U30 Film Festival

U30 Film Festival

U30 Film Festival (Under 30 Film Festival) is a new international short film festival that will hold its first edition from 4 to 7 June 2026 at Dom omladine Belgrade. It is dedicated to young film authors and the short film form, and was created with the aim of providing space for a new generation of creators whose voices are only now entering the contemporary film and cultural scene. The festival's name refers to two key program criteria – films with a running time not exceeding 30 minutes and authors under 30 years of age.

However, bearing in mind that film is a collective art and that every film work is the result of the work of a larger number of authors and collaborators, the festival does not require that all crew members be under 30. It is sufficient that the project belong authorially to the younger generation of creators, i.e., that among the key authors of the film there are young film professionals and artists.

During the first three festival days the audience will have the opportunity, within the competitive program, to watch a total of 11 films from Serbia, Montenegro, Spain, Ukraine and Poland. The competitive program includes fiction, documentary and animated films of various genres and approaches, offering insight into the diversity of contemporary short film and the interests of the new generation of authors.

A special value of the festival lies in the direct encounter between authors and the audience. After the screenings, talks with the attending authors are planned, giving the audience the opportunity to learn more about the making of the films, creative processes and the themes they address.

On the final, fourth festival evening a showcase program dedicated to the young director Danilo Stanimirović, a member of the jury of the first edition of the festival, will be presented, after which the best film of the festival will be announced and awarded according to the decision of the expert jury, which also includes Marija Vukić, screenwriter, director and producer, and Vuk Savić, festival director.

U30 Film Festival was born out of the conviction that the future of film belongs to new generations of authors and that it is important to create a space in which their ideas can be seen and recognized. Some of the authors whose films we will screen this year are at the beginning of their careers, but among them one can already recognize future significant names of regional and world cinematography.

The organizer of the U30 Film Festival is Afilmacija – Studio for the production of cinematographic works, led by founder Vuk Savić, in cooperation with Dom omladine Belgrade.

Admission to all festival programs is free. Due to the limited capacity of the hall, visitors must collect free passes, which will be available in the central hall of Dom omladine Belgrade one hour before the start of the program each day.

PROGRAM

THURSDAY, 4 JUNE

COMPETITIVE PROGRAM

Screenings start: 20:00

• "THE END OF THE WORLD"
  Director: Majda Ranitović
  Country: Serbia
  Production year: 2025
  Duration: 22 minutes
  Synopsis: Marko (9), faced with the news of a possible End of the World, overcomes fear in a struggle to preserve the affection of his best friend Sara.

• "THE RIVER"
  Director: Uglješa Ranisavljević
  Country: Serbia
  Production year: 2024
  Duration: 30 minutes
  Synopsis: Mirko has nightmares because he cannot come to terms with the loss of his father, who recently passed away. Mirko's mother Vesna struggles as a single parent but increasingly finds help and friendly support in their kind neighbor Jova. As the relationship between Mirko's mother and neighbor Jova deepens, Mirko's disapproval grows more aggressive and his lack of self-control worsens his relationship with his mother. The situation changes when Mirko's childhood friend Marina comes to the village for the summer holidays. The emotions that arise between them seem to fill the void in Mirko's heart left by his father's death. After new life experiences, Mirko begins to look at his mother with understanding.

• "FATHER MEANS DAD, RIGHT?"
  Director: Anja Kečalović
  Country: Montenegro
  Production year: 2025
  Duration: 13 minutes
  Synopsis: When Janja (30) decides to spend the weekend with her father Momir (60) — a man she hasn't seen for years — they both discover that love requires more than emotion; it requires the courage to face each other and to expand the boundaries of their own hearts.

• "DON'T THEY KNOW IT'S THE END OF THE WORLD?"
  (Don't they know it's the end of the world?)
  Director: André Mileti
  Country: Spain
  Production year: 2025
  Duration: 15 minutes
  Synopsis: Two young people on a date realize that their life circumstances prevent them from ever having a serious relationship. For that reason, they decide to create a fantasy in which they are a married couple, which leads them to confront deep existential consequences.

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FRIDAY, 5 JUNE

COMPETITIVE PROGRAM

Screenings start: 20:00

• "LOVE PASSES, TRAUMA NEVER"
  Director: Veljko Petrović
  Country: Serbia
  Production year: 2025
  Duration: 21 minutes
  Synopsis: Important life moments that significantly influenced the development of the film's main character, the director.

• "DON'T GET ANGRY, MAN"
  Director: David Denić
  Country: Serbia
  Production year: 2024
  Duration: 30 minutes
  Synopsis: A hot-tempered driving instructor with a heart condition is advised to take up fishing to calm his nerves, but when his path crosses with an awkward angler who desperately wants to pass his driving test, an unexpected friendship forms, leading both of them to lessons they never anticipated.

• "WHERE WERE YOU, RABBIT?"
  Director: Petar Đuraković
  Country: Serbia
  Production year: 2024
  Duration: 23 minutes
  Synopsis: Zeka, a gifted but rash student, finds his friends during the evening. Whether he will manage to repay his debt, due the next day, depends on their help.

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SATURDAY, 6 JUNE

COMPETITIVE PROGRAM

Screenings start: 18:00

• "WOVEN"
  Director: Miloš Živanović
  Country: Serbia
  Production year: 2025
  Duration: 30 minutes
  Synopsis: Miša, a young man with powerful telekinetic abilities, is trapped in a dark experiment where he is subjected to manipulation and abuse. Although after his release he is offered various comforts and pleasures, Miša rejects those temptations. Driven by a search for truth and freedom, he sets out on a dangerous journey to uncover the secrets of his powers and to regain control of his own life.

• "YOUR HOME IS MY HOME"
  Director: Denys Kireiev
  Country: Ukraine
  Production year: 2025
  Duration: 7 minutes
  Synopsis: A young woman comes to a quiet country house she rented to spend some time alone. While filming a casual video-tour for a friend, she notices an unusual man standing at the edge of the woods, silently watching her. When she tries to approach and confront him, the man begins to mimic every her movement with disturbing precision. As the distance between them slowly decreases, the boundaries between inner and outer space — safety and invasion of privacy — begin to blur.

• "BREATHLESS"
  Director: Marta Socha
  Country: Poland
  Production year: 2024
  Duration: 27 minutes
  Synopsis: A young woman with a rare disease learns that there is a cure for her abroad. She decides to leave her family and set off on the path of fighting for her own survival.

• "THE BOY WITH RED EARS"
  (El niño de orejas rojas)
  Director: María Lucía Suárez Barbery
  Country: Spain
  Production year: 2025
  Duration: 13 minutes
  Synopsis: In a corner of the forest, a boy plays and learns to whistle among trees and parrots. He grows up. One day he discovers fire and runs home to tell his mother. However, seeing her helplessness and fragility, his excitement fades as if the air suddenly has no taste. Unaware of what is happening, he does not know that an illness has settled over their home. His mother, with a quiet and exhausted voice, takes his hand and, sitting by the fire, tells him about a bush that burns but does not burn; that gives life instead of destroying it. The boy, overwhelmed by sorrow and restlessness, curls up in his bed, convinced he must find that bush in the nearby forest. But while he dreams of growing up, the fire devours everything around him.

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SUNDAY, 7 JUNE

RETROSPECTIVE PROGRAM

Screenings start: 20:00

• DANILO STANIMIROVIĆ – RETROSPECTIVE OF SHORT FICTION FILMS
  Danilo Stanimirović graduated with a BA in Digital Arts at FMK and an MA in Film and TV Directing at FDU. His short films have been screened at festivals around the world. He is the founder of the Požarevac Film Festival POFF and co-founder of the production house 3FILM. He is part of the collective VAC, with which he organizes and mentors the International School of Visual Anthropology in Požarevac. He has experience working as a festival selector, and as a director of sitcoms and commercials.

• "BAMBILAND"
  Director: Danilo Stanimirović
  Country: Serbia
  Production year: 2019
  Duration: 22 minutes
  Synopsis: Strahinja has just finished acting school and works as a clown in a children's playroom. Bambiland is a large amusement park in his hometown that was open while he was a child. Today it is an abandoned and eerie place, which as such serves as a metaphor for Strahinja's generation in Serbia.

• "5/3/0"
  Director: Danilo Stanimirović
  Country: Serbia
  Production year: 2023
  Duration: 16 minutes
  Synopsis: During the night, a teenage girl travels by taxi to a neighboring town. After a disturbing ride and an even more unpleasant evening at a friend's birthday party, she is forced to return home with a frightening taxi driver who insists she sit in the front passenger seat beside him.

• "CATS"
  Director: Danilo Stanimirović
  Country: Serbia
  Production year: 2025
  Duration: 14 minutes
  Synopsis: The taciturn boy Miša finds an abandoned kitten on the street. Since his parents neglect him, he is left to learn how to cope with life on his own, relying on the only relationship he manages to build — his friendship with the kitten.

At the end of the screening there will be a short conversation with Danilo Stanimirović about his authorship and film work. After the conversation, the jury award for the festival's best film will be presented.