Sarajevo Film Festival Putting the Spotlight on Cinema, Not Politics, in a Conflict-Ridden Region

As the Sarajevo Film Festival prepares to launch its thirtieth version, which runs August 16-23, the occasion stands as a testomony 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 historical past as does Sarajevo. The pageant itself was born out of battle, launched throughout the almost four-year siege of the metropolis by Bosnian Serb forces in the early 90s. Whereas the fest has by no means averted this historical past — it runs a “Dealing with the Past” part of movies that have a look at “the many and unresolved issues that date back to the conflict in the former Yugoslavia” —from the begin, the focus has been on the energy 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 many years of the Sarajevo pageant, 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.”

As an alternative, Sarajevo has centered on the movies, efficiently evolving into a hub for filmmakers from the Balkans and surrounding international locations, providing a platform to current their initiatives, typically at the script or improvement stage, discover co-production and distribution companions, and, in their remaining type, current cinematic tales that supply a extra nuanced have a look at the area and its individuals.

“I think our focus on films from Southeast Europe is resurfacing with additional relevance this year,” says Marjanović. With all the things going on in the world and in these areas in the previous couple of years, and filmmakers both catching up with it or reflecting on it, I believe a image of this area is rising with all its complexities.”

Certainly one of Sarajevo’s distinguishing options over the years has been its dedication to nurturing expertise from the earliest phases of filmmakers’ careers. The 2024 line-up once more consists of a number of debut options, although 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 abilities additionally hold coming again. Palestinian director Elia Suielman, recipient of this 12 months’s Coronary heart of Sarajevo award, is a pageant common.

“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 go to to the pageant this 12 months, to obtain a Coronary heart of Sarajevo honor and to current a restored model of his 2004 basic Sideways on its twentieth anniversary (the authentic additionally screened in Sarajevo).

Marjanović is eager to emphasise that the pageant’s “family feeling” extends far past its annual August gathering and consists of year-round initiatives. These embrace workshops, coaching applications, and even an arthouse theater in the metropolis devoted to selling the movies and expertise from the area. This steady engagement has helped create a tight-knit group of filmmakers, producers, and business professionals and has helped foster cross-border initiatives.

“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 capable of keep away from politics altogether. Pointing to current controversies at the Berlin and Amsterdam movie festivals, the place protests over the struggle in Gaza dominated the headlines, Marjanović says he has “come to expect” a sure diploma 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 thirtieth 12 months, it continues to evolve and adapt, very like the area it represents. However its core mission of showcasing the better of Southeast European cinema, to nurture new expertise, and to offer a platform for dialogue and understanding, stays 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.”