Sarajevo Film Festival Sets Competition Titles Including 19 World Premieres

The Sarajevo Film Festival will debut 19 feature films across its four competition strands during its 2024 edition, running from August 16 to 23.

A total of 54 films will compete for the festival’s Heart of Sarajevo awards. The festival’s four competition sections for feature, documentary, short, and student films will also screen nine international, three European, and 3 national premieres. This year marks Sarajevo’s 30th edition.

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Announcing today’s batch of titles, Jovan Marjanović, Director of the Sarajevo Film Festival, said: “Presenting these 57 premieres, alongside approximately 15 more films in the In Focus and Open Air programs that are yet to be announced, makes the Sarajevo Film Festival once again the place where the broadest audience, as well as film professionals and critics, can gain the most accurate image of film art in Southeast Europe, Ukraine, and the South Caucasus today,” said Jovan Marjanović.”

The festival said today that its programming team led by creative director Izeta Građević viewed 940 films, including 190 feature fiction films, 280 documentaries, and 470 short and student titles during their selection process.

“These selections are dedicated to new authors, original stories, and concepts,” Građević said.

The Sarajevo Film Festival competition programme is open for films and filmmakers from Albania, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Greece, Georgia, Hungary, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Malta, Moldova, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia, Türkiye, and Ukraine.

The jury for this year’s festival will be led by legendary writer and filmmaker Paul Schrader.  He will be joined by actor Sebastian Cavazza, filmmaker Una Gunjak, director Juho Kuosmanen, and actress Noomi Rapace.

Here’s the full list of titles:

COMPETITION PROGRAMME – FEATURE FILM 2024

Awards:

HEART OF SARAJEVO FOR BEST FEATURE FILM
Award in the amount of €16,000, co-sponsored by the Tourism Association of Canton Sarajevo

HEART OF SARAJEVO FOR BEST DIRECTOR
Award in the amount of €10,000, sponsored by the United Nations in Bosnia and Herzegovina in cooperation with UNESCO

HEART OF SARAJEVO FOR BEST ACTRESS
Award in the amount of €2,500

HEART OF SARAJEVO FOR BEST ACTOR
Award in the amount of €2,500

1. DWELLING AMONG THE GODS / MEĐU BOGOVIMA, Vuk Ršumović (Serbia, Italia, Croatia, 2024, 102 min.) – World premiere
2. FAMILY THERAPY / ODREŠITEV ZA ZAČETNIKE, Sonja Prosenc (Slovenia, Italy, Croatia, Norway, Serbia, 2024, 122 min.) – European premiere
3. ARCADIA, Yorgos Zois (Greece, Bulgaria, USA, 2024, 99 min.) – Regional premiere
4. HOLY WEEK / SĂPTĂMÂNA MARE, Andrei Cohn (Romania, Switzerland, 2024, 133 min.) – Regional premiere
5. THE EDITORIAL OFFICE / REDAKTSIYA, Roman Bondarchuk (Ukraine, Germany, Slovakia, Czechia, 2024, 126 min.) – Regional premiere
6. THE VILLAGE NEXT TO PARADISE, Mo Harawe (Austria, France, Germany, Somalia, 2024, 132 min.) – Regional premiere
7. THREE KILOMETRES TO THE END OF THE WORLD / TREI KILOMETRI PÂNĂ LA CAPĂTUL LUMII, Emanuel Pârvu (Romania, 2023, 105 min.) – Regional premiere
8. HOLY ELECTRICITY / TSMINDA ELEKTROENERGIA, Tato Koteshivili (Georgia, Netherlands, 2024, 95 min.) – Regional premiere
9. MOTHER MARA / MAJKA MARA, Mirjana Karanović (Serbia, Slovenia, Switzerland, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Luxembourg, 2024, 96 min.) – Gala screening, World premiere, out of competition


COMPETITION PROGRAMME – DOCUMENTARY FILM 2024

Jury:
Mandy Chang, Founder and Creative Director, Undeniable, Fremantle’s label, USA
Marek Hovorka, Founder and Director, Ji.hlava International Documentary Film Festival, Czech Republic
Wang Xiaoshuai, Director, writer and producer, China

Awards:

HEART OF SARAJEVO FOR BEST DOCUMENTARY FILM
Award in the amount of €4,000, sponsored by the Government of Switzerland

HEART OF SARAJEVO FOR BEST SHORT DOCUMENTARY FILM
Award in the amount of €2,000

HUMAN RIGHTS AWARD
Award in the amount of €3,000, sponsored by the Kingdom of the Netherlands

SPECIAL JURY PRIZE
Award in the amount of €2,500

1. BIANG BIANG EXPRESS / MIÀN MIÀN JÙ DÀO, Nikola Stojanović (Serbia, China, 2024, 10 min.) – World premiere
2. DAD’S LULLABY / TATOVA KOLYSKOVA, Lesia Diak (Ukraine, Romania, Croatia, 2024, 78 min.) – World premiere
3. YOUR LIFE WITHOUT ME / AZ ÉLETED NÉLKÜLEM, Anna Rubi (Hungary, Sweden, 2024, 72 min.) – World premiere
4. HETEROTOPIA / HETEROTOPIJA, Nikola Nikolić (Serbia, 2024, 7 min.) – International premiere
5. LOXY, Dimitris Zahos, Thanasis Kafetzis (Greece, 2024, 87min.) – International premiere
6. OUR CHILDREN / NAŠA DJECA, Silvestar Kolbas (Croatia, 2024, 92 min.) – International premiere
7. THE SEAGULL / GALEB, David Lušičić (Croatia, 2024, 29 min.) – International premiere
8. WHAT WE ASK OF A STATUE IS THAT IT DOESN’T MOVE / AFTO POU ZITAME APO ENA AGALMA INE NA MIN KINITE, Daphné Hérétakis (Greece, France, 2024, 31 min.) – International premiere
9. RE:VISITED JASENOVAC, Admir Rahmanović (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Sweden, 2023, 12 min.) – European premiere
10. ALICE ON & OFF, Isabela Tent (Romania, 2024, 86 min.) – Regional premiere
11. A PICTURE TO REMEMBER / FOTO NA PAM’YAT, Olga Chernykh (Ukraine, France, Germany, 2023, 72 min.) – Regional premiere
12. BETWEEN DELICATE AND VIOLENT / ZARAFET VE ŞIDDET ARASINDA, Şirin Bahar Demirel (Turkey, Netherlands, 2023, 15 min.) – Regional premiere
13. CENT’ANNI, Maja Prelog (Slovenia, Italy, Poland, Serbia, Austria, 2024, 87 min.) – Regional premiere
14. FRAGMENTS OF ICE / FRAGMENTY LYODU, Maria Stoianova (Ukraine, Norway, 2024, 95 min.) – Regional premiere
15. … NED, TASSOT, YOSSOT …, Brigitte Weich (Austria, 2023, 99 min.) – Regional premiere
16. PAIN / BOL, Ivan Faktor (Croatia, 2024, 22 min.) – Regional premiere
17. PAVILION 6 / PAVILJON 6, Goran Dević (Croatia, 2024, 69 min.) – Regional premiere
18. AT THE DOOR OF THE HOUSE WHO WILL COME KNOCKING / KO ĆE POKUCATI NA VRATA MOG DOMA, Maja Novaković (Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Belgium, 2024, 85 min.) – B&H premiere
19. LIKE A SICK YELLOW / SI E VERDHË E SËMUR, Norika Sefa (Kosovo*, 2024, 23 min.) – B&H premiere
20. PRASLOVAN, Slobodan Maksimović (Slovenia, Croatia, 2024, 112 min.) – World premiere, out of competition
21. BEKIM FEHMIU, Valmir Tertini (Albania, 2023, 66 min.) – B&H premiere, out of competition.


COMPETITION PROGRAMME – SHORT FILM 2024

Jury:
Anamaria Antoci, Producer, Romania
Flora Anna Buda, Director, Hungary
Burak Çevik, Director and producer, Türkiye

Awards:

HEART OF SARAJEVO FOR BEST SHORT FILM
Eligible for Oscar® nomination
Award in the amount of €2,500

EUROPEAN FILM ACADEMY SHORT FILM CANDIDATE

1. BONACA, Luka Vlaho (Bosnia and Herzegovina, 2024, 14 min.) – World premiere
2. GAIA, Enis Čišić, Nermin Hamzagić (Bosnia and Herzegovina, 2024, 11 min.) – World premiere
3. SEPTEMBER DAWN / RUJNA ZORA, Ivan Đurović (Serbia, USA, 2024, 25 min.) – World premiere
4. @TIKTOK_COWBOY, Anastaseu Ștefan (Romania, 2024, 17 min.) – World premiere
5. ALIVE / ZHYVA, Vladlen Odudenko (Ukraine, 2023, 12 min.) – International premiere
6. ELENE DARIANI, Elene Tavadze (Georgia, 2024, 15 min.) – International premiere
7. PLOT REVENGE / ZEMBEREK, Recep Çavdar (Türkiye, Spain, 2023, 20 min.) – European premiere
8. ABSENT / NOKSAN, Cem Demirer (Türkiye, 2024, 23 min.) – Regional premiere
9. ON THE WAY / RRUGËS, Samir Karahoda (Kosovo*, 2024, 15 min.) – Regional premiere
10. SANKI YOXSAN, Azer Guliev (Azerbaijan, France, 2024, 15 min.) – Regional premiere
11. TAKO TSUBO, Eva Pedroza, Fanny Sorgo (Austria, Germany, 2024, 6 min.) – Regional premiere
12. THE MAN WHO COULD NOT REMAIN SILENT / ČOVJEK KOJI NIJE MOGAO ŠUTJETI, Nebojša Slijepčević (Croatia, France, Bulgaria, Slovenia, 2024, 13 min.) – Regional premiere


COMPETITION PROGRAMME – STUDENT FILM 2024

Jury:
Anna Gyimesi, Director, Hungary
Delphine Jeanneret, Film curator and lecturer, Film Department of the Geneva University of Art and Design, Switzerland
Ivan Ramljak, Director, independent curator and a short film selector for the Rotterdam Film Festival, Croatia

Award:

HEART OF SARAJEVO FOR BEST STUDENT FILM
Award in the amount of €1,000, sponsored by the Regional Cooperation Council

1. ASSIST / ASIST, Maria Tsioli (Greece, 2024, 8 min.) – World premiere
2. GOOD LUCK, SARAH! / SRETNO, SARO!, Isidora Ratković (Bosnia and Herzegovina, 2024, 22 min.) – World premiere
3. HAPPY END DAY / OSTANNII DEN, Anastasiia Mykhalchuk (Ukraine, 2024, 13 min.) – World premiere
4. MENTOR, Tinkara Klipšteter (Slovenia, 2024, 15 min.) – World premiere
5. NOTHING PERSONAL, DADDY / NIŠTA LIČNO, TATA, Tamara Pavićević (Montenegro, 2024, 9 min.) – World premiere
6. PITYLOS, Galatia Lagoutari (Greece, 2024, 17 min.) – World premiere
7. THE LAST DROP / AZ UTOLSÓ DOBÁS, Anna Tőkés (Hungary, 2024, 11 min.) – World premiere
8. THE SMELL OF FRESH PAINT / MIRIS SVEŽE FARBE, Nađa Petrović (Serbia, 2024, 14 min.) – World premiere
9. WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT DILAN / DILAN HAKKINDA KONUŞMALIYIZ, Umut Şilan Oğurlu (Türkiye, 2024, 20 min.) – World premiere
10. AGE OF THE DRAGON / SÁRKÁNYKOR, Marcell Farkas (Hungary, Austria, Luxembourg, 2023, 30 min.) – International premiere
11. BEYOND THE FACE / ONKRAJ OBRAZA, Anja Resman (Slovenia, Croatia, 2024, 9 min.) – International premiere
12. CHILDREN OF THE BIRD / A MADÁR GYERMEKEI, Júlia Tudisco (Hungary, 2024, 11 min.) – Regional premiere
13. GÜL, Lidija-Rukiye Kumpas (Austria, 2024, 28 min.) – Regional premiere
14. IF I FLOAT / DACĂ VOI PLUTI, Bogdan Alecsandru (Romania, 2024, 12 min.) – Regional premiere
15. THE CHAOS SHE LEFT BEHIND / TO CHAOS POU AFISE PISO TIS, Nikos Kolioukos (Greece, 2023, 33 min.) – Regional premiere

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