ABOUT FESTIVAL
The Shortest Day is a film festival dedicated to short film and has been celebrated since 2012 in Serbia on the shortest day of the year – December 21. The festival is organized in Belgrade by association Filmkultura, as part of the world celebration of short film, gathering film lovers of all ages from Serbia and all over Europe. Year after year, the Shortest Day expands and improves its film and supporting program, which attracts more and more audiences with its quality and variety. Furthermore, the festival provides an opportunity for hundreds of student and amateur short ilms to be screened in cinemas, with a special focus on young authors.
Traditionally, the festival's main program consists of a selection of short films that were nominated for best short film award by the European Film Academy for the award of this prestigious film institution. Additionally, the competition program is dedicated to films by
students and amateurs from several European countries.
The goals of the Shortest Day are:
– affirmation of promising film artists from Serbia and the region and their promotion on the
local and foreign film scene
– popularization of short film, presenting unique and contemporary films
– educating young people about the film industry and its art through familiarization with the form of short film.
According to these goals, the Shortest Day actively works on youth education by organizing numerous supporting programs during each edition of the festival, hosting some of the best local and foreign audio-visual authors. These programs come in the form of creative workshops, masterclasses, and networking gatherings. The Shortest Day is dedicated to film lovers of all ages, children, youth, experienced film professionals, as well as everyone who is ready to marathon-watch a selection of the best local and foreign short films. Long live the Shortest Day
FILM PROGRAM
The Shortest Day film festival, through three selections, presents short films by authors from the Balkan region and Europe. In the form of a movie marathon, the Shortest Day recapitulates the most important events in the world of short films of the previous year, with the aim of revealing them to the domestic audience and showing off the new, bold authorial voices.
The selection of short films by the European Film Academy (EFA) is a unique opportunity for the domestic audience to watch a wide selection of films qualified for the European Film Academy Award, and in that way to watch movies – the winners of the most important film festivals in Europe such as Cannes,Berlin, Venice and Locarno.
The student selection focuses on the bravest and the most honest student films from the region, who interpret the world in an innovative way and face the unusual and the burning topics.
Through the amateur selection, we want to present the audience with raw and fresh short films by the authors from the region, with an absolute focus on research and playing with film language, without taking into account any production or technical qualities, but solely a bold author’s idea.
The Shortest Day is the unique and the last opportunity of the year for the audience to watch the most daring short films by young European authors and thus mark the celebration of the short film and to extend the shortest day of the year.
THE STUDENT SELECTION
THE AMATEUR SELECTION
The amateur selection is part of the competition program that the Shortest Day dedicates to all film enthusiasts and amateurs who have no formal education in the field of film and audio- visual arts and who have not produced the film during their studies or with support of their university. The selection of amateur films comes from several European countries and focuses on young authors, although the selection is open to all film lovers.
In this category, the award for the Best Amateur Short Film is handed.
ADDITIONAL PROGRAM
The rich supporting program is one of the audience's favorite segments of the Shortest Day.
Every year, the festival organizes educational workshops and lectures, as well as supporting
events in the form of networking gatherings and parties. Since the beginning, we hosted a
scores of local and foreign film professionals who shared their knowledge and experience in
all stages of working on short films. We gathered friends of the festival, created new friends
and collaborations, and spread the word about the uniqueness and importance of the short form.
Some of the supporting programs that took place in the organization of the Shortest Day:
-The second day of this edition of the festival was hosted an alternative cultural hub Kvaka 22
in Belgrade. In addition to screening skate films with the Summit of the Non-Aligned, the
Shortest Day invited high school students, participants of one of Filmkultura's projects “Film
Section” to promote the short films they worked on during the project. As Kvaka 22 was
packed during this edition, it was the best indicator that young people are still passionate
about working on the short form, and that the audience loves being part of the Shortest Day.
– In addition to the rich film program, during the first day, the Shortest Day invited
photography students from the Faculty of Dramatic Arts in Belgrade to create an exhibition
of their works in the main hall of the Belgrade Cultural Center. The photography exhibition
lasted until January 2023.
-A presentation by the Film+ educational program from Romania was held for all film
students in the hall of the Faculty of Media and Communications in Belgrade. The
presentation was held by the executive producer of the project, Monica Istrate, together with
our coordinator of the educational program, Danilo Stanimirović. You can find more about
this program on the website of the Film+ project https://film-plus.ro/.
– One of the biggest collaborations, which we are most proud of, is the collaboration with the
Summit of the Non-Aligned Summit. This collaboration gave birth to a one-day film, music,
gastronomic and skate event called – The Shortest Summit! The summit was held in 2022 and
2023 on the day of the shortest night of the year – June 21 on the bank below Branko’s bridge.
The Shortest Summit brought together skaters, musicians, filmmakers and many other artists
for a picnic, alongside 300 visitors. This event showcased mutual values of these two
organisations transmitted by two organizations - honesty, rawness, youth and fun! Many new
events hosted by these two organizations await!
-In May 2022, we organized a four-day film residency program – ‘From scratch to pitch’ in the magical Balkan Retreat space on Fruška gora. Five participants worked with Romanian director Bogdan Muresanu, and Serbian director Danilo Stanimirović, on their short film ideas, and prepare a pitch for their future projects. The program was launched in cooperation with our long-term partners, the Film Center of Serbia and the European Film Academy, as well as support of the Romanian Cultural Institute from Bucharest.
– By the end of our 8th edition in 2021, and a successful collaboration with Oblakoder, we
celebrated by showcasing a film program and newly created merchandise during a party that
lasted well into the night in the bars Sprat and Zaokret.
The collaboration with Oblakoder resulted in joint merchandise, numerous interviews and
reports about the festival, as well as co-organizing the party. All this brought to new
audiences and aspiring talent.
-The seventh edition of the Shortest Day festival was held online, globally, due to the COVID- 19 pandemic. Despite this, the team of the Shortest Day prepared six online masterclasses for students that wanted to learn more about all steps that are necessary to produce short films. These lectures were held by a number of local film via Zoom. The lectures went as follows:
1. Script development and ideas for a short film – author and lecturer Nađa Petrović
(scriptwriter),
2. Locations from A to Z – authors and lecturers Milica Božanić and Tanja Mitić (Film in
Serbia), Stefan Todorović (location manager),
3. How (and why) to make an animated film – authors and lecturers Ana Nedeljković and
Nikola Majdak (award-winning animated short film authors),
4. Producing and shooting short films – author and lecturer Marija Lero (producer),
5. Financing short films – author and lecturer Jovana Karaulić (producer).
– During the sixth edition, a masterclass was dedicated to all stages of development,
dramaturgy, directing and production of short films. The masterclass was hosted by the team
of More Magnets production company from Zagreb – Renata Lučić and Filip Filković Philatz.
Attendees had the opportunity to learn more about these topics from an experienced duo in a
tucked-away hall of the Nova Iskra co-working space. You can find more about this
production company on their website https://more-magnets.com/.
– A creative workshop on the topic of short films was held by a long-time friend and associate
of the festival – director Igor Bezinović from Croatia.
FESTIVAL TEAM
Nađa Petrović
Art director
Milena Šmigić
Direktorka udruženja i direktorka festivala Najkraći dan
Katarina Udovičić
Zamenica direktora udruženja i direktorka festivala Najkraći dan
Nikola Stojanović
Art director
SPONSORS AND PARTNERS
