After eight days and 47 films shown to diverse audiences in Los Angeles, the 10th anniversary South East European Film Festival, SEEfest 2015 concluded Thursday night with an awards gala presentation at The Mark.
Director
Tudor Jurgiu from Romania won
Bridging the Borders award for Best Feature Film of the festival for his debut film,
The Japanese Dog.
©Aaron Perez
Down the River by Asif Rustamov from Azerbaijan won the Best First Feature award.
Two narrative documentaries shared the Best Documentary Award:
Awards for Best Cinematography went to Bulgarian
Rat Poison director of photography
Krasimir Andonov (feature film), and Dragan Vildović (documentary film) for his work in In the Dark from Serbia.
Rat Poison
In the shorts category Strahinja Savić from Serbia won Best Short Fiction award for Nine Days, Alexandr Baev΄s Once Upon Another Time from Georgia won for Best Documentary short, and Anton Octavian from Romania won Best Animation Short award for Elmando.
Winners of
2015 Audience Award were Albanian
Bota (feature film), and Serbian In the Dark (narrative documentary).
The 2015 Juries included AFI faculty member and industry veteran Barry Sabath, filmmaker Mimi Freedman, Sundance associate programmer for international feature films Heidi Zwicker, actresses-turned-directors Christina Beck and Christiane Georgi, director of the cinematheque and the Frida cinema Logan Crow, filmmakers Guido Santi, Tina Mascara, John Fitzgerald Keitel, Jay Miracle, filmmaker and director of the Echo Park Film Center Paolo Davanzo, director of the Villa Aurora artist residence Margit Kleinman, Oscar-winning filmmaker and designer Arnold Schwartzman, filmmaker and cinematographer Roger Staub, and visual artist, designer and educator Jerry W. McDaniel.
