The 19th annual South East European Film Festival
The 19th annual South East European Film Festival (SEEfest), co-presented by ELMA, the foundation for European Languages and Movies in America, is excited to bring you another stellar lineup. Presenting and celebrating the cinematic and cultural diversity of 20 countries of the Balkans and Caucasus, the film festival continues to provide a platform in the U.S. for the discovery of new talent from South East Europe.
This year's festival, runs from May 1- 8, 2024 and is presented in cooperation with the Goethe-Institut.
The following SEEfest 2024 Short Film programs will be presented at the Goethe-Institut on May 2, 2024:
Secure, free Parking is available at Metro/Retail parking structure
with rear entrance to the Goethe-Institut located at
674 S. Westlake Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90057
10 AM - Shorts Program 1: Documentaries
HEAR THE VOICES FROM THE HOUSE
Azerbaijan, 2023, 19 minutes, Azerbaijani + English subtitles, Director: Sabina Abubakirova, NA Premiere
In Azerbaijan, Sanubar and a courageous group of women are determined to break the culture of silence and fear surrounding domestic violence and femicide, using their strength and solidarity to empower survivors and ignite change.
GLASSES CRACK, TABLECLOTHS SPLINTER
Georgia, 2022, 15 minutes, English/Georgian + English subtitles, Writer-Director: Anna R. Japaridze, US Premiere
Since the advent of home movie footage, memory has entered into symbiosis with media, but as decades pass, regimes change and file formats fall away. So too, does media disintegrate, and the memories depart alongside it. This film represents a conscious effort to revisit the memories of Georgians from the period that followed the collapse of the Soviet Union, through the time capsules of their newly digitized home video cassettes.
QUEER FIGHTERS OF UKRAINE
Ukraine, 2022, 30 minutes, English/Ukrainian + English subtitles, Writer-Director: Angelika Ustymenko, Alex King, US Premiere
Before the full-scale invasion, subversive collective Rebel Queers would defy the heteronormative and patriarchal world that so suffocated them by scrawling on the walls of Kyiv: ‘Queer Sex,’ ‘Make Queer Punk Again,’ and ‘Be Queer, Do Crime, Hail Satan,’ among others. The driving force behind Rebel Queers is Angelika Ustymenko, a non-binary and neurodivergent artist and filmmaker. When their country and their community came under attack, they resolved to document the experiences of queer Ukrainians during wartime. On the first anniversary of the full-scale invasion, Angelika began a new phase of their documentary project, collaborating with Alex King and Huck Docs to collect queer soldiers’ reflections after a year of war and broadening the focus to include other forms of queer resistance.
WAKING UP IN SILENCE
Ukraine, 2023, 17 minutes, German/Ukrainian + English subtitles, Writer-Director: Mila Zhluktenko, Daniel Asadi Faezi, LA Premiere
Ukrainian children are confronted with their past as they explore their new home in Germany: a former Wehrmacht military barracks.
11:30 AM - Shorts Program 2: Fiction
250 Km
Armenia, 2022, 23 minutes, Armenian + English subtitles, Writer-Director: Hasmik Movsisyan, Daniel Asadi Faezi
When a war suddenly breaks out, a 14-year-old boy finds himself faced with a decision that could save his family, with no time to think, he embarks on a treacherous 250-kilometer journey to safety.
CREEPY CRAWLIES
Croatia, 2023, 19 minutes, Croatian + English subtitles, Writer-Director: Filip Zadro, US Premiere
Cleaning your home with a bad vacuum cleaner is like walking in circles. When you’re done, you’re tired, and you’re still in the same place.
DIGNITY KEEPER
Germany, 2021, 9 minutes, Bosnian/German + English subtitles, Writer-Director: Sandro Rados, NA Premiere
When mobile nurse Esma finds one of her patients dead, the strictly timed schedule of her day is thrown off balance. Between professional ethics and family obligations, she is faced with a difficult decision.
ISTINA (TRUTH)
Germany, 2021, 29 minutes, English/Serbian/German + English subtitles, Director: Tamara Denić
Jelena is a photojournalist on an investigative editorial team in Belgrade that campaigns for basic democratic rights. Her journalistic work is her passion, but the atmosphere around her has been threatening for some time and she is increasingly becoming a target of right-wing populist groups. When one day the editorial office is violently attacked and shortly afterward her daughter Lara is threatened, Jelena decides - much to the relief of her mother Branka - to leave the country for the time being. And so she leaves her lover Nikola behind and sets off for Hamburg with her daughter. In Germany, she continues to pursue her vocation but soon encounters fierce hostility and hate attacks there as well. She takes every risk to uncover the truth.
HIGHWAY OF A BROKEN HEART
Greece, 2023, 11 minutes, Greek + English subtitles, Director: Nikos Kyritsis
Somewhere, in the middle of nowhere, on an empty and badly lit part of an endless highway, Mary will do everything she can to win back the man who just broke her heart. But the night holds a big surprise.
1 PM - Shorts Program 3: Fiction
HOW I LEARNED TO HANG LAUNDRY
Slovenia, 2023, 23 minutes, Slovenian + English subtitles, Director: Barbara Zemljič, NA Premiere
After a chance encounter, Oli and Miha become friends, or something more. Or less.
INVISIBLE BORDER
Austria, 2022, 27 minutes, German + English subtitles, Writer-Director: Mark Siegfried Gerstorfer, West Coast Premiere
A deportation in Vienna in the middle of the night. Police officer Nancy and her colleague Albert have the task of evicting a family. Together with a police unit, they ambush an Albanian family without a valid residence permit. The situation escalates and the events of the night leave everyone involved traumatized. INVISIBLE BORDER won the Student Oscar 2023 (Gold).
GAME INTERRUPTED
Turkey, 2023, 15 minutes, Slovenian + English subtitles, Writer-Director: Ilayda Iseri, NA Premiere
In 1979, during their winter break, two siblings, aged 7 and 8, find their way out of boredom by switching from one game to another in a small apartment in Ankara. Their father passed away a few years ago, their mother is at work all day and their grandmother is sleeping on the couch as usual. However, something goes wrong that day. While trying to figure out what happened, they notice a strange intruder at the door, who resembles Khomeini or Darth Vader. They must fix the course of events before their mother returns home.
LYUBIMA
Bulgaria, 2022, 27 minutes, Bulgarian + English subtitles, Writer-Director: Maya Ivanova Vitkova-Kosev, US Premiere
Lyubima, an artist in her 30s, is left by her partner. She needs to start anew, but the grief is there, as big as an African elephant…Lyubima does not see the Elephant that leaves a mess on her carpet when she is back from stalking her ex and his new girlfriend… She does not understand that the Elephant drinks water from her fish tank and turns her place upside down overnight… Lyubima does not see it, while the Elephant eats from her plate over breakfast... She does not have a clue, that the Elephant takes most of her bedroom, while she is asleep, but in her dream…In her dream she calls the Elephant for help… Her way to finally move on is by giving the love memories, along with the grief, back to her ex.
AXINOS
Greece, 2022, 27 minutes, Greek + English subtitles, Director: Maya Ivanova Vitkova-Kosev, Calliopi Villy Kotoula
A little girl tries her best to protect her beloved sand sea turtles from the busy summer beach.
For tickets, extensive program details, trailers and a complete screening schedule please visit the official SEEfest 2024 website:
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