Competition Programme - Student Film 2025

Asja Krsmanović, selector of the Competition Programme - Student Film, has included 11 films in the programme, five of which will have a world premiere, one international premiere, and five regional premieres.

 

 

HEART OF SARAJEVO FOR BEST STUDENT FILM

Award in the amount of €1,000, sponsored by the Regional Cooperation Council

 

1. AFTER CLASS / DUPĂ ORE, Marius Papară (Romania, 2025, 18 min.) – World premiere

 

Two teenagers who have just met break into their school after class only to discover chilling secrets embedded within its walls—including one boy’s connection to the death of a teacher.

 

2. FOUND & LOST, Reza Rasouli (Austria, 2025, 17 min.) – World premiere

 

A Syrian father in Vienna just wants to return a lost wallet. What begins as a well-intentioned act, however, plunges the man into a chaos of misunderstanding and moral conflict.

 

3. HOME, A SPACE BETWEEN US, Effi Rabsilber (Greece, 2025, 16 min.) – World premiere

 

In the solitude of the big city, Magda meets the enigmatic and homeless Theodora. Walking together into the night, they reach the edge of town. As dawn approaches, something shifts between the two strangers.

 

4. RAHLO, Jozo Schmuch (Croatia, 2025, 19 min.) – World premiere

 

Marija’s son, Luka, who disappeared during the war thirty years ago, appears on her doorstep. Luka still looks the same as the last time she saw him, when he was twenty years old. After the initial shock, Marija accepts his impossible return. 

 

5. TARIK, Adem Tutić (Serbia, 2025, 27 min.) – World premiere

 

After being expelled from school in Lazarevac, Tarik is forced to leave his single mother, Marija, and move to Novi Pazar to live with his father, Safet, and his family.

 

6. CURFEW / KOMENDANTSKA HODYNA, Yelyzaveta Toptyhina (Ukraine, 2025, 23 min.) – International premiere

 

During an expedition, a young photographer lost track of the time. Now, she cannot catch a ride to the city. At the bus stop, she meets a young man who is celebrating his birthday. These strangers are forced to spend the night together at a roadside hotel because the curfew is approaching.

 

7. BACKSTROKE / SIRTÜSTÜ, Asya Günen (Türkiye, 2025, 14 min.) – Regional premiere

 

On the verge of the finals, a national swimmer’s life is upended when a man publicly spits in her face, triggering a profound transformation as she confronts the suffocating ambition that has defined her.

 

8. LIVING STONES / ÉLŐ KÖVEK, Jakob Ladányi Jancsó (Hungary, 2025, 20 min.) – Regional premiere

 

A troubled young woman undergoes psychotherapy at an unorthodox rehabilitation centre far from the city. Her sessions with her therapist are slow and uneasy, as she is reluctant to trust him.

 

9. MILK AND COOKIES / FURSECURI ȘI LAPTE, Andrei-Tache Codreanu (Romania, 2025, 21 min.) – Regional premiere

 

On Christmas Eve, Sebi finds a text message on his father's phone and reads it out loud.

 

10. PENINSULA / POLUOTOK, David Gašo (Croatia, 2025, 19 min.) – Regional premiere

 

A weekend in the city park is meant for recreational activities. Over a period of twenty minutes, several men seek a way to pass the time at a cruising spot located in the heart of a small grove on a peninsula.

 

11. WISH YOU WERE EAR, Mirjana Balogh (Hungary, 2025, 10 min.) – Regional premiere

 

In a world where, after they break up, ex-partners must exchange a body part, WISH YOU WERE EAR explores the lasting impact of relationships.