Balkans Film Odyssey

Image of a film still of man standing in road between mountains hitching a lift

Only the most enthusiastic of film buffs would want to watch and review 57 short films, but for second year Film Studies student Rhiannon Wain, that’s exactly what she did and it won her a trip of a lifetime around the Balkans.

Riannon is one of five young film critics who won the Creative Europe/MEDIA funded 5C Project. Organised by the online short film festival for Balkan filmmakers altcineAction!, Rhiannon and her fellow winners will be attending film festivals and writing workshops in four Balkan countries: Greece (Athens), Croatia (Split), Romania (Cetate) and Albania (Tirana).

In order to participate in the competition Rhiannon watched the 57 short films from the altcineAction! festival and wrote short reviews for a number of them. A jury of four academics selected the five best critics based on their original, insightful and well-written reviews.

The 5C Project is a film literacy travelling program addressed to aspiring critics keen to engage with Balkan cinema, and spread the word about it.

Commenting on Rhiannon’s success, Dr Lydia Papadimitriou, Reader in Film studies, said:

“This is an amazing opportunity for one of our students to participate in specialist workshops and master-classes with professional critics, network with fellow aspiring critics and filmmakers, experience the world of film festivals as a critic, and – not least – visit four different Balkan countries. Often disregarded, the cinema of Southeastern Europe deserves to be noticed and analysed, and the ‘5C Project’ offers a highly innovative way to encourage such engagement. We are very proud that one of our Film students is part of this project.”

Image of 5C Project logoFive days after being notified of her award, Rhiannon has left for the first stop of the ‘5C Project’ cine-caravan, Athens, Greece (22, 23 and 24 January 2016).

Rhiannon will be posting about her experiences on the LJMU blog when she returns.