The 4th Eastern Neighbours Film Festival in Utrecht (NL) announces 2011 Line Up

A total of 31 films from 9 countries are screened at this years edition of ENFF in Utrecht, Netherlands (October 26 - 30, 2011). The festival focuses on films from East and South Eastern Europe, from countries that are not yet members of the European Union.

ENFF opens with the film DO NOT FORGET ME ISTANBUL. Six directors that have been successful in the international arena came together for this project under the artistic direction of Hüseyin Karabey. Each of these 15 minute long short films is inspired by real-life experiences of their directors, who originate mainly from the Balkans and the Middle East. The directors (Bosnian Aida Begic, Serbian Stefan Arsenijevic, Greek Stergios Niziris, Armenian-American Eric Nazarian, Palestinian Omar Shargawi and Hany Abu-Assad) want to remind people that Istanbul is a city whose memories exceed Turkey’s borders and whose history is written by people from these countries as well.

A City in Change
DO NOT FORGET ME ISTANBUL is part of this years Focus on Turkey at ENFF. This program features a selection of astonishing Turkish Films from both new talents and old masters as well as a retrospective of Reha Erdem. A discovery among the Turkish films is the award winning documentation ECUMENOPOLIS: CITY WITHOUT LIMITS (by Imre Azem, Turkey/Germany 2011). The film is a critical view on Istanbul’s special planning and shows the dramatic changes in the city’s landscape.

New Territories
The feature films shown mirror contemporary film making from unknown cinematic landscapes and brings directors from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Serbia and Ukraine to the screen. THE WAR IS OVER (by Mitko Panov, Macedonia 2010) or BELVEDERE (by Ahmed Imamović, Bosnia and Herzegovina 2010) are negotiating stories from the Balkan war’s troubled aftermath. In MOTHER OF ASPHALT (by Dalibor Matanic, Croatia 2010) we experience a memorable performance by Marija Skaricic, who was among the European Shooting Stars 2011. Marija Sjaricic will also be present at the Festival.

Short Films
Among the Short Films selected some real gems can be found, also films that have already won awards on the international festival circuit: Both THE SEAMSTRESSES (by Biljana Garvanlieva, Macedonia/Germany 2010, Documentary) and KIYAMET (by Ivan Ramadan, Bosnia and Herzegovina 2011) won awards at the Sarajevo International Film Festival, while the Serbian entry I ALREADY AM WHAT I WANT TO BE (by Dane Komljen) was awarded in Cannes 2010. The Ukrainian Short Films DEAFNESS and DIAGNOSE (both by Myroslav Slaboshpytskiy, Ukraina 2010) have also been selected at the Berlin International Film Festival. In the Short Film Program a total of 10 films are presented to Dutch audiences.

About ENFF
ENFFs mission is to present the exciting films from East and South East European countries that are not member of the European Union. Recent films are presented alongside with classics that are hardly known outside of their country of production. The non-competitive festival wants to make people understand each other’s culture better and give an inside view into the mentality and history of our neighbours. Most of the selected films will have their Dutch premiere at ENFF.


ENFF takes place at the Louis Hartloper Complex in Utrecht. After the festival the films will be screened in other Dutch cities such as Amsterdam, The Hague, Leeuwarden, Zevenaar and Leiden. More information on www.enff.nl.