The Balkan Documentary Center ‘s new initiative, Balkan Watchers, aimed at supporting journalists, filmmakers, and activists across the #Balkans and surrounding regions presented its selected projects on Thursday, 3 October. Launched in response to increasing threats to #media freedom#, the program encourages critical storytelling through journalism-driven documentary films and podcasts. The program culminated in a presentation of projects, followed by an awards ceremony at #Sofia DocuMental#.
This year’s selected documentary projects span a wide geographical area, including films from Azerbaijan, Armenia, Greece, Romania, and Ukraine
Documentary Film Projects
- The Captain and the Caspian Sea – Director: Turkan Huseyn, Producers: Turkan Huseyn, Emil Najafov (Azerbaijan)
- Survivors – Directors: Nina Paschalidou, Maria Louka, Producer: Mina Dreki, Iro Aidoni (Greece)
- A Trash Full of Gold – Director: Silva Khnkanosian, Producers: Anahit Zakaryan, Stephane Jourdain (Armenia, France)
- The Forest Glade – Directors/Creators: Oksana Savoskina, Oleksiy Nikulin, Producer: Roman Negrienko (Ukraine)
- Language X – Director: Tanya Haurylchyk, Producer: Katerina Barushka (Poland, Belarus, Germany)
- Lost and Found – Between Worlds – Director/Producer: Laurentiu Garofeanu (Romania)
- 80 Angry Journalists – Director: András Földes, Co-director: Anna Kis, Producer: Loránd Balázs Imre (Hungary, Germany)
- Not in the Business of Making Friends – Director/Producer: Monica Lăzurean-Gorgan, Elena Martin (Romania)
- Wave – Director/Producer: Mariam Chachia (Georgia)
- Escape – Director: Yevgenia Danilenko (Ukraine)
Podcast Projects
- Shadows in the Sunset: Unveiling Human Rights and Corruption in Western Balkans – Director: Teodora Cvetkovska, Producer: Demijan Hadji – Angelkovski (North Macedonia)
- Untitled – Director: Marta Kasztelan (Poland)
- Alex’s Job – Director/Host/Producer: Alex Lungu (Romania)
- Press-unbound – Director: Marius Daea (Romania)
- War: ON and OFF the air – Director: Irina Nedeva (Bulgaria)
- Beta Europeans – Director: Daniel Nenchev (Bulgaria)
- Equal Voices – Director/Producer: Agnesa Qorri (Kosovo)
- Taxi Taxi – Director: Vladic Ravich, Producer: Sophie Chkheidze (Georgia)
- Ukrainian Insights: Beyond Disinformation – Director: Valentyn Balahura, Producer: Yuriy Honcharenko (Ukraine)
