SEEfest

08/25/2026

🎭 New on SEEfest Review: Allie Rigby reviews Green Corridors by Ukrainian playwright Natalka Vorozhbyt, now on stage at City Garage Theatre in Santa Monica.

The production runs til' Sunday, September 27th, with performances Fridays & Saturdays at 8 PM and Sundays at 4 PM.

Photos by Paul Rubenstein.

Read the full review: https://seefilmla.org/review-green-corridors/

08/17/2026

Submissions are OPEN for SEEfest 2027!

The 22nd annual South East European Film Festival returns to Los Angeles April 28–May 5, 2027, celebrating bold voices and cinematic stories from Southeast Europe and the Caucasus.

Use code SEE27dc for 40% off your submission fee. Limited time only.

Ready to share your film with SEEfest? Submit now via FilmFreeway or link in bio.

08/10/2026

Congrats to filmmaker and SEEfest alumnus Leon Ristov, who has been awarded a 2026 National Board of Review Student Grant for his short film Nikola, Nikola. Leon also joined us this year as one of SEEfest's shorts programmers.

Nikola, Nikola follows a Macedonian teenager who sneaks out to meet a 40-year-old man he’s been messaging online. When their car gets stuck in the remote woods, isolation strips away fantasy, forcing him to reckon with power, desire, and the possibility of real danger.

We're thrilled to see Leon's work recognized and celebrated, and even more proud to have him as part of the SEEfest family!

Congratulations, Leon!

07/28/2026

FIUME O MORTE! is now streaming on Kanopy!

Igor Bezinovic’s film about one of the most bizarre episodes in the early days of fascism in the 20th century won Best European Documentary 2025 at the European Film Awards and the inaugural FIPRESCI Documentary Grand Prix.

The film explores Italian poet and proto-fascist Gabriele D'Annunzio's 16-month military occupation of Fiume (modern-day Rijeka, Croatia) in 1919.

It is now available to stream FREE on Kanopy — all you need is your library card! SEE this film!

07/27/2026

Also last week, the Venice Festival unveiled its lineup, including several films from Eastern Europe: Alina Șerban’s I MATTER feature debut (Romania) - SEEfest fans might remember her short film by the same name, which we showed a few years back. I MATTER is premiering in Venezia Spotlight, where Georgian comedy Guria by Levan Koguashvili is also getting the spotlight treatment.

In the Orizzonti section, Venice will premiere the hotly anticipated Serbian protest drama "Until the Day Ends" by Jelena Maksimovic, a well known editor making her feature debut; and an intriguing Polish film by Grzegorz Debowski, What Belongs To Others.

Films screening out of competition include: The Pervert’s Guide to Utopias, a documentary directed by Sophie Fiennes, yet another installment in the Slavoj Žižek's ongoing examination of our human complexities through the lens of cinema. Belarusian Letters From The Silenced Country by Andrei Kutsila, Russian exiles stories by Julia Loktev, My Undesirable Friends: Part 1 — Exile; and Sergei Loznitsa's Ukrainian documentary Imperium will also be shown.

Credit image: labiennale.org

07/26/2026

This week Sarajevo Festival 2026 announced its program with 51 films in competition for a bevy of awards. The festival is a great platform for regional films, projects in development, and an industry program packed with panels, workshops, and networking, with a special spotlight this year on the Czech Republic.

The wonderful actress Emily Watson will be the president of the jury, joined by Igor Bezinovic, Sara Klimoska, Matthijs Wouter Knol, and Athina Rachel Tsangari

photo: sff.ba

07/25/2026

At the Comic Con in San Diego this week the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art just announced its inaugural Film Program which will take place in two state-of-the-art theaters - one of them named after a visionary Serbian filmmaker: Slavko Vorkapich Theatre, where attendees will experience "The Emotion of Motion.”

Vorkapich is best known for his innovative montage sequences, and special effects in movies including Crime Without Passion, Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, Mr Smith Goes to Washington, Maytime, Meet John Doe and others.

The Furies segment from Crime Without Passion (1934) has often screened as a stand-alone example of his work. Slavko Vorkapich was also chair of USC School of Cinematic Arts, chair of the Belgrade Film and Theatre Academy, painter, and illustrator. Kudos to George Lucas for honoring Vorkapich’s legacy!

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6668778/Director: Slavko VorkapichCo...

07/25/2026

We’re honored to be among 261 organizations awarded a 2025–26 Organizational Grant Program (OGP) Grant from the Los Angeles County Department of Arts and Culture.

On behalf of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, we’re grateful for this investment in arts and culture and for supporting our mission to bring Southeast European cinema and cultural programming to audiences across Los Angeles.

Supervisors:






Thank you and for your continued support!

07/23/2026

SEEfest alum, and panelist at our industry Accelerator, Nika Agiashvili's ATLAS KING, which was acquired by SABAN earlier this year, will be available on digital and demand August 21st.

Check out an the official trailer for Atlas King starring Michael B...