB-SFF’s theme, ‘DISTORToΠia – How do you mirror reality’ delving into how we perceive, distort, and redefine reality. This year’s theme invites us to question our surroundings, confront constructed truths, and reflect on the ways imagination, memory, and perception shape our understanding of the world.
The screening programme ‘’Unexpected incidents distortions” is a collection of stories which balance between the accidental and the fateful, between reality and illusion, offering the potential for multiple interpretations of this unexpected event. It consists of the short films:
- Actually Everyone, Emre Cef Kamhi, Turkey, Dark Comedy, 2025, 17.55’
- Pakistani, Christos Zeniou, Cyprus, Drama, 2024, 14.25’
- Three Women named Svetlana, Natalia Boorsma, Serbia, Experimental, 2024, 14.39
- The Tie, Çamran Azizoğlu, Turkey, Comedy 2024, 18.52’
- Mentor, Tinkara Klipšteter, Slovenia, Drama, 2024,15’
- The Journey of a Mattress, Lina Pavlova, Bulgaria, Drama, Comedy, 2025, 21.24’
Through this joint initiative, Balkans Beyond Borders aims to promote emerging filmmakers, foster creative dialogue, and strengthen regional ties. By connecting multiple cities in a simultaneous screening experience, the festival transforms cinema into a collective act of participation and cultural reflection
Each participating organisation will host its own local screening, ensuring a unified yet locally rooted experience in every city. The BBB Cross-Border Screening continues to embody the festival’s mission: to celebrate diversity, creativity, and the shared cultural identity of the Balkans and beyond through the power of filmmaking.
The BBB Cross-Border screening for the 16th BBB Short Film Festival takes place in collaboration with Visual Anthropology Center from Belgrade, TaM from Veliko Tarnovo, Asociația Culturală Contrasens from Timisoara, Kalamata Creative Documentary Center, PvN in Tirana, Sfera International at Bitola, DokuFest at Prizren, in Kozani with Arsis, in Pescara with the Adriatic Film Festival, in Struga with the Drim Festival and at Bajina Bašta in cooperation with Basta Festival.
Partners
