As the Sarajevo Film Festival prepares to launch its 30th edition, which runs August 16-23, the event stands as a testament to the resilience and creativity of Southeast European cinema in the face of social and political upheaval.
Few cities bear the scars and burden of history as does Sarajevo. The festival itself was born out of conflict, launched during the nearly four-year siege of the city by Bosnian Serb forces in the early 90s. While the fest has never avoided this history — it runs a “Dealing with the Past” section of films that look at “the many and unresolved issues that date back to the conflict in the former Yugoslavia” —from the start, the focus has been on the power of cinema to unite.
“The festival screen films from Serbian just a few years after the war, which was not a popular choice at the time,” says fest director Jovan Marjanović, “but we always felt like it was important to build bridges and discuss, not censor and not boycott but to open up the dialogue.”
In the three decades of the Sarajevo festival, Marjanović notes proudly, “no politician has ever given a political speech from the festival stage, or used the festival as a springboard for local or international politics. It’s something we’ve never done and that we won’t ever do.”
Instead, Sarajevo has focused on the films, successfully evolving into a hub for filmmakers from the Balkans and surrounding countries, offering a platform to present their projects, often at the script or development stage, find co-production and distribution partners, and, in their final form, present cinematic stories that offer a more nuanced look at the region and its people.
“I think our focus on films from Southeast Europe is resurfacing with additional relevance this year,” says Marjanović. With everything going on in the world and in these regions in the past couple of years, and filmmakers either catching up with it or reflecting on it, I think a picture of this region is emerging with all its complexities.”
One of Sarajevo’s distinguishing features over the years has been its commitment to nurturing talent from the earliest stages of filmmakers’ careers. The 2024 line-up again includes several debut features, though Marjanović notes first-time filmmakers “are rarely really new voices for us, because we run so many platforms for short films, for student films, that these ‘new’ directors have been around the festival for a while. It’s a real privilege to see them develop and grow at Sarajevo from year to year.”
Established talents also keep coming back. Palestinian director Elia Suielman, recipient of this year’s Heart of Sarajevo award, is a festival regular.
“I’ve been president of the jury [in 2016], I’ve screened my films there. I think I’ve done a couple of master classes, I think I’ve been there once without having any real reason,” says Suielman. “[Sarajevo] has become like a family thing for me, and I don’t think I’m the only person that has that kind of relationship, with the festival. I’ve met quite a few people who just go there because they like the place and they like the people.”
Alexander Payne, for one. The Oscar-winning director will make his third visit to the festival this year, to receive a Heart of Sarajevo honor and to present a restored version of his 2004 classic Sideways on its 20th anniversary (the original also screened in Sarajevo).
Marjanović is keen to emphasize that the festival’s “family feeling” extends far beyond its annual August gathering and includes year-round initiatives. These include workshops, training programs, and even an arthouse theater in the city dedicated to promoting the films and talent from the region. This continuous engagement has helped create a tight-knit community of filmmakers, producers, and industry professionals and has helped foster cross-border projects.
“The first financing plan that comes to mind for an independent producer [from the former Yugoslavia] these days is a co-production, which was not the case before, and I think this one of the direct effects of Sarajevo Film Festival and our relentless support of co-production and cooperation,” says Marjanović. “We have shown the industries in the different countries what connects them and how economies of scale can be achieved, and the businesses understand that. We see more and more connections every year.”
It’s unlikely the 2024 Sarajevo Film Festival will be able to avoid politics altogether. Pointing to recent controversies at the Berlin and Amsterdam film festivals, where protests over the war in Gaza dominated the headlines, Marjanović says he has “come to expect” a certain degree of polemics. “It’s what happens nowadays, you just have to be ready for it, know how to communicate and maintain your independence…If you go through our program, you can see we are showing a cinema that strives for a deeper understanding of the human condition, both individual and collective. A lot of that is political, but it’s never day-to-day politics, the politics of 24-hour news and social media. The festival is a rare opportunity where we can find room for nuance.”
As the Sarajevo Film Festival enters its 30th year, it continues to evolve and adapt, much like the region it represents. But its core mission of showcasing the best of Southeast European cinema, to nurture new talent, and to provide a platform for dialogue and understanding, remains unchanged.
“Our core idea, however naive it might sound, is that peace must prevail and will prevail,” says Marjanović. “We have to work for that and focus on what unites us in all the differences that we have. And that’s cinema and the ability to reflect and see people around us as people.”
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