Balkans Beyond Borders

📬 SUBMISSIONS ARE OPEN

Sometimes the most important stories are not hidden; they simply lie beyond the frames through which we have learned to look. We urge audiences to look at sides that often go unnoticed remaining outside the frame.

This year we invite filmmakers to get inspired by the theme:
👁️Shift your gaze to the unseen👁️
and question the limits of visibility challenging the dominant ways of seeing while revealing what has been ignored, silenced, or forgotten.

Eligibility criteria at a glance:
👍Filmmakers originating from the Balkans, and/or films produced from the Balkan region.
👍Duration up to 30 minutes,
👍Production after 2024.
👍The festival accepts fiction, documentary, animation, and experimental films that creatively engage with the theme.
👍Filmmakers must be up to 35 years old, or older than 35 under the condition that their submitted film is their debut.

By submitting your film to the 17th BBB SFF, you get the opportunity to be awarded for the:
🌟BBB Best Film Award (monetary prize) – Main call
🌟BBB First Entry Award (in kind) – Main call
🌟BBB Audience Award (monetary) – Main call
🌟Special Mentions – Main call
🌟BBB Creative AI Award (in kind) – Special call
🌟BBB Gen Alpha Award (in kind) – Special call (films for children and teens 4-15 y.o.)
🌍The BBBSFF accepts also entries for the category: BBB Beyond – International – Special call

⏰DEADLINE: May 31
📩SUBMIT YOUR FILM: filmfreeway.com/BalkansBeyondBordersShortFilmFestival
📜Learn more about the call and Participation Terms  https://tinyurl.com/4fajue25

All short film submissions will be reviewed by our pre-selection committee consisting of emerging professionals from the film industry.

CINE FORUM III wrap up 👇

On Friday, November 7, we had the pleasure of being invited to Galata University’s Frej Coffee & Art House to organise an insightful and forward-looking round table discussion on Artificial Intelligence. From concept development to visual effects, AI offers a wide range of applications, empowering creators to push the boundaries of storytelling.

The featured speakers 🎤Professor Berceste Gülçin Özdemir, 🎤Dimitris Argyriou (director and distributor), 🎤Kyriaki Kyriakidou (academic researcher), and 🎤Dila Bulut Derya (director, lawyer, and moderator)—led a fruitful discussion on the ways AI tools are transforming how we write, edit, and visualise stories; how AI systems contribute to filmmaking; how we can still preserve the human signature behind an AI-generated film; and, of course, the ethical limits of using AI in creative expression.

Q&A SESSIONS Day 4

The last day of the 16th BBB SFF we had the last Competition Programme screening session titled “TOPOS reflections”. After the session we had the pleasure to invite on stage
🎤Leoni Xerovasila (Greece) director and actress of the short film SIX
🎤Filip Marojević (Serbia) co-director of the short film “LIME KILN WORKER”
🎤Andreas Lazidis (Greece) director of the short film “The Circle of Violence” and
🎤Yağmur Canpolat (Turkey) director of the short film “Missing Home”