Beast International Film Festival 06 — 08 JUN 2025

Screen Saver

Official Competition

Every year, exciting new short and medium-length films compete for the awards of Best Fiction (EASTWAVE), Best Documentary (EAST DOC), Best Animation (ANIMAEAST) and Best Experimental (experimentalEAST). 

The Official Competition presents works of emerging filmmakers from Central and Eastern Europe, a pillar to the festival offer. With each edition, this competitive programme enriches BEAST IFF and its community, introducing new works, new faces through a diverse selection of style and form. From impressive visuals to candid portraits, the Official Competition gives perspective on the New East while being at the core of our festival.

Jury

Natália Azevedo Andrade (Braga, 1992) is a director and producer based in Porto, Portugal. Her work has been screened at festivals worldwide such as Tallinn Black Nights, Bucheon International Animation Festival and Curtas Vila do Conde. She has studied Animationat MOME Anim in Budapest and Painting at the University of Porto. Recently she participated in the Animation Sans Frontières Development Lab and the Filmværksted Viborg residency, while developing the short film “There Might Be Nothing Here”. Natália also works as a producer for AIM Creative Studios and an animator for projects such as "27" by Flóra Anna Buda.

Oana Ghera is the Artistic Director of the Bucharest International Experimental Film Festival (BIEFF) since 2020 and the Industry Coordinator of the European Short Pitch (starting with the 2023-2024 edition). She also collaborates with Go Short  and Vienna Shorts  as a member of their pre-selection committees and she participates in the curation of the market catalogue of SFC | Rendez-vous Industry, in the context of the Cannes Film Festival. Previously, she was a co-programmer for the NexT International Film Festival (2016 – 2019) and has collaborated with and coordinated various cultural projects and film education programs in Romania (2014-2024).

Milan Šimánek was born in Cheb but earned his Master’s Degree in Classical Archaeology and History at Masaryk University in Brno where he decided to settle down. Since 2012, he has been working at the Kino Art arthouse where he’s gone through all possible positions – from projection to programming. Also since 2012, he’s been a part of the International Short Film Festival BRNO16 where he’s been a part of the production and programming team. Milan became the director of Kino Art in 2017. He likes films (any and all) and also enjoys reading, playing old video games, and walking his dog pack.

Anima East

This session aims to showcase animation cinema not only as a way of telling stories, but as a means of experiencing realities and sensations beyond the screen. Through films from different Eastern countries, we can encounter imaginary places that overlap or oppose each other, while still bringing out their shared culture.

East Wave

Framed by the sign of reconciliation, the 2025 EAST WAVE competition unfolds as a crossing through the poetics of conflict and the politics of affection. The six selected short films trace variations—between violence and resistance, encounter and disappearance, first tremors and final joys—of a single, enduring gesture: freedom.

Experimental East

The experimentalEAST section questions cultural and anthropological nuances, from perspectives of Eastern European culture, to societal behaviours, to the female condition in intimacy. Human conflict reveals its sensual side through the choreography of fighting gestures, while abstract visual expressions offer unexpected viewpoints. This year, the filmmakers respond to existential questions with a sense of detachment, giving us a glimpse into their intimate reflections on perceiving sorrow, eroticism, and the human condition.

East Doc

Capturing different ages and stages – childhood, youthful revolt, motherhood and finally death – the selected films for the EAST DOC Competition for Short Documentaries create a delicate, sometimes visceral thread of women bonding with their surrounding realities. These connections, tender or raw, fleeting or enduring, ultimately become a fierce portrait of resistance in an ever-changing world.