Director: Robert Budina
In a picturesque Albanian town on the shores of Lake Ohrid, Aida reigns as a tough, successful businesswoman. As city planner, she manages the allocation of lucrative EU subsidies, navigating a corrupt system where her boss pockets large portions of the funds. To maintain her position in this ultra-masculine, patriarchal world, Aida isn’t above accepting the occasional bribe herself. Her carefully constructed life crumbles when her teenage son Mark is accused of sexual assault by a classmate. Convinced of his innocence, Aida launches her own investigation, defying both her husband’s wishes and police authority. As she delves deeper, Aida encounters a suffocating wall of silence, envy, and deep-seated prejudice. Her relentless pursuit of the truth unearths a tangled web of lies that threatens to unravel everything she’s built. Aida soon realizes she must confront the very monster she helped create – a corrupt system she’s long been complicit in. Her journey not only challenges her beliefs about her son but forces her to reckon with her own moral compromises. With her family’s future and her own redemption at stake, Aida must decide how far she’s willing to go and what she’s prepared to sacrifice in her quest for justice.
Cat’s Cry – Canada, Serbia, Croatia
Director: Sanja Zivković
In a small Serbian town, Milena dreams of fame and independence amidst the allure of a Serbian music channel. Her aspirations and plans for the future are challenged when she gives birth to a baby with a rare genetic condition called “Cat’s Cry”. While her partner Igor and his family refuse to take responsibility for the baby, her father, Stamen, a retired factory worker, urges Milena to leave Igor and return home, offering to raise the child together. Overwhelmed and fearful of her future, Milena disappears. Now Stamen and his new wife, Vera, must fight a flawed Serbian social system for custody of their granddaughter, while Milena struggles to find her own way forward.
Mother Mara – Serbia, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro
Director: Mirjana Karanović
Mara, a successful businesswoman and single mother, suddenly loses her son Nemanja to an untimely death. She clamps up and refuses to show emotions being repulsive and unavailable for any communication on the subject with her friends and family. With buried trauma deep inside of her, she meets Milan, Nemanja’s friend. Milan is someone she intends to use to find out about her son’s life. Emotions they both share toward Nemanja and his sudden death brings them together and initiate physical relationship. Although she wants to keep him at a distance and keep their relationship purely physical, she starts to open up to him. Not knowing what she wants she realizes she enjoys his company. While spending a day together at a floating house on the river when Mara recounts how she found her son dead. Milan starts to see Mara for what she really is, and for the first time, they feel real closeness and tenderness as two human beings. ‘Mirjana Karanović shines as both creator and star of this nuanced drama about a middle-aged woman navigating loss, adapted from elements of a Tanja Šljivar play.’ (Film Verdict)
DJ Ahmet – North Macedonia, Czech Republic, Serbia, Croatia
Director: Georgi M. Unkovski
Ahmet, a 15-year-old boy from a remote Yuruk village in North Macedonia, finds refuge in music while navigating his father’s expectations, a conservative community, and his first experience with love — a girl already promised to someone else. DJ AHMET world premiered at Sundance Film Festival in January 2025 and won both the World Cinema Dramatic Special Jury Award for Creative Vision and the Audience Award in the World Cinema Dramatic Competition.
When Santa Was a Communist – Bosnia and Herzegovina/Croatia/Serbia
Director: Emir Kapetanovic
December 2023. An acting troupe is going on tour with a play about Santa Claus to spread holiday cheer in the small towns of post-war Bosnia and Herzegovina. While the children are delighted, the appearance of Santa Claus reignites old conflicts between the adults. The film was first developed and workshopped at SEEfest Accelerator. It world premiered at Sarajevo Film Festival in August 2024.