BEACH FILM FESTIVAL (BFF) promotes and celebrates European cinema's latest achievements. The festival is an interdisciplinary event focused on the development and presentation of the newest European films. The program is intended for people of all ages, with special emphasis on a younger intellectual audience, interested in film or engaged with contemporary European culture. The idea is to use the summer period and the beach as a social phenomenon for exchanging experiences and discussions in a more relaxed way, without the urban pressures or any time-space inhibitors.

The Festival is internally organised as a tripartite structure including
• Film,
• Education,
• Multimedia sections.

During the five festival days, our main focus is naturally on the first section – Film. Around 50 films, both short and feature-length, are screened at our many locations:

1. Official selection of 7 feature films – “Slavija” Beach and “Armada” Boat, Ohrid.
2. Focus country selection: 5 feature films – “Saraishte” Beach, Ohrid.
3. Official selection of 14 short films - “Saraishte” Beach, Ohrid.
4. Official selection of 9 student films - “Saraishte” Beach and Youth Cultural Center, Ohrid.
5. Special screening of 6 children feature films - “Saraishte” Beach, Ohrid.
6. Special screening of 3 feature and 3 short films - “Saraishte” Beach, Ohrid.

The films are chosen by local and international selectors, with “Authorship Innovation” “Idea and Approach” “Bridges and Connections – Europe in the Focus” and “Human Rights in Action” as the four major criteria for both the selection and the final awards.

As part of the second thematic program – education, we offer a diverse, high quality program, suitable for both professionals and amateurs. Educational masterclasses led by experienced representatives of the industry and constructive panel and roundtable discussions are organized annually as part of the Festival’s program. All festivalgoers are welcome to these events.

For our younger audience, we avidly prepare film-related workshops with themes ranging from acting to film critique. They are mainly directed towards children and teenagers and aim to bridge the gap between the art of filmmaking and formal education. Furthermore, we strive to implement activities which focus on cultural heritage and ecology as part of the main educational events.

Finally, the multimedia section consists of music shows, a tourist tour of Ohrid, as well as formal and informal discussions after the movie screenings. The Festival itself takes place in different locations in the town of Ohrid, however, many workshops and creative events are organized in neighboring cities, even after the official duration of the 5 festival days.

Our main aim, as well as our greatest challenge, is to utilise the absence of cultural and creative events in Ohrid during the summer season. We tirelessly attempt to gain recognition and to pave our way as a Festival of the utmost quality in the main tourist site in Macedonia.

Workshops

The workshop “Film Collage” is designed as a tool for all high school students and university students interested in the art of film. The aim is to allow young people to familiarize themselves with various aspects of film production and develop their critical and creative abilities. Through theoretical and practical lectures in the field of acting, film camera, scenography and costume design, film makeup and masks, video editing, sound design, film music and directing, participants will acquire fundamental knowledge and practical skills. Through this course, film literacy will be strengthened among young film enthu siasts, critical thinking and creativity will be encouraged. The workshops included in “Film Collage” are organized by the film production company Sharada in collaboration with the Beach Film Festival, and is a project supported by the Ministry of Culture of North Macedonia.

The workshop “RE – CRE –ART” is designed to promote participants creative and artistic abilities through the use of unused and waste materials. Through this workshop, participants will learn various techniques such as decoupage, mosaic, jewelry making, origami, fabric creations, wire sculptures, etc. The aim is to develop skills for creating artistic pieces and to promote eco-activism through the principle “ReCreArt - Reuse, Reduce, Recycle”. Behind the idea of eco-activism the participants will gain knowledge on how to creatively contribute to reducing waste and creating a sustainable society. Through theoretical and hands-on education, we will discover how waste can be transformed into art, while also fostering critical thinking about consumerist society and the importance of personal responsibility for sustainable development. RE-CRE-ART is organized by the film production company Sharada, in collaboration with BEACH FILM FESTIVAL and is supported by the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of North Macedonia.

The project “FilmED” aims to develop and implement training programs for teach- ers and educators who will acquire knowledge and practices for introducing film education into the curriculum. The methodologies and practices developed within the project through a web platform will be available to all those who want to deal with film education aimed at children of different ages. Considering the problems they face, it is necessary to ask the question, what practices would be of great benefit to educators and teachers in their attempts to incorporate film education into their programs? The panel discussion will try to map these problems, highlight their importance and start a discussion about them. The project is supported by Creative Europe Media, and is implemented in co- operation with the Cinematheque of North Macedonia and the Goethe Institute.