ENCLAVE / ENKLAVA

Country: Serbia, Germany
Year: 2015
Director: Goran Radovanovic
Starring: Filip Subaric, Denis Muric, Nebojša Glogovac
Genre: Drama
Running Time: 92 min
Language: Serbian, Albanian
Subtitles: English

Focused on a tiny Serb community living in a UN-protected enclave in Muslim Kosovo, the film looks at the legacy of ethnic cleansing and internecine conflict through the eyes of a Christian boy, Nenad. Determined to create a proper community burial for his late grandfather, he crosses enemy lines and makes friends among the Muslim majority in deeply divided, war-torn Kosovo.

Serbian Submission – Academy Awards 2016
Audience Award, Nominated for Golden George Award (Best Film) – Moscow IFF 2015

Still from Good Night Sarajevo (Photo: Zawya)

GOODNIGHT SARAJEVO

Country: Bosnia, Spain
Year: 2014
Director: Edu Marin, Olivier Algora
Genre: Documentary
Running Time: 62 min
Language: Spanish, Bosnian
Subtitles: Engloish

Good Night Sarajevo is the story of a voice; the voice of the Bosnian journalist Boban Minic and Radio Sarajevo during the siege of his city in the Bosnian war; a voice that night after night moved its listeners away from the brutality. Boban Minic decided to stay in Sarajevo to defend his city and become a soldier without a rifle. His only weapons were words. Today, exiled in Spain and guided by a new mission, Minic returns to Sarajevo.

Still from The High Sun (Photo: Zawya)

THE HIGH SUN / ZVIZDAN

Country: Croatia
Year: 2015
Director: Dalibor Matanic
Starring: Tihana Lazović, Goran Marković, Nives Ivanković
Genre: Drama
Running Time: 123 min
Language: Croatian
Subtitles: English

Three different love stories, set in three consecutive decades, in two neighbouring Balkan villages burdened with a long history of inter-ethnic hatred. This is a film about the dangers, and the enduring strength, of forbidden love.

Un Certain Regard Jury Prize – Cannes IFF 2015
Grand Golden Arena for Best Film, Golden Arena for Best Director, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actress, Best Supporting Actor and Best Costume Design, Octavian Award (Croatian Society of Film Critics) – Pula FF 2015
The Art Cinema Award (CICAE) – Sarajevo FF 2015

Still from The Man who Defended Gavrilo Princip (Photo: Zawya)

THE MAN WHO DEFENDED GAVRILO PRINCIP / BRANIO SAM MLADU BOSNU

Country: Serbia
Year: 2014
Director: Srdjan Koljevic
Starring: Nikola Rakocevic, Vuk Kostic, Nebojsa Glogovac
Genre:  Biography, Drama
Running Time: 90 min
Language: Serbian
Subtitles: English

October 1914, the Austro-Hungarian authorities accuse Gavrilo Princip and members of the revolutionary movement “Mlada Bosna” of high treason. Arrested after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, they are defended by a young lawyer, Austrian-born Rudolf Zistler. Touched by their idealism and beliefs, his defence has entered the world’s legal textbooks and to this day remains a universal moral model.

Audience Award - FEST IFF 2015

Still from Three Windows and a Hanging (Photo: Zawya)

THREE WINDOWS AND A HANGING / TRI DRITAREDHENJËVARJE

Country: Kosovo
Year: 2014
Director: Isa Qosja
Starring: Irena Cahani, Luan Jaha, Donat Qosja
Genre: Drama
Running Time: 93 min
Language: Albaninan
Subtitles: English

In a traditional village in Kosovo, a year after the war in 2000, female school teacher Lushe is driven by her inner conscience to give an interview to an international journalist, telling her that she and three other women from the village were raped by Serbian forces. When the news is published, the male villagers start being suspicious about their wives.

Kosovar Submission – Academy Awards 2014
Cineuropa Award – Sarajevo IFF 2014
Audience Award – Thessaloniki IFF 2014
Bridging the Borders Special Jury Award – Palm Springs FF 2015

Fragment from poster (Photo: Zawya)

A JOURNEY THROUGH GREECE IN A TIME OF CRISIS
Greece / Greek with English Subtitles / Short Films / Fiction

1) 45 DEGREES / 45 VATHMI

Year: 2012
Director: Georgis Grigorakis
Running Time: 14 min 20 sec

Athens, August 2012. Forty-five degrees, the fridge is empty, the situation is very tense. A father changes under the burden of the economic crisis. As it gets dark but still boiling hot, the capital city is on the verge of explosion.

Nominated for Best Short – Aix en Provence ISFF 2013
Best Short Fiction (International Competition) – Dresden IFF 2014

2) CASUS BELLI

Year: 2010
Director: Yorgos Zois
Running Time: 11 min 11 Sec

All kinds of people of different nationalities, class, sex and age are in seven queues forming a gigantic human chain, but the countdown begins at the end of the queue.

Best Short Film – Hellenic Film Academy Awards 2011

3) GENERATOR / GENNITRIA

YEAR: 2013
DIRECTOR: Nikoleta Leousi
RUNNING TIME: 19 min

Savas, a 50-year-old father living in Athens, sees his life collapse in front of him. How did he get there? What can be done now? Outside the walls of his little shop, the world is changing. He is worried about his daughter's future…

Special Distinction for Best Screenplay, Nominated for Best Short Film – Drama Short FF 2013
Media Award – Tirana IFF 2013

4) THE GREEK CRISIS EXPLAINED

COUNTRY: Spain
YEAR: 2010
DIRECTOR: Nomint Motion Design
RUNNING TIME: 2 min 44 sec
LANGUAGE: English

Greece, a young spoiled girl gets devoured by dept; a humongous monster. The EU cannot help Greece out on its own. When all hope is lost, the IMF is brought into play.

Gold If Award (Moving Images Category) – IF Communication Design Award 2011
Merit (Animation-Motion Graphics Category) – Greek Design and Illustration Awards 2011
Money & Me Competition – BITFILM Festival 2010

Still from Enclave (Photo: Zawya)

5) JESUS STOPPED AT GYZI

YEAR: 2013
DIRECTOR: Amerissa Basta
RUNNING TIME: 10 min 40 sec

On the first day of school, a girl remembers the incidents that took place during the summer when her family was forced to close their bookstore and move to the grandmother’s house. Inspired by Christ Stopped at Eboli, by Carlo Levi.

Nominated for Best Short Film – Drama Short FF 2013

6) RUNNING DRY / AGONAS DROMOU

YEAR: 2012
DIRECTOR: Dimitra Nikolopoulou
RUNNING TIME: 10 min 9 sec

Athina, a young jobseeker, has difficulty paying her bills. As electricity has been cut off, she takes her last 64 euros and goes to the electricity company to negotiate. On her way, she makes many unexpected encounters, giving a tragic look at Athens today as it is strangled by the economic slump.

7) SOMETHING WILL TURN UP / KATI THA GINEI

YEAR: 2012
DIRECTOR: Thanos Psichogios
RUNNING TIME: 13 min

Based on the book by writer Christos Economou that won the 2011 Greek State Award for Short Story, Something Will Turn Up is the story of Nicky, a woman living in modern-day Greece, who despite facing a financial impasse, struggles to remain hopeful and maintain her dignity.

Nominated for Grand Prize – Cork IFF 2013

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