30th Sarajevo Film Festival: 54 films competing for the Heart of Sarajevo awards

(Patria) - A total of 54 films will compete for the Heart of Sarajevo awards in the Competition Programmes of the 30th Sarajevo Film Festival, with three films to be screened out of competition.

In four competitive selections – feature film, documentary film, short film, and student film – 19 films will have their world premiere, 9 their international premiere, 3 their European premiere, 23 their regional premiere, and 3 their Bosnian-Herzegovinian premiere.

"The screening of these 57 premieres, along with about 15 more films in the In Focus and Open Air programmes yet to be announced, makes the Sarajevo Film Festival once again this year a place where the widest audience, as well as the film industry and critics, can get the most accurate picture of film art in Southeast Europe, Ukraine, and the South Caucasus today. These regions are simultaneously at the centre and on the margins of global attention, and the Festival offers a unique opportunity for a deeper understanding of all the nuances of experiences from the geopolitical and artistic margins that are often missing in the construction of today's complex picture. The Heart of Sarajevo has, over the past 20 years since it has been awarded, become a truly valuable film award that amplifies voices from this region and brings them closer to the global public, and we believe it will be the same this time," stated the Director of the Sarajevo Film Festival, Jovan Marjanović.

This year, the selection team, led by Izeta Građević, Creative Director of the Sarajevo Film Festival, watched 940 films: 190 feature films, 280 documentaries, and 470 short and student films.

"The selection of competitive programmes for this year's jubilee edition of the Festival was made in accordance with the task we set for ourselves as a festival when it was launched. These selections are dedicated to new authors, original stories, and concepts. In our competitive arena, following established practice, always ready for creative risk, alongside films and authors whose value has been recognized by the world's major film festivals this year: Cannes, Berlin, Venice, we have also made space for several new titles, several world premieres that we believe belong precisely in such a selection. As is known, for our competitive programmes, we select films from the broad region of Southeast Europe, characterized by diverse film practices and traditions, variety in the choice of themes, film language, and creative affinities. Thanks precisely to the richness of diversity, it can be said that our competitive programmes this year once again represent the great film world of today in miniature," stated the Creative Director of the Sarajevo Film Festival, Izeta Građević.

Elma Tataragić, selector of the Competition Programme – Feature Film, included 9 films in the programme, of which 1 film will have its world premiere, 1 its European premiere, and 6 films their regional premiere in the competition for awards. Out of competition, one film will have its world premiere as a gala screening.

"This year's selection is simultaneously an invitation and an instruction, an opportunity and a restriction, a safe place, but also a challenge. The authors of eight films in competition and one film out of competition express concern for the world today, yesterday, and tomorrow in various ways. The selection is a polyphony of different and diverse perspectives on war, history, love, betrayal, on a fragile future, but also on the eternal human need for belonging. With this selection, we invite you to reflect on the ambivalence of the present world, which seems to have never been more fragile," stated Tataragić.

Rada Šešić, selector of the Competition Programme – Documentary Film, chose 21 films for the programme. In the competition for awards, there are 19 films: 3 films will have their world premiere in Sarajevo, 5 their international premiere, 1 their European premiere, 8 their regional premiere, and 2 films their Bosnian-Herzegovinian premiere. Two films will be screened out of competition: one will have its world premiere, and one its BH premiere.

"This year's selection can be called 'fishing in the river of time'. This method, creatively applied in a large number of selected films, offers a unique authorial perspective on the use of the flow of time, either through exceptional archival material or refined cinematic observation. Documentarians thus offer the audience an exciting sensory experience and encourage reflection. This is also a year of personal stories; half of the selection reflects extremely personal or intimate family stories, but through a subtly presented micro-world, the exciting, often provocative macro-world of the environment, political upheavals, and social struggles is actually mirrored. Short documentaries boldly bring creative interweaving of film styles and opening the boundaries of documentary texture towards other genres. We proudly highlight as many as seven talented female debutants from the region whose brave and above all original film expressions will mark this year of documentary filmmaking," stated Šešić.

In the Competition Programme – Short Film, selected by selector Elma Tataragić, there are 12 films this year: 4 will have their world premiere, 2 their international premiere, 1 their European premiere, and 5 films their regional premiere.

"This year brings an exciting selection of short films competing for the Heart of Sarajevo. It is not unusual for the selected 12 films to bring extremely diverse approaches and worlds with completely different themes. However, regardless of the diversity, all authors raise questions of identity, future, and perspective in today's fragile world. And perhaps most importantly, these films bring a breath of freedom, both in expression and in their attitude towards the world," says Tataragić about the short film selection.

Asja Krsmanović, selector of the Competition Programme – Student Film, included 15 films in the programme, of which 9 will have their world premiere, 2 their international premiere, and 4 films their regional premiere.

"Of the 15 films in competition, along with 11 live-action films, three animated films and one documentary film were also included in the competition. What is particularly pleasing to see in this year's edition of the programme is the thematic and stylistic diversity of the works, as well as the readiness to take risks, not to compromise, and at the same time to master the film language. From classic coming-of-age problems (even the late ones that catch some characters only in their thirties), through family dramas, issues of identity and migration (economic and those caused by wars), class divisions, gender-based violence, toxicity in male-female, but also family and friendly relationships, to some more complex questions of human existence, their connection with nature, and the inevitable reflection on death and the end of the world (literal or as we know it), this selection shows the full breadth of themes that young authors are dealing with," stated Krsmanović.

The Competition Programme includes films and authors from Albania, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Greece, Georgia, Hungary, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Malta, Moldova, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia, Turkey, and Ukraine.