This year’s film festival took place under the festival theme “Transition,” which served as a common thread throughout the entire event. The showcased short films encouraged reflection on changes, transitions, and metamorphoses. Festival attendees also had the opportunity to experiment with these cinematic techniques, whether by editing their own short film in the Film Cabinet’s “Short Film Workshop” or collaborating with artificial intelligence in our “Transition Cube” to create three intriguing short films, which you can watch here.

In total, 69 impressive short films were presented in nine different film blocks, showcasing the diversity of filmmaking, spanning from animation to documentary, fiction, experimental film, and music videos. Each of the four competition categories had its dedicated film block, which was screened in the theater over the weekend. Meanwhile, the open-air cinema featured films from all categories, transforming the evenings into magical moments under the starry sky, except for the rainy Sunday, which favored the indoor theater as well.

However, the most notable highlights of the entire festival weekend were the stimulating conversations with filmmakers, providing a glimpse behind the scenes and the opportunity to learn about their thoughts and motivations.

With gratitude, we conclude the 28th OpenEyes Film Festival. The enthusiasm and support of our attendees and filmmakers made the festival an extraordinary event. We eagerly look forward to future editions where we will once again celebrate the world of short films.