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    • New Talents Open Call
      Eastern Neighbours Film Festival (ENFF) began in The Netherlands in 2008 with the idea to offer Dutch and international audiences a unique glimpse into the cinema of their neighbors from Eastern and Southern Europe. This annual event presents the most recent, exciting, and thought‐provoking films, from countries with small, but often powerful film industries, that… Read more: New Talents Open Call
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      Unable To attend the festival in person? No problem! From November 27th to December 3rd, we’re thrilled to bring you a curated selection of this year’s films available for online viewing! Catch our captivating Opening Film Ivan’s Land, or the touching Closing Film Seventh Heaven. Or explore a collection of shorts from the New Talents Competition! Follow along… Read more: ENFF 2023 On Demand!
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      We talked with Monika Lošťáková about contemporary Slovak cinema.
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      Every year, ENFF brings special musical guests who bring beauty to the program and further represent the rich cultures of their countries to a Dutch audience.
    • Film Marathon
      Join us for the Film Marathon, a new concept in which we merge two components, Short Films, Big Stories, and New Talents Competition into a whole-day screening of short films!

Fear

Winner of the Grand Prix at the prestigious Black Nights Festival and Bulgaria’s candidate for the Oscar, this is undoubtedly a film of our time that provokingly and with a great sense of humor deals with the fear of “others” and “otherness”.

In a Bulgarian seaside village near the Turkish border – a crossing point for refugees – lives the stubborn widow Svetla, who has recently lost her teaching job due to the closure of the local school. Managing with life’s difficulties on her own, she goes hunting. There she meets a refugee from Mali who turns out to be a doctor. Since no one cares about him, Svetla invites him home and they gradually get closer. This becomes the reason for a series of violent acts by the villagers against them. The sea in the background flows freely and untouched by human action, while love rises above the low horizons. Beautifully shot in black and white, this heartwarming drama on human dignity and the ability to connect with the other despite all. The memorable performance of Svetlana Yancheva is set against the background of the hostile environment of today’s Eastern Europe. Provoking associations with Fassbinder’s masterpiece “Fear Eats the Soul”, this highly aesthetical film shrewdly balances dry humor with currently relevant political issues.

STRAH

Bulgaria | 2020 | 100 min

DIRECTOR: Ivaylo Hristov

PRODUCTION: Assen Vladimirov – Pro Film

CAST: Svetlana Yancheva, Michael Fleming, Ivan Savov, Krassimir Dokov

SCREENPLAY: Ivaylo Hristov 

CINEMATOGRAPHY: Emil Christov                                 

EDITING: Toma Waszarow

Friday 22.4. / 18:30h / Zaal 1 & Saturday 23.4. / 21:00h / Zaal 2

Special guest: Actor Michael Flemming

DUTCH PREMIERE

FESTIVALS & AWARDS (SELECTION) 

Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival 2020 – Best Film | Golden Rose Bulgarian National Feature Film Festival – Best Film, Best Actress | Sofia International Film Festival 2021 – Audience Award | South East European Film Festival Los Angeles 2021 – Honorable Mention