Government of Sarajevo Canton: We will not allow the reputation of the Festival to be damaged, SFF will revise its relationship with Telekom Srbija

(Patria) - Prime Minister of Sarajevo Canton Nihad Uk, Minister of Culture and Sports Kenan Magoda, Mayor of Sarajevo Benjamina Karić, and Director of the Sarajevo Film Festival Jovan Marjanović met today to establish the facts and inform the public about yesterday's case of the Serbian film "Heroes of Halyard", within the program of the CineLink Drama Showcase of Telekom Srbija.

The Sarajevo Film Festival, as stated today, as the organizer of the business presentation, accepts justified public criticism. SFF Director Jovan Marjanović informed that the controversial film was not screened at SFF, meaning that within the business presentation of the company Telekom Srbija at the Festival's business forum, among other projects of that company, the film "Heroes of Halyard", which is still in post-production, was announced. This is content for which Telekom Srbija is solely responsible.

As Director Marjanović pointed out, they communicated with all partners with a relationship of business trust regarding what they would present, and the content of this film was never submitted. Business trust has been violated by this surreptitious content, and as announced, from now on everything, including business presentations at the Sarajevo Film Festival, will undergo selection by the SFF program, which was not the case until now, as business entities were previously free to present everything they do. Also, within the organization, it will be investigated how to prevent this from happening again, and the relationship with the company Telekom Srbija will be revised.

The Government of Sarajevo Canton and the Ministry of Culture and Sports of Sarajevo Canton stand behind the Sarajevo Film Festival and will not allow the reputation of the Festival to be damaged.