Samizdat Eastern European Film Festival

17/04/2026

📢 Samizdat is turning 5 this autumn — and we want YOUR short films!

📍Named after the practice of clandestine dissemination of censored and forbidden texts in communist states, Samizdat is Scotland’s only film festival dedicated to the cinemas of Eastern Europe, Central Asia and the Caucasus.

❤️ We particularly welcome indigenous cinema, activist work, and submissions from Ukrainian filmmakers.

📽️ Films should be released after January 2023 and not previously screened in Scotland. For full rules and terms, visit our FilmFreeway (link in bio).

🎬 Submission deadlines:
Early Bird (£5) — 15th May, 2026
Main Deadline (£10) — 3rd July, 2026
Late Deadline (£15) — 23rd July, 2026

If the fees are prohibitive, please get in touch!

🍿 All selected films receive a £50 screening fee (or equivalent in local currency), with a £200 Audience Award for the 2026 winner.

👁️ Thank you to Sabina Bakaeva (), Michael Borodin () and Sasha Kulak (), and Natalia Boorsma (), whose previous submissions feature in the reel!

23/11/2025

We’re officially wrapped on Samizdat 2025 ✨

What an extraordinary few months of cinema across four Scottish cities — our biggest Samizdat yet!

This fourth edition has felt truly special. We’ve hit some huge milestones: new venues, pop-up events, inspired curatorial collaborations, and a host of sold-out screenings.

Samizdat 2025 showcased beautifully curated retrospectives alongside bold new films from Eastern Europe, Central Asia, and the Caucasus. We kept our much-loved animation strand thriving, and screened an amazing selection of shorts at our Samizdat Short Film Competition, with this year’s prize going to Autokar, directed by Sylwia Szkiłądź . We also launched our very first online programme, bringing a slice of Samizdat straight into your living rooms!

We want to thank our wonderful audiences across Glasgow, Aberdeen, Ayr and Edinburgh; our fantastic venues .scot and Ayr Film Society; and of course, our incredible team of staff and volunteers — we simply couldn’t do this without you.

Until next time ❤️

Supported by Film Hub Scotland, part of the BFI’s Film Audience Network, and funded by Screen Scotland and National Lottery funding from the BFI.



Ayr Animation FilmFestival ShortFilm

10/11/2025

Today is the final day of Samizdat 2025! ✨

Tonight we’re wrapping up our in person events at with Cristi Puiu’s Y2K road trip movie Stuff and Dough, a true landmark of Romanian cinema.

Sharply funny and soaked in teenage nonchalance, the film slowly ramps up to stress levels only rivalled in the Safdie brothers’ Uncut Gems (2019).

Turning 25 next year, Puiu’s film will be celebrated in a special retrospective at Cannes as the spark that ignited the country’s New Wave in the 2000s.

🎬 Screening TONIGHT at 20:15 with English and Descriptive subtitles, with a recorded introduction by actress .flora who plays Betty.

Produced by .ro

Supported by Film Hub Scotland, part of the BFI’s Film Audience Network, and funded by Screen Scotland and National Lottery funding from the BFI.

09/11/2025

Samizdat in Edinburgh kicks off TONIGHT ✨

Join us for our much beloved animation ANI-MASTERS: PIONEERS OF CZECH ANIMATION strand full of dreamlike stop motion and animated oddities 👁️👁️👁️

🔸Screening at the at 18:30
🔸With English and descriptive subtitles
🔸With a pre-recorded introduction from Pavel Horáček, programme director of

One of the most renowned film traditions globally, 20th century Czech animation is known for its craftsmanship, political and social subversiveness, and often surreal storytelling. In this instalment of our ever-popular animation series, we focus exclusively on the works of several Czech ‘Ani-masters’, exploring this rich and imaginative landscape by taking the viewers on a five-decade-long journey through its many wonders and marvels.

Supported by Film Hub Scotland, part of the BFI’s Film Audience Network, and funded by Screen Scotland and National Lottery funding from the BFI.

07/11/2025

We’re so excited to share this year’s winning short with you all on Monday as a little pre-screening treat! We’ll be showing Autokar before our screening of Stuff and Dough at

Autokar directed by Sylwia Szkiłądź is the winner of this year’s Samizdat Short Film Competition and follows eight-year-old Agata as she departs her Polish homeland, embarking alone on a bus bound for Belgium. Filled with anxiety, she starts a letter to the father she has left behind. But when her pencil slips away, she must find the courage to leave her seat. Her search leads her into a surreal world where hybrid creatures—part human, part animal—dwell among the passengers. In Agata’s imagination, the hardship of migration becomes a wondrous rite of passage.

The film was voted on by our wonderful audience in Glasgow so thank you to everyone who shared your thoughts and once again, a huge congratulations to Sylwia Szkiłądź and the Autokar team ✨

Tickets are available via the link in our bio!

Supported by Film Hub Scotland, part of the BFI’s Film Audience Network, and funded by Screen Scotland and National Lottery funding from the BFI.

03/11/2025

ONE WEEK UNTIL STUFF AND DOUGH 💥

We’re back with Cristi Puiu’s Y2K road trip movie Stuff and Dough, a true landmark of Romanian cinema.

Sharply funny and soaked in teenage nonchalance, the film slowly ramps up to stress levels only rivalled in the Safdie brothers’ Uncut Gems (2019).

Romanian teen Ovidiu and his slacker friends Vali and Betty are hired by a small-time gangster to transport a duffel bag full of ‘stuff’ from their hometown in Constanta to the capital city of Bucharest. With no real understanding, or interest, in the danger they have inadvertently put themselves in, the kids jump in an old transit van and embark on their road trip. Of course, nothing really goes as planned.

Turning 25 next year, Puiu’s film will be celebrated in a special retrospective at Cannes as the spark that ignited the country’s New Wave in the 2000s.

We’re so excited to bring this one to which has been home to some incredible screenings from and this year!

🎬 Screening Monday 9th November at 20:15 with English and Descriptive subtitles, with a recorded introduction by actress .flora who plays Betty.

Produced by .ro

Supported by Film Hub Scotland, part of the BFI’s Film Audience Network, and funded by Screen Scotland and National Lottery funding from the BFI.

02/11/2025

It’s only one week till we’re in Edinburgh for…

ANI-MASTERS: PIONEERS OF CZECH ANIMATION

Join us for our much beloved animation strand full of dreamlike stop motion and animated oddities 👁️👁️👁️

One of the most renowned film traditions globally, 20th century Czech animation is known for its craftsmanship, political and social subversiveness, and often surreal storytelling. In this instalment of our ever-popular animation series, we focus exclusively on the works of several Czech ‘Ani-masters’, exploring this rich and imaginative landscape by taking the viewers on a five-decade-long journey through its many wonders and marvels.

🎬 Screening at the on the 9th November. This one is always a full house so grab your tickets asap.

Supported by Film Hub Scotland, part of the BFI’s Film Audience Network, and funded by Screen Scotland and National Lottery funding from the BFI.

31/10/2025

Our Online Programme is LIVE ‼️

From today until the 13th November you can watch a curated selection of our 2025 festival including…

🔸 A 1960s Kyrgyz classic
🔸 Two strange and comedic Qazaq documentaries from the early 90s.
🔸 Five films from Ani-Masters: Pioneers of Czech Animation
🔸 Five films from our Short Film Competition
🔸 A contemporary documentary from this year’s Ukrainian cinema strand

There’s even a few dark, surrealist films if you want to kick off your Halloween Samizdat style 🌙

Access to the full online programme is just £10 and you’ll have two weeks to watch everything — link in bio!

28/10/2025

Samizdat’s Online Programme is here 💥

That’s a wrap on our run of screenings in Glasgow, Aberdeen and Ayr this year and now we are getting ready to head to Edinburgh for the final instalment of our in person festival!

However, if you live further afield you can still catch some of our incredible programme from the comfort of your own home with our online package of screenings. For only £10 you can watch…

🔸White Mountains
🔸Lord of the Flies
🔸Champion Number One
🔸War Songs
🔸A curated selection of animations from Ani-Masters: Pioneers of Czech Animation
🔸A curated selection of Shorts from our Short Film Competition (including this year’s winning short Autokar!)

Link in bio to purchase, you’ll have two weeks to watch everything so you can have your own mini Samizdat at home!

18/10/2025