First Films First is an intensive professional training program aimed at supporting young Southeast European directors in developing their first feature-length fiction films. The program is organized by Goethe Institute and other regional partners (FEST- Belgrade International Film Festival, Manaki Brothers International Film Festival, Sofia International Film Festival, Transylvania International Film Festival, Film Centre Serbia, Albanian National Centre of Cinematography, Ankara Cinema Association, Association of Filmmakers of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgarian National Film Centre, Cyprus Ministry of Education and Culture, Greek Film Centre, Kosovo Cinematography Centre, North Macedonia Film Agency and the Slovenian Film Centre).

First Films First consists of four modules which take place over a period of 10 months (June 2019 – March 2020) thus allowing the participants to develop their film projects, step by step, through different phases of project development.

Each country participating in this project has had its own committee who was to propose two projects for further consideration. Feature-length fiction films in progress, Pula, directed by Andrej Korovljev and Leave the Door Open by Judita Gamulin, have been selected to participate in the training program. Only eight projects are admitted in the program and, this year, twenty-eight projects have applied for it.