Program of the 4th AJB DOC Film Festival Announced

(Patria) - The fourth edition of the Al Jazeera Balkans (AJB DOC) International Documentary Film Festival will be held from September 10 to 14 in Sarajevo and online. The challenges society has faced since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as challenges individuals around the world have imposed on themselves or that society has imposed on them, have dictated the guiding theme of the Fourth AJB DOC Film Festival, which is symbolically represented on all visual materials.

The AJB DOC Film Festival has overcome the challenges brought by the COVID-19 pandemic by combining new solutions with previously valid norms. Thus, a carefully selected lineup of the best world and regional documentary films returns to cinemas for the fourth edition of AJB DOC, while the program will also be available via a digital platform on the official festival website ajbdoc.ba, through which all films can be watched for free and without registration.

“We are pleased that the festival is becoming a tradition in these September days. After the challenges we have faced, especially during the pandemic, which we used as an opportunity to make this festival even more democratic, accessible to the people, at the click of a button and for free, I hope that the fourth edition will bring new success, and we are preparing more pleasant surprises for the years to come,” said Tarik Đođić, Director of Al Jazeera Balkans.

Edhem Fočo, Director of the AJB DOC Film Festival, announced two innovations for this year's edition of the Festival.

“This year we have a new selection called SMART DOC, within which we will screen films made by participants of last year's training course 'Filming Documentary Films with a Mobile Phone'. I think it is a discovery for all of us that excellent films, of a quality that can be broadcast on television, can be made with mobile phones. I hope we will continue with this selection and that it will be successful in the future. The second innovation, which we will announce properly soon, and for which I want to provide some introduction, is Industry, i.e., financing the production of new documentary films. I hope that this will raise AJB DOC to a new level and make it the most significant documentary film festival in this region in the coming years,” said Fočo.

Organizers say that out of nearly 300 submitted films, 23 will be screened in the AJB DOC Film Festival program, including eight regional films, five BiH premieres, and six world premieres, plus three special screenings.

“Although we expected the number of submitted films to be significantly lower due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there was no difference in the number of submitted films compared to previous festival editions. Out of the total number of submitted films, 11 were selected for the competition program, of which eight will have their regional premiere, two their national premiere, and one their world premiere,” said selector Đani Hasečić. In the AJB Prikazuje (AJB Presents) selection, three films by authors of different generations from regional productions will be screened.

“Within this selection, we will present the film 'Posljednja krava u selu' (The Last Cow in the Village), the diploma debut film of young director Kenan Kulenović, the film 'Pisar novih stećaka' (Scribe of New Stećci) by Dragan Stanimirović in collaboration with Almir Berkovac, and the film 'Slike iz života bh. filma' (Images from the Life of BiH Cinema) by Mustafa Mustafić, which is specific in that it deals with the history of BiH cinematography from its inception to the present day. One could say that a small drawback of this year's selection is that all three films come from BiH; however, next year marks the 75th anniversary of BiH cinematography, and this is our small contribution to that jubilee, which I believe will go largely unnoticed. Also, through the content of Mustafić's film, we will be able to see the significance of film – documentary and feature – in building overall culture and what represents our identity,” said selector Sead Kreševljaković.

Within the non-competitive Last Minute Cinema selection, where the audience has the opportunity to watch films in their original, longer form, five films will be screened – 'Radio tišina' (Radio Silence), 'Collective', 'Moje djetinjstvo, moja zemlja – 20 godina u Afganistanu' (My Childhood, My Country – 20 Years in Afghanistan), 'Oeconomia', and 'Gorbačov. Raj' (Gorbachev. Heaven).

“This year we have a truly top-notch selection; these are authorial works that re-examine the image of contemporary society, the functioning of systems, generally accepted and established truths through plots and characters that sometimes challenge us, and at the same time educate us and thus make us aware of our surroundings, which we are sometimes not conscious of,” said selector Lejla Dedić.

Three awards will be presented at the AJB DOC Film Festival. An international professional jury consisting of award-winning film producer Jamel Dallali, screenwriter, director, and editor Una Gunjak, and artistic director of DokuFest Veton Nurkollari will select the best film in the competition program of the Festival and present the “AJB DOC Main Award”. All competition films will also be eligible for the award from the Al Jazeera Balkans program jury, which presents the “AJB Program Award”. Furthermore, all films screened at the AJB DOC Film Festival will be eligible for the Audience Award. This year's edition of the AJB DOC Film Festival is held under the patronage of BH Telecom and in partnership with Samsung.