This festival embarked in the period of 15 - 24 November 2002, on the initiative of the famous Spanish film director Pedro Almodovar and Viviane Redding, nowadays vice-President of the European Commission, responsible for Justice, Fundamental Rights and Citizenship and in the year of 2002, member of the European Commission, responsible for Education, Culture, Youth, Media and Sports. Since than, “CINEDAYS”, evolved in a festival that celebrates European film tradition, positioning Skopje, the main capital of Macedonia as the main anchorage for true cinema loving fans. In these past nine years, with every successive edition of the festival we tried to go beyond ourselves, however, at all times, having in mind the one thriving concept: presenting to the ever hungry audience with the finest and most rewarded European film achievements. The International European film Festival “CINEDAYS” became a major film happening which promotes European cultural values and traditions, putting the key emphasis on the European cinematographic heritage, development and nurturing of cinematic culture in general, and above all, offering to the film loving audience the chance to see the latest European film achievements directed by fresh and thriving. Worthy of mentioning is the fact that “CINEDAYS” is the only festival of any character established by the famous Spanish director, and also, the only festival of European film that happens in our country.

Each year, the main program of the festival is consisted of several segments: Competitive program, Gala program (or OFF Competition Program), Cine Balkan program, musical documentaries, Cinema for the Youngest, Short films program and numerous cinema related workshops.

In June 2011 the Balkans Beyond Borders Short Film Festival travels to Athens, where  the headquarters of the eponymous NGO organising the festival is based. This year, similar to last year, young artists from the Balkan region and beyond (Southeast Europe) up to the age of 30 are invited to create their own short films on a pre-defined subject. Entries are accepted from the 1st of November 2010 until the 31st of March 2011. This year’s edition will tackle the topical subject of crises, and aspiring artists will be invited to address the question of “Who’s afraid of the Big Bad Crises?”.

Crises have always been a reality in people’s lives and most of the time we are facing difficult situations which confront us to the different faces of crisis. But how do we define crises and what are we afraid of? Can crises serve as opportunities?