Balkans Beyond Borders Festival Shifts Its Gaze to the Unseen

by · Greek City Times

The 17th Balkans Beyond Borders Short Film Festival runs from 12 to 16 November 2026 at Tainiothiki tis Ellados, the Greek Film Archive, in Athens, under the theme “Shift Your Gaze to the Unseen”.

The festival will present 32 short films by emerging filmmakers from across the Balkans in its main competition, alongside a creative AI competition, a new strand for young audiences and a programme of talks, a conference and a masterclass.

The 17th Balkans Beyond Borders Short Film Festival runs 12-16 November 2026. Image: Balkans Beyond Borders

Balkans Beyond Borders juries and competitions

The main competition jury is made up of Kukla (Slovenia), Lidija Kordic (Montenegro) and Siamak Etemadi (Greece). The BBB Creative AI competition will be judged by Bettina Enigl (Austria), Vasileios Boukis and Nikolaos Aletras.

New this year is BBB Gen A, a competition strand for viewers aged 6 to 15, with a jury of Malborë Krajku (Kosovo), Taxiarchis Deligiannis and Vasilis Tsiouvaras. The festival also hosts the KiDdo strand from the Drama International Short Film Festival.

Non-competitive sections include BBB Beyond, BBB Focus: Czechia, BBB & co and BBB Greek Picks.

Opening night on Thursday 12 November

The opening ceremony and the first competition programme, “Resist against the oblivion”, run from 19:00 to 20:45 on Thursday 12 November. At 21:00 the festival screens Siamak Etemadi’s feature documentary Apo ti eimaste ftiagmenoi (What We Are Made Of), followed by a Q&A.

The opening night will also be screened in partner cities across the region: Kozani (Arsis), Veliko Tarnovo (TaM), Pristina (Dokufest), Tirana (PvN), Bitola (Monastiri) (Sfera International), Thessaloniki (Pheno) and Belgrade (VAC).

Full programme

  • Friday 13 November: Competition #2 “Reframing Identities” (19:45)
  • Saturday 14 November: Competition #3 “A Strictly Personal Gaze”, Competition #4 “Seen / Unseen or to Be Discussed” and the AI competition (from 18:00)
  • Sunday 15 November: Competition #5 “Looking for a Getaway” (20:45)
  • Monday 16 November: Competition #6 “Family in Glimpses” (19:45), followed by the awards ceremony (21:30)

School screenings are also held, with registration required.

BBB Cine Forum IV

This year’s BBB Cine Forum, titled “The Power of Cinema to See the Unseen”, includes:

  • Friday, 17:00: a discussion on accessibility in cinema
  • Saturday, 12:00: the UNFOLD conference, part of an EU co-funded project with Klara i Rosa (Serbia) and Iminente (Portugal); 17:00: a discussion on cinema in the age of AI
  • Sunday, 17:00: BBB in the Neighborhood, on Kaliarda, the Greek queer slang
  • Monday, 17:00: a masterclass with Thanasis Neofotistos

Tickets are available at tickets.tainiothiki.gr and the Tainiothiki box office. Full details of the Balkans Beyond Borders programme are at balkansbeyondborders.eu.

Source: Balkans Beyond Borders

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