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FESTIVAL 2024 aug 21 — sept 28
kranj, slovenia
FESTIVAL 2024 aug 21 — sept 28
kranj, slovenia
FESTIVAL 2024 aug 21 — sept 28
kranj, slovenia

2022 OPEN CALL WINNERS ANNOUNCED

The Kranj Foto Fest’s Open Call HOME: A State of Transition has received 305 applications from more than 70 countries on 6 continents. 

We thank all the participants for submitting photo stories on this crucial and urgent topic, which can be addressed in so many different layers. You allowed us to dive deep into your projects, learning about your cultures and realities and making us reflect on such relevant issues.

It has been an exciting but also painful process to go through so many strong applications and have to select only a few of them. We have seen many solid works on this multifaceted theme: from intimate and poetical narratives to more documentary approaches to social problems. 

Therefore, the jury has decided to award 21 PROJECTS: ONE WINNER who will have a solo exhibition in the festival’s program; ONE SPECIAL MENTION and NINETEEN SHORTLISTED artists who will take part in group shows all around the city of Kranj.

We congratulate all the photographers who have been selected! For those who haven’t been chosen this year, we encourage you to apply again in 2023. So, scroll down and get to know all photographers exhibiting in Kranj this summer!

THE WINNER

M'hammed Kilito (Morocco)

Series “Before It’s Gone” 

kranj-foto-fest-mhammed-kilito-winner

M'HAMMED KILITO WILL HAVE A SOLO EXHIBITION AT THE KRANJ FOTO FEST 2022

The documentary photographer M’hammed Kilito (Moroccan, b. 1981 in Ukraine) with his project “Before it’s gone” has stood out among all entries and is the winner of this Open Call themed “Home: A State of Transition”. According to the jury, he presents us with a very mature and coherent body of work translated into a long-term commitment to such a relevant issue in his own country. 

Before it’s gone is an ongoing, long-term, multidisciplinary art project that highlights the complex and multidimensional issues of oasis degradation in Morocco and its impact on its inhabitants. Over the past few years, I have visited many oases, where I have made strong connections with its inhabitants. I was able to understand this rich environment but also its glaring realities. I realized that desertification, recurrent droughts and fires, changes in agricultural practices, overexploitation of natural resources, rural exodus and the sharp drop in the water table are all imminent threats to the existence of oases.” M.K.

The oasis degradation in Morocco is forcing the displacement of many, including the young generations who are forced to leave due to water crises, lack of job opportunities, and isolation. With his visual narrative of landscapes, portraits and objects, M’hammed welcomes us all to enter the world of those who have been suffering from the impacts of destructive human activities and climate change.

SPECIAL MENTION

Allan Salas (Costa Rica)

Series “The Rooted Heart Began to Change” 

“A month after the death of my grandmother, my father survived a heart attack. These painful events compelled me to flee the unbearable echoes within my home. Through an atmosphere imbued with emotions, the photographs uncover the wounds inflicted by time.” A.S.

The jury has extensively discussed the series “The Rooted Heart Began to Change” and considered it a very courageous, consistent and poetic project. An introspective journey into Allan’s silent grief, carried by a lyrical and deep reflection about “transition”. What is family? What is home? What is finally life and the fragility of our existence? 

SPECIAL MENTION AND SHORTLISTED WILL BE PART OF GROUP EXHIBITIONS

THE SHORTLISTED

Aggelos Barai (Greece)

Ala Buisir (Ireland)

Elena Efeoglou (Greece)

Laura El-Tantawy (England)

Jordan Gale (United States)

Manuel Bayo Gisbert (Mexico)

Valentin Goppel (Germany)

Maria Gutu (Moldova)

Mathias Benguigui/ Agathe Kalfas (France)

Nataša Košmerl (Slovenia)

Katerina Kouzmitcheva (Belarus)

Kathy Anne Lim (Singapore)

Gabriele Chiapparini/ Camilla Marrese (Italy/ Netherlands)

Ludwig Nikulski (Germany)

Konstantin Novaković (Serbia)

Emanuele Occhipinti (Italy)

Gleeson Paulino (Brazil)

Paula Abreu Pita (Venezuela)

Mitar Simikić (Bosnia and Herzegovina)

Meet the 2022 Open Call's Jury

Fernanda Prado Verčič

Director of Kranj Foto Fest

Ziyah Gafic

Photographer at VII Agency and Regional Director of VII Academy, Sarajevo (Bosnia and Herzegovina)
Veronica Sanchis

Verónica Sanchis

Founder of Foto Féminas, New York (the USA)

Giuseppe Oliverio

Director PHmuseum, Bologna (Italia)

Barbara Čeferin

Owner of Galerija Fotografija

International Festival of Contemporary Photography

Kranj, Slovenia

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