The 11th annual South East European Film Festival celebrated in the evening of May 5th its successful 8-day run with a gala event and jury awards presentation at Ahrya Fine Arts theater in Beverly Hills.

“We had an exceptionally rich line up of films that kept up the interest of Los Angeles audiences night after night,”said Vera Mijojlic, founder and director of SEEfest. “We gained quite a few new followers, several films were picked up for international sales and will next go to Cannes Marché du Film, and new projects from our inaugural Accelerator met with interest from the Hollywood industry people. It’s been a great year for South East European films!”

At a signature event of the festival earlier in the week the 2016 SEEfest Legacy Award was presented to the great Serbian actress Mirjana Karanovic for her entire body of work in cinema, in support of human rights, and her work with students and young actors.

Best Feature Film, Grand Jury Prize - Bridging the Borders Award went to the Serbian-Croatian-Bosnian co-production A Good Wife, directorial debut by veteran Serbian actress Mirjana Karanovic, who also bagged an award for Best First Film. Dealing with a sensitive subject of war crimes, the film tells the story of an everyday woman confronting the truth about her husband’s war time secrets. 

Special Jury Mention in this category was given to Bulgarian charmer Losers, a film about a group of irresistibly funny adolescents in a provincial town, by another veteran actor-turned director, Ivaylo Hristov. 

Best Documentary Film award went to Logbook_Serbistan, by veteran Serbian director Želimir Žilnik, a clear-eye view of everyday life of migrants from North Africa and the Middle East adapting to their new, temporary sojourn in Serbia. The film also won audience vote for Best Documentary.

Best Cinematography Award for a Feature Film was given to Matteo Cocco for Babai, whose lens beautifully captured the turbulent world of a boy from Kosovo setting on a trek across perilous borders to reunite with his emotionally distant father in Germany. 

Best Cinematography Award for a Documentary Film went to the director and cinematographer of the film The Fog of Srebrenica, Samir Mehanovic for the powerful visual treatment of a difficult subject.

Three Special Jury Mentions, for First Feature, Documentary Film, and Best Cinematography in a Documentary Film were handed to the film Holy Cow from Azerbaijan, a unique hybrid in the 2016 festival line up, a humorous and gently satirical tale by director Imam Hasanov about a villager in Azerbaijan determined to import a cow from the EU against the wishes of his wife, family and the entire village.

The Audience Award for Best Feature Film was given to The Half by Cagil Nurhak Aydogdu, who handily won the audience hearts with a touching and humorous, unusual and surprising romance.

Inaugural SEEfest Project Accelerator judges awarded three projects: Best Proposal Overall went to Twice Upon a Time animated short by Serbian-Canadian director Vojin Vasovic; Bosnian director Ines Tanovic won Best Feature Film Project award for The Son, and Croatian filmmaker Jure Pavlovic bagged Best Documentary Project award for The Lost Dream Team.

SEEfest 2016 presented 12 features, 13 documentaries and 19 short films over 8 days, most of them North American and West Coast premieres to an audience of filmmakers and international art house aficionados, industry professionals and cultural dignitaries from Los Angeles and South East Europe.

For more information on the awards of the 11th SEEfest please visit the festival΄s Official Website.