Made in Ash (As do mesta as), set in a Czech/German border town and telling the story of a young Slovak woman working there, is an apt fit for a festival whose mission, under festival director Christine Dollhofer, is to meld together Western, Central, Eastern and Balkan Europe via challenging films from young generation filmmakers.  

This year’s competition includes two films from Great Britain: Shell directed by Scott Graham and The Comedian directed by Tom Shkolnik; and two films from Greece: Boy Eating the Bird’s Food directed by Ektoras Lygizos and A.C.A.B. All Cats are Brilliant? directed by Constantina Voulgari.  The remaining films come from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Children of Sarajevo directed by Aida Begić; Turkey, Present Tense (Simdiki Zaman) directed by Belmin Söylemez; Spain, Animals directed by Marçal Forés; and Sweden, Eat Sleep Die directed by Gabriela Pichler.

The films are competing for a main prize of 10,000 EUR and a crowd-funded audience award with a pre-funded gift of 1,000 EUR.