The Documentary Competition presents 10 titles, five works are in the Corso Salani Award programme, and 16 titles in the Short Film Competition.
In all, over 130 films will screen at the festival.
Among the highlights of the upcoming edition are: The Wild Roses section (dedicated to women directors from Central and Eastern Europe, and focusing this year on Serbia), the Romanian Experimental Cinema Programme. Expanded., Queer Visions (aimed at following the progress of the fight for LGBTQ+ rights in Eastern and Balkan countries), and Retrospective: 1945. Is the War Over? Traumas, Ruins, Reconstruction.
The festival will have two separate opening nights: on 16 January 2025 with the documentary Wishing on a Star directed by Slovak-Hungarian director Péter Kerekes and coproduced by Italy, Croatia, Austria, Slovakia, and Czech Republic, and on 20 January 2025 with the German film Dying by Matthias Glasner.
This year, the Eastern Star Award will be given to Ukrainian director Sergei Loznitsa, while Bosnian director Ado Hasanović will be the recipient of the Cinema Warrior Award.
The 15th edition of When East Meets West will be held 19 – 22 January 2025.
International Competition:
Toxic / Akiplėša (Lithuania)
Directed by Saulė Bliuvaitė
Produced by Akisbado
Supported by the Lithuanian Film Centre, the Lithuanian National Radio and Television
Lesson Learned / Fekete pont (Hungary)
Directed by Bálint Szimler
Produced by Boddah, CineSuper
Coproduced by Proton Cinema, GoodKids, KMH Film, FocusFox
Three Kilometers to the End of the World / Trei kilometri până la capătul lumii (Romania)
Directed by Emanuel Pârvu
Produced by Asociația FAMart
Coproduced by FAMart Films
Supported by the Romanian Film Centre (CNC) and also by Publicis Groupe Media Bucharest, MMS Communications Romania and House of Media
The Shameless (Switzerland, France, Bulgaria, Taiwan)
Directed by Konstantin Bojanov
Produced by Akka Films
Coproduced by Urban Factory, Klas Films, House on Fire
Our Lovely Pig Slaughter / Mord (Czech Republic, Slovakia)
Directed by Adam Martinec
Produced by Breathless Films
Coproduced by Filmsomnia, the Czech Television, FAMU, Innogy
Supported by the Czech Film Fund, the Moravian-Silesian Region Film Foundation, the Slovak Audiovisual Fund
Family Therapy / Porodična terapija (Slovenia, Italy, Croatia, Norway, Serbia)
Directed by Sonja Prosenc
Produced by Monoo
Coproduced by Incipit Film, Wolfgang & Dolly, Incitus Film, Living Pictures, in association with TV Slovenia, ARRI, Storyline and NuFrame
Supported by the Slovenian Film Centre, Viba Film Studio, TV Slovenia, the Italian Ministry of Culture, the Friuli Venezia Giulia Film Commission, the Croatian Audiovisual Centre, Film Center Serbia, Filmkraft Rogaland Norway, Zefyr Media Fund Norway, ARRI International Programme, Creative Europe MEDIA
Kyuka: Before Summer’s End (Greece, North Macedonia)
Directed by Kostis Charamountanis
Produced by Heretic
Coproduced by Macedonian List Production’
Supported by ERT, the Greek Film Center, the North Macedonia Film Agency
