Mirsad Purivatra steps down as Sarajevo Film Festival Director

SARAJEVO, (Patria) - Mirsad Purivatra, founder of the Sarajevo Film Festival, is leaving the position of Festival Director, which he held for the past 27 years.

Purivatra will in the future perform the function of President of the Obala Art Centar Association, under whose auspices the Sarajevo Film Festival operates.

“I am proud of everything we have achieved in the past 27 years of the Festival’s existence. We started from scratch, during the siege of our city, and today we are an institution respected and gladly visited by film authors and the film industry of the region and the world. It was a journey on which we encountered many challenges. With teamwork, which has been our trademark all these years, we turned challenges into successful projects, setting and achieving high standards again and again. All this time, we have been dedicated to our mission to discover, support, and promote domestic and regional film authors and industries. I am happy that the Sarajevo Film Festival has become the most significant platform for the development of the BiH film industry and co-production in the region, and thus part of numerous success stories about BiH film and the film of the entire region. It is particularly satisfying to realize that the team I led for the past three decades has given Sarajevo a great brand that promotes it worldwide as a city of culture and film. As Festival Director, I had the honor and pleasure of hosting the best BiH and regional filmmakers, as well as some of the most significant filmmakers of today who have become ambassadors of Sarajevo and the Sarajevo Film Festival. Among them are: Paweł Pawlikowski, Mike Leigh, Darren Aronofsky, Morgan Freeman, Nuri Bilge Ceylan, Angelina Jolie, Robert De Niro, Steve Buscemi, Willem Dafoe, Brad Pitt, Gaspar Noe, John Cleese, Juliette Binoche, Isabelle Huppert, Alejandro González Iñárritu, Alfonso Cuarón, Wim Wenders, Bono Vox, and many others,” said Purivatra.

As President of Obala Art Centar, Purivatra will continue to work on the strategic development of the Sarajevo Film Festival, and regarding future plans, he says:

“Being at the head of the Sarajevo Film Festival carried great responsibility and required my full dedication to the project. I made the decision to change positions with the sincere conviction that it is the right one for both me and the Festival. I will continue to be part of the team that will ensure its healthy development and all strategic directions of action. I believe that this decision to step down as director will allow me to dedicate myself to some ideas for which I haven’t had time before. My passion and energy remain tied to projects in the field of film and creative industries. One of them is the already established creative hub Ponta Lopud,” says Purivatra.

Mirsad Purivatra will be succeeded as Festival Director by Jovan Marjanović, who has so far managed the festival’s Industry Department and served as co-director of the Sarajevo Film Festival.

“Jovan Marjanović is, I can freely say, a child of the Festival. He joined us as a nineteen-year-old, after finishing high school, he grew up with the Sarajevo Film Festival, showed true talent for the creative industry, graduated from prestigious schools, built an excellent business network in the world of the film industry, and I believe he will be an excellent leader who will be able to lead both the team and the Festival in the right direction,” Mirsad Purivatra added in conclusion.