When considering the key aspects of this year’s international competition programme and its evolution, geography is a natural starting point. The FeKK BAL programme, which superseded FeKK YU in 2021, has evolved into FeKK International but remaines true to its roots with Moldova and Cyprus joining the company of the Balkan Peninsula countries. This move does not really reinvent the wheel (although ancient wheels and other sightseeing-related marvels will be addressed further in the tourist section FeXCURSION) but simply strives to holistically represent South-East European cinema. What’s more, with their subtle yet incisive approach to observing the landscape and its placement into political reality, both the Moldavian and Cyprian films in this year’s programme justify this expansion.
The second evolution to mark this year’s selection and the trends discerned from the submissions is, however, less tangible and definitive. The form and content transformations of the broader region’s short film occur in tandem with the world’s daily alterations. The democratisation of film has literally altered the medium itself, since the film form trends are increasingly dictated by (online) content, where authors reinvent screenwriting, directorial, acting, and visual film language.
At the same time, we notice a breakaway from the traditional narrative film. The short film narrative as a means of exploring moral and philosophical dilemmas is becoming obsolete. It seems that a perfect dramaturgical concept with a main theme, a pressing issue or a clear message is no longer that interesting – what intrigues is the life of a space. A space that is not a backdrop but a field traversed by different currents, rhythms, and lines of force that intersect, collide, integrate or completely bypass each other. In the intimate, contemplative portraits of people and landscapes, the filmmakers still ponder the past and mirror it into the present. Nevertheless, these reflections have an indirect meaning, and their endings are not limited. Even in more ‘conventional’ fiction films, there is action dispersion, which causes conflicts and dynamics to multiply to the point that, rather than fabricating motifs and morals, they offer a slice of life – a segment of time and space – as if we were watching a bustling ant farm.
Finally, let us present our traditional statistics. We have watched a record-breaking number of submissions since introducing submission fees – nearly 290 films. 25 of them made it to the final selection.
