4th AJB DOC Film Festival Concludes with Award Ceremony

(Patria) - The Fourth International Al Jazeera Balkans Documentary Film Festival (AJB DOC) concluded with a festive ceremony and awards presentation at the Kovači Multimedia Centre in Sarajevo.

The audience of the 4th AJB DOC Film Festival, held from September 10 to 14 in Sarajevo and online, had the opportunity to watch 23 top-quality documentary films presented in four selections: Competition Program, AJB Shows, Last Minute Cinema, and Smart Doc.

The Director of the AJB DOC Film Festival, Edhem Fočo, thanked the audience for their interest in this year's festival screenings.

"We are grateful and very pleased that we managed to bring the audience back to the cinemas. The filmmakers were also very satisfied with the renewed interaction with the audience, and all the festival guests had positive reactions," said Fočo.

He particularly thanked the leadership of Al Jazeera Documentary for their support, which, as he pointed out, has been present since the beginning.

"We are very happy to be entering a new phase of development for both the Festival and documentary filmmaking. The positive audience reactions and the AJD Industry @ AJB DOC platform we are launching next year are a sign that we are moving towards a better future," Fočo stated, expressing his happiness that AJB DOC has become a symbol of documentary film in Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as in the region.

The three-member international jury, consisting of award-winning film producer Jamel Dallali, screenwriter, director, and editor Una Gunjak, and artistic director of DokuFest Veton Nurkollari, decided on the best film in the Competition selection and awarded the AJB DOC Main Award to Croatian director Damir Markovina for his film *Wait for Me*.

"For its tender, touching, mature, yet witty portrayal of characters, family relationships, and aging, and its ability to transcend all racial and ethnic barriers, the AJB DOC jury awards the Main Award to Damir Markovina's film *Wait for Me*," stated the jury members in their decision rationale.

A Special Mention was awarded to the film *Brothers* by director Francesco Montagner.

"For its fascinating insight into growing up in a seemingly pastoral environment and its balanced approach to addressing the issue of patriarchy, the jury is pleased to award a Special Mention to Francesco Montagner's film *Brothers*," the jury stated.

The Indian duo Rintu Thomas and Sushmit Gosh won the Al Jazeera Balkans Program Jury Award for their work *Writing With Fire*, which tells an incredible story of women from the Dalit caste who, in the harshest social circumstances, managed to rise above class and caste through journalism.

"Equipped only with smartphones and courage, the fearless journalists of the Indian women's news network Khabar Lahariya investigate police incompetence, listen to and stand with victims of caste and gender-based violence, and confront injustice and political intimidation. Although it is a local Indian topic, the film sends a universal message that has the power to inspire the entire journalistic community and each of us – inspiring us to try to make the world a better and fairer place," explained the Al Jazeera Balkans Program Jury the decision.

The Audience Award will be announced in a few days, after the votes for all films screened at this year's AJB DOC are counted.

Following the awards ceremony, the film *Images from the Life of BiH Cinema* by Mustafa Mustafić had the honor of closing AJB DOC. It serves, above all, as a reminder of the filmmakers who are no longer with us, of their works and films that have left an indelible mark on the development of Bosnian-Herzegovinian cinema. With this film, Mustafić reminds us how one of the most successful film industries in this part of the world came to be.

In addition to screenings, in cooperation with the Al Jazeera Media Institute, a training session on "Documentary Filmmaking with a Smartphone" was held, led by Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist Damir Šagolj. A lecture was also given for journalists by Al Jazeera reporter from Gaza, Safwat al-Kahlout, on the topic "Gaza: Past, Present, and Future."

This year's AJB DOC Film Festival was held under the patronage of BH Telecom, and the training in partnership with Samsung.