SEE YOU IN
SARAJEVO! 12---19 AUGUST 2022
#28thSFF www.sff.ba
The Sarajevo Film Festival was launched in 1995, towards the end of the four-year siege of Sarajevo. Initiated by the Obala Art Centar, the Festival started with the aim to help reconstruct civil society and retain the cosmopolitan spirit of the city. 28 years later, it is a trailblazing international film festival with a special focus on the region of Southeast Europe, dedicated to exposing the region’s talent and bringing the best of European cinema to film-hungry audiences in Sarajevo.
The Festival has 18 sections including 5 that are competitive, taking place in 13 venues and on 20 screens: Competitions - Feature, Documentary, Short & Student Film
Focusing on films by first and second-time directors, the Festival’s competition sections feature a significant number of world and international premieres. The films compete for the prestigious Heart of Sarajevo awards and more than €40,000 in cash prizes. The Festival’s signatory competition sections provide maximum exposure to featured authors, honouring them with Gala Screenings, Red Carpet and Press events.
In Focus
The section presents the best films produced in Southeast Europe and Southern Caucasus in the preceding year, featuring productions that have seen success at prestigious film festivals worldwide (focusing on titles that premiered at the Berlinale, Cannes or Locarno).
Avant Premiere
The programme is focused on the screening of television dramas which are competing for Audience award. Strong commercial potential of our regional drama series and the fact that they will be distributed in the autumn/winter season is what links the titles which are shown in this programme.
Open Air
The Open Air section boasts the Festival’s largest venue – the recently refurbished Coca-Cola Open Air Cinema, where 3,300 festivalgoers enjoy screenings of up to eight leading art-house, Euro-
pean and international feature films. The venue offers the unforgettable experience of watching films under the stars on the biggest screen in the region at top projection quality.
Tribute to
The section hosts and presents retrospectives of the world’s most prominent filmmakers and includes Q&A sessions, a masterclass and special events.
Kinoscope
Kinscope presents up to 20 inspiring films directed by well-established and up-and-coming filmmakers. The section brings to Sarajevo narrative and documentary films from around the world (excluding Southeast Europe and the South Caucasus).
Dealing with the Past
Dealing with the Past aims to encourage dialogue about unresolved issues stemming from the 1990s conflicts in the former Yugoslavia, through a programme that combines screenings of relevant films, Q&A sessions and related case studies. The Festival seeks to encourage public involvement in order to increase understanding and encourage acknowledgement and tolerance of differences, especially in younger generations.
European Shorts
This programme is focused on presenting best short films of the most talented young filmmakers from around Europe. In addition, selected films in the European Shorts and Competition Programme - Short Film qualify for a European Film Academy and Oscar® candidacy for nomination in the short film category.
Summer Screen
Presented under the starry skies, the Summer Screen section offers a selection of narrative and documentary films from around the world that consider current musical or pop culture themes.
MiniArena / Children’s & TeenArena Sections
With the aim to attract young audiences and educate future generations of film lovers, the Festival introduced special sections that combine age–appropriate films with various engaging and educational activities. The sections include: MiniArena (for children between the ages of 4 to 6), Children’s (ages from 6 to 13) and TeenArena (ages from 13 to 18).
SFF Partner Presents
Through its partnership with the Doha Film Insti-
tute, the Festival brings to Sarajevo a selection of the films made in the preceding year by Arab filmmakers. This partnership provides industry exchange and strengthens connections between Arab and European cinema. The collaboration will mark its ninth anniversary in 2022.
Human Rights Day
This section focuses on a variety of topics which inspire panel participants, the audience and the media to focus on and discuss pressing problems faced by individuals and communities around the world.
BH Film
Conceived as a ‘window to the world’ for local filmmakers, this national cinema section is organized in collaboration with the Association of Filmmakers of Bosnia and Herzegovina and provides an overview of all films produced in the country in the preceding year.
Programme of Networks of Festivals in the Adriatic Region
Adriatic Audience Award features up to six European box-office hits from medium and low audio-visual production capacity countries. The package included films of renowned quality, preferably films that have been critically acclaimed and had good audience reception, or that had been selected by curators for their quality or entertainment value. All films screened in the section are eligible for the Adriatic Audience Award, which will combine the votes from all festivals as well as from their online editions. The award includes a P&A award in the amount of €5,000 to a regional distributor to release the film the territory of former Yugoslavia.
Festivals industry and training programmes include CineLink Industry Days and Talents Sarajevo. CineLink Industry Days
Over the 19 years since its launch, the Sarajevo Film Festival’s industry section has become a major hub for Southeast European film professionals, and has played a crucial role in the expansion of cinematic co-production in the region. It has also become a key destination for professionals from across Eu-
rope who are in search of talent and co-production possibilities, or who simply wish to obtain in-depth knowledge about this dynamic region’s business development. The Festival’s industry offering attracts almost 1,200 professionals to its annual event in late August and includes activities for people from all spheres of the business through its interlinked CineLink Industry Days sections: CineLink Co-Production Market, CineLink Workin-Progress, CineLink Drama, Docu Rough Cut Boutique, True Stories Market, Talents Sarajevo Pack&Pitch, Avant Premieres, CineLink Talks, CineLink Producer’s Summit. Additional activities are organized in cooperation with partners’ organizations: Docu Talents from the East (Ji.hlava IDFF) Our vision is both to serve the current needs of the business and to shape its future. We see more films than ever being made outside the existing value chain, as well as the former borders between cinema and television blurring in terms of quality of content – and there are so many more screens on which all of this can be seen. Everything is converging, and we continue assembling our programme to reflect this. Everything in one place; everything connected. CineLink Industry Days provides awards totalling more than €145,000 in cash and services, from Eurimages, Arte, Film Center Montenegro, Croatian Audiovisual Centre, Film Center Serbia, Post Republic and Turkish National Radio Television, among others.
Talents Sarajevo
Launched and developed in collaboration with Berlinale Talents and the Berlin International Film Festival, Talents Sarajevo is a six-day networking and training platform of the Sarajevo Film Festival for up-and-coming film professionals from Southeast Europe and the South Caucasus. Each year, the programme brings together 60 emerging actors, cinematographers, directors, editors, film critics, producers and screenwriters for an intensive week of seminars, master classes, debates, networking and training opportunities with some of the world’s leading film professionals. A proud member of the Talents International family: Berlinale Talents, Talents Beirut, Talents Buenos Aires, Talents Durban, Talents Guadalajara, Talent Press Rio, Talents Sarajevo and Talents Tokyo.
SAVE THE DATES: 28th Sarajevo Film Festival 12 – 19 August 2022
Film and Drama series submission deadline: May 28 Talents Sarajevo application deadline: May 31 CineLink Co-Production Market: 15 – 18 August CineLink Work-in-Progress: 15 – 17 August CineLink Drama: 12 – 18 August Docu Rough Cut Boutique: 13 – 18 August True Stories Market: 13 – 16 August Talents Sarajevo Pack&Pitch: 17 – 18 August Avant Premiere: 13 – 15 August CineLink Talks: 13 – 18 August Docu Talents from the East organized by Ji.hlava IDFF: August 15 Sarajevo Film Festival Award Ceremony: August 19
#28thSFF www.sff.ba Zelenih beretki 12, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina Phone: +387 33 209 411 / info@sff.ba