SEEfest 2021 announces Filmmaker Awards highlighting cinematography among the winners
The 2021 South East European Film Festival (SEEfest), co-presented by ELMA, foundation for European Languages and Movies in America, announced the filmmaker awards for the 16th annual edition of the Los Angeles-based film festival. Presenting and celebrating cinematic and cultural diversity of 19 countries of the Balkans and Caucasus to American audiences, the film festival is the leader in the U.S. for the discovery of new talent from South East Europe.
Andrea Štaka’s Mare received the jury award for Best Narrative Feature, and Catherine Harte’s Faith & Branko won the jury award for Best Documentary Feature. SEEfest’s Audience Award went to Andrei Zinca’s So, What’s Freedom?.In continuing with the SEEfest traditional emphasis on the artistry of directors of photography, Best Cinematography awards went to In The Shadows’Hayk Kirakosyan in the Narrative category, while Nun of Your Business’ Ivana Marinić Kragić’ and That Other Village’s Srđan Kovačević shared the Documentary nod.
“It is a special privilege for us at SEEfest to recognize artists of South East European heritage who enrich international cinema,” says Vera Mijojlić, founder and director of SEEfest. “These awards are representative of cultural and cinematic diversity of South East Europe, and we are proud of our track record in discovering new talent, bringing to American audiences the beauty, artistry, ingenuity of these marginalized cultures. Our festival team congratulates all award winners, with special thanks to the Jury and industry members whose support is indispensable.”
The runner up in the Narrative Feature category from the 2021 SEEfest jury went to Nóra Lakos’ Cream, with Andrei Zinca’s So, What’s Freedom? receiving an Honorable Mention. In the Documentary Feature category, two films received Honorable Mentions; Tatia (Tamar) Skhirtladze’s Glory to The Queen, and Darko Bajić’s Line Of Life. Fear’s Emil Christov received an Honorable Mention for Best Narrative Cinematography.
Short film jury award winners included Ana Pasti’s In Between (Narrative), with Georgi M. Unkovski’s Sticker and Galina D. Georgieva’s French Cinema both receiving Honorable Mentions. Christos Sagias’ Collecting Time took the jury prize for Best Documentary Short, and Gevi Dimitrakopoulou’s This Is Right; Zak Life and After was cited for an Honorable Mention for “shining a spotlight on an important subject in a compelling way.” In SEEfest’s annual focus on animation, the jury chose Natko Stipaničev’s Arka for the top prize, with Kata Gugić’s Cockpera, and Marija Vulić’s Elusiveness both receiving Honorable Mentions.
SEEfest’s impressive jury was an expansive group of international film and visual artists, industry veterans, influencers and journalists, including; Producer/Director of the International Short Film Competition (ISFC), Shervin Abachi; director/cinematographer Alan Caudillo (Deputy); actress Tyra Colar (Twenties); model and competitive fencer Claudia Maria Ferreira da Costa; writer/director Lagueria Davis (Light in Dark Places); journalist Steve Dollar (Filmmaker Magazine); journalist Edward Douglas (Weekend Warrior); art photographer Lisa Folino; cinematographer David Frederick (Aquarius); director/editor Èva Gárdos (Budapest Noir); actress/producer Denise Grayson (The Social Network); journalist Nia Hampton (Black Femme Fest); writer/director Atil Inaç (Daire); Artistic Director at Sentient.Art.Film, Keisha Knight; deputy editor Rebecca Pahle (Boxoffice Pro); producer/director/camerawoman Michelle Paymar (From Cairo to the Cloud; The World of the Cairo Geniza); Oscar-winning filmmaker, author, graphic designer Arnold Schwartzman (Liberation); filmmaker Ivana Todorovic (When I’m At Home); Executive Director of Dallas Video Fest and director Bart Weiss (Fire Bones); and concept designer/illustrator Milena Zdravkovic.
A trio of dynamic women comprised this year’s SEEfest honorees including internationally celebrated author Dubravka Ugrešić (“The Age of Skin,” “Baba Yaga Laid an Egg”) the Legacy Award honoree, along with Marija Škaričić (Mare) and Jasna Djuričić (Quo Vadis, Aida?) who were both honored with the film festival’s inaugural Legacy Acting Award.
This year’s virtual edition of the film festival offered a wide variety of topics and themes, matching the wide breadth of diversity among the 19 countries the films represented. Whether it be history, transgender experiences, the ecology, dystopian future, folk tales, eccentric neighbors, nomadic lifestyle, gay romance, and more, each film unlocked a door into an interesting life and gave audiences the opportunity to enrich their experience through a movie time-travel. Among the audience favorites were Jasmila Žbanić’s Bosnian Academy Award-nominated Quo Vadis, Aida? and Ivaylo Hristov’s Bulgarian film, Fear, followed by Zinca’s USA/Romania co-production So, What’s Freedom?, Marko Djordjević Serbian arthouse darling My Morning Laughter, and Antonio Pisu’s Italian-Romanian film, EST.
In addition to the virtual screenings, SEEfest offered a treasure trove of bonus content with over 20 filmmaker interviews which also proved to be a hit with this year’s audiences, and hosted two weeks of Accelerator workshops for filmmakers with new projects in development, culminating with a Producers Panel where projects were pitched, boardroom-style, to industry professionals.
Book-ending the festival were an Opening event with Jury members offering a frank back-and-forth on filmmaking inspired by the competition films and their personal experiences, and a Closing night “Industry Outlook” panel, with producers, streaming platform executives and distributors, participating in entertaining fashion as they shared their views on where the film industry is headed in the next couple of years.
To find more information about SEEfest, please go to: https://seefilmla.org/.
The 2021 South East European Film Festival (SEEfest) Jury Award Winners:
BEST NARRATIVE FEATURE
Mare
Director: Andrea Štaka
Runner up
Cream
Director: Nóra Lakos
Honorable Mention
So, What’s Freedom?
Director: Andrei Zinca
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY (NARRATIVE FEATURE)
In The Shadows
Cinematographer: Hayk Kirakosyan
Honorable Mention
Fear
Cinematographer: Emil Christov
BEST DOCUMENTARY FILM
Faith & Branko
Director: Catherine Harte
Honorable Mention
Glory to The Queen
Director: Tatia (Tamar) Skhirtladze
Honorable Mention
Line Of Life
Director: Darko Bajić
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY (DOCUMENTARY FEATURE)
Nun of Your Business
Cinematographer: Ivana Marinić Kragić
That Other Village
Cinematographer: Srđan Kovačević
SEEfest AUDIENCE AWARD
So, What’s Freedom?
Director: Andrei Zinca
BEST SHORT FILM – NARRATIVE
In Between
Director: Ana Pasti
Honorable Mention
Sticker
Director: Georgi M. Unkovski
Honorable Mention
French Cinema
Director: Galina D. Georgieva
BEST SHORT FILM – DOCUMENTARY
Collecting Time
Director: Christos Sagias
Honorable Mention
(Shines a Spotlight on an Important Subject in a Compelling Way)
This Is Right; Zak Life and After
Director: Gevi Dimitrakopoulou
BEST SHORT ANIMATION
Arka
Director: Natko Stipaničev
Honorable Mention
Cockpera
Director: Kata Gugić
Honorable Mention
Elusiveness
Director: Marija Vulić
