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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
    • ENFF 2023 On Demand!
      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!
    • What’s up in Slovak Cinema? A conversation with Monika Lostakova
      We talked with Monika Lošťáková about contemporary Slovak cinema.
    • ENFF and the Eastern European Film Festival Network!
      The Eastern European Film Festival Network brings together five film festivals dedicated to promoting and showcasing Eastern European cinema, alongside one partner organisation.
    • Masterclasses
      Through these masterclasses we approach two memory in film from different angles: memories from a personal or collective recollection through archive material.
    • Work in Progress
      In Work in Progress, emerging filmmakers and artists will present their works in development to the audience and engage in discussions with Dutch experts.
    • Festival Timetable Available!
    • Check out the catalogue for our 2023 edition!
    • Music at ENFF
      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!

Gender Fluidity in the Balkans

(Christina, 2022)

Gender is often an unwelcome word in Balkan countries, especially regarding social and cultural differences rather than “biological” ones, or when referring to a whole range of other identities that do not correspond to the established ideas of male and female. There are few films on LGBTQ+ topics being made in the Balkans, and certainly not with money from official (state-funded) film agencies. However, in this rather grim situation, several NGOs are actively trying to stand for the rights of LGBTQ+ people. They keep the debate alive and regularly organise Pride parades. The marchers during the Pride are often attacked, suffering physical and verbal abuse. 

Through existing films that depict the struggle or just the life of LGBTQ+ persons, one can observe the broader spirit of the society, in which we see the forces of conservatism and patriotism but also tendencies of change and fresh liberal thinking.

Four chosen films; a documentary, a docufiction and a fiction film, observe the topic from different angles and each opens a huge territory to be seen and discussed. Bozo Vreco, an enfant terrible of the Balkan cultural scene, sings and dances beautifully, performs all over the world, and now opened his heart in a documentary film Maldita, A Love Song to Sarajevo by Amaia Remirez and Raul de la Fuente Calle. Christina by Nikola Spasic (Serbia) is a successful, engaging and influential docufiction that premiered at FID Marseille. It’s about a transgender sex worker in Serbia. Kristina, who plays herself in the film, is religious. LGBT_SLO_1984 by Boris Petkovic (Slovenia) is a documentary that opens with the Magnus Gay Culture Festival, which took place in 1984 in the SKUC theatre in Ljubljana and which included the LGBT Film Festival – the first of its kind in Europe. Women Do Cry by Mina Mileva and Vesela Kazakova (Bulgaria) competed at Un Certain Regard at the Cannes Festival in 2021. Set in the capital, Sofia, the film depicts 19-year-old Sonja, diagnosed with HIV, and the women in her family who flock around and support her.