May 7th 2025 – Cinema Without Borders announced DJ Ahmet (North Macedonia, Czech Republic, Serbia, Croatia) By Georgi M. UnkovskiBridging as the winner of the Bridging The Borders Award at 2025 SEEfest. When Santa Was a Communist (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Serbia) By Emir Kapetanovic also received the Honorary Mention Diploma of CWB jury. Cinema Without Borders Bridging the Borders award is sponsored by 360 MEDIA
DJ Ahmet – Ahmet, a 15-year-old boy from a remote Yuruk village in North Macedonia, finds refuge in music while navigating his father’s expectations, a conservative community, and his first experience with love — a girl already promised to someone else.
DJ AHMET world premiered at Sundance Film Festival in January 2025 and won both the World Cinema Dramatic Special Jury Award for Creative Vision and the Audience Award in the World Cinema Dramatic Competition.
Georgi M. Unkovski is a Macedonian award-winning writer and director, whose work has been featured at over 200 international film festivals, HBO and MTV. Born in 1988 in New York, Unkovski graduated from the Rochester Institute of Technology -Eastman’s School of Photography, in the field of the Fine Arts. Shortly after his graduation, he moved to the Czech Republic to pursue his passion for filmmaking and enrolled in the post-graduate program at the renowned University of FAMU in Prague. Since his studies, Unkovski lives in Skopje, Macedonia, and works as a full-time director for one of the leading advertising agencies in the country – FUTURA 2/2 and Cinema Futura – a local production house dedicated to making films. Unkovski is a Sundance Alumni and his last short film STICKER has won over 50 International Awards. DJ AHMET is his first feature film.
When Santa Was a Communist: Bosnia and Herzegovina,
December 2023. An acting troupe is going on tour with a play about Santa Claus to spread holiday cheer in the small towns of post-war Bosnia and Herzegovina. While the children are delighted, the appearance of Santa Claus reignites old conflicts between the adults.
Emir Kapetanovic is a Bosnian award-winning director based in Los Angeles. He was born in 1988 in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. As a teenager, he strived in the world of film, music, and sports, playing ice hockey for the national team, and producing rap music and music videos. He graduated in Film and Theatre directing and holds an MA degree in Directing. He created socially engaged films, plays, cabarets, web series, hip-hop videos, street performances, comedy, and stand-up comedy shows that have received national, and international, acclaim. His niche is comedy which seeks to engage people with social justice issues. When Santa Was a Communist is his first feature film
CWB’s Bridging The Borders Award Jury Members:
KEELY BADGER
Keely Badger is the Founder and Chief Marketing Officer of 360 MEDIA Consulting, a woman-led digital marketing agency dedicated to storytellers and social impact brands. With over 15 years of experience, she has developed high-performance multimedia campaigns for influential clients, including The Sundance Institute and Human Rights Watch. Passionate about the transformative power of documentary film, Keely uses social impact cinema to inspire meaningful action and community engagement. Her strategic approach has empowered independent filmmakers to drive social change globally. 360 MEDIA is also proud to sponsor the 2024 Bridging The Borders Award.
Chale Nafus was born in Dallas during World War II, he attended public schools, spent summers on his sister’s ranch in Comanche County in the 1950s, learned Spanish from schoolmates, and dreamed of getting out of Dallas. After getting through freshman year at SMU, he worked at Texas Instruments before realizing he really needed a college education. After attending the University of Texas at Arlington (B.A., English), La Universidad Autónoma de México, and UT Austin (M.A., English/RTF), he began a long college teaching career at Texas Southmost College (Brownsville), La Universidad de Puerto Rico at Mayaguez, Borough of Manhattan Community College, Kingsborough Community College (Brooklyn), and finally Austin Community College (1973-1998). At the latter, he founded the Department of Radio-TV-Film, taught classes in film studies, and for seven years served as Chair of Humanities (Northridge Campus). Retiring in 1998, Chale spent 4 years traveling and writing before joining the staff of Austin Film Society as Director of Programming (2002-2015). He is now totally retired and happily serving on the boards of Austin Film Society and OUTsider Fest as well as the advisory committees of IndieMeme (South Asian film organization) and Cine Las Americas.
Susan Morgan Cooper
Susan Morgan Cooper is an accomplished Director, Producer, and Writer known for her impactful documentaries. Her notable works include “To the Moon and Back” (2016), “Mulberry Child” (2012), and “An Unlikely Weapon” (2008), receiving critical acclaim for their storytelling. She also directed “Heroes And Sheroes” (2000) and “Mirjana: One Girl’s Journey” (1997). Her narrative projects include the short film “Stringers” (1990) and the feature “Hadley’s Rebellion” (1989). With a career spanning over three decades, Cooper continues to create compelling content that resonates with audiences.
Vladek Juszkiewicz
Vladek Juszkiewicz was born in Glogow, Poland, and graduated from Szczecin Technical University with a degree in Engineering. He managed The Szczecin Technical University Choir and traveled to 18 countries, including the U.S. After managing Polish singer Maryla Rodowicz in Warsaw, he moved to the U.S. and worked on 11 films with Paul Leder. In 1999, he founded the Polish Film Festival Los Angeles and served as director till 2019, now acting as the Festival’s Programmer. Honored with the Cavalier & Officer Cross and Gloria Artis for promoting Polish culture.
Granaz Moussavi
Granaz Moussavi was born in Tehran and began her career as a literary critic and book review writer at 17. Her poetry, first published at 16, is translated into nine languages and has been featured in international festivals and symposiums. Her second book, “Barefoot Till Morning,” won the best poetry book of the year in Iran (2001) and has four editions. Granaz holds advanced degrees in drama, screen studies, and film editing. Her films, “My Tehran For Sale” and “When Pomegranates Howl,” have earned international acclaim and awards.
Abbas Yari
Abbas Yari is an Iranian journalist and film critic born in Arak in 1951. He graduated from the School of Television and Cinema in 1975. Yari began his journalism career at Sobh e Emrouz, Tehran Mosavvar, and Kayhan, before co-founding Film magazine, which he directed until 2021. He launched Film Emrooz in 2021 after Massoud Mehrabi’s passing. Mr. Yari currently is Editor in Chief of Cinemaye Bedoon Marz a new Iranian online film publication. Yari also helped establish the Iranian cinema museum in Tehran and the foundation of art critics and writers about Iranian cinema. He is also notable for organizing cultural events in Arak.
Bridging the Borders Award is sponsored by 360 MEDIA Consulting, a woman-owned, full-circle digital marketing agency for storytellers, changemakers and brands working on the front lines of social impact and innovation. 360 MEDIA provide wraparound digital marketing and creative strategy services to clients across the globe, ranging from full-stack brand development to high-impact partnership-building, public relations, marketing and design.
