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Program Partners:
Main sponsors of Sarajevo Film Festival:
The Arc of Displacement
Discussing the past is always challenging, and particularly as we face the flickering of a potential global conflict that might engulf us all. Yet, the past always persists. What remains when peace— whether temporary or permanent—finally arrives? Often, what persists is only the traces of memory, a lingering sense of displacement from locales once called home. This year’s Dealing with the Past programme is shaped by these themes: the void that exists between the familiar and the foreign; the necessity of leaving; and the process of forging new lives and new memories. We explore the arc of displacement, reflecting on what we carry forward and what we leave behind.
Once again, we invite audiences to delve into the depths of human experience, traversing the fraught histories of the Holocaust and conflicts in Cambodia, Lebanon, Palestine, and the former Yugoslavia. In exploring episodes of these various conflicts, we are left with the enduring truth that responsibility ultimately rests with individuals.
This year’s reflective, cinematic journey through the past begins with the regional premiere of Michel Hazanavicius’s THE MOST PRECIOUS OF CARGOES, which had its premiere at the Festival de Cannes. This animated film is a grim story that resembles a Brothers Grimm fairy tale with subtle hints of magic realism and fantasy, all the while being deeply rooted in the cruel, unbearable reality of the Holocaust.
This film is followed by Ivan Ramljak’s brilliant EL SHATT: A BLUEPRINT FOR UTOPIA, a documentary that explores the story of refugees from Dalmatia who escaped the horrors of the German invasion after Italy’s capitulation to the Allies during World War II and found a haven in El Shatt, a former Al-
lied Forces base in Egypt. Ramljak’s film sheds light on a subject that is often overlooked by historians but that is important in the context of today’s world—a reflection on what we all share with refugees in our collective history.
Myriam El Hajj’s DIARIES FROM LEBANON, which was showcased to Sarajevo Film Festival audiences as a work-in-progress, continues our focus on the Middle East. Offering unique and varying perspectives on the recent failed Lebanese revolution and its aftermath, the film is as inspiring as it is gut-wrenching, sculpted as a collage of instances of hope and resilience contrasted with utter disappointment, bringing responsibility back to the individual to determine their course of action. After everything, there is still hope.
LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL, the second feature-length film by Palestinian documentary filmmaker Mohamed Jabaly, depicts his own personal struggles in finding his place in Norway after he became stranded there ten years ago while on a student exchange due to the closing of the border at Rafah. We also take special pride in bringing NO OTHER LAND, by Yuval Abraham, Basel Adra, Rachel Sozs, and Hamdan Ballal, to Sarajevo audiences, after it reaped rave reviews during its premiere at this year’s Berlin International Film Festival. NO OTHER LAND emphasizes the collective efforts to fight for the truth, by individuals from seemingly incompatible positions, united by a noble common goal in preserving empathy, despite grand narratives corrupting their realities. These four films offer a glimpse into the turbulent past of the Middle East, which extends far beyond the struggles of today.
We present a special programme of short films that concern the Yugoslav Wars of the 1990s.
From Željko Stanetić’s MILENA, which concerns the forced displacement of Serbian refugees from Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia during the wars, to SAMIR MEHIĆ BOWIE–LETTERS FROM SREBRENICA, a film about the late Srebrenica musician who faced disillusionment and hopelessness. This is followed by Nikola Ilić’s expressive documentary EXIT THROUGHT THE CUCKOO’S NEST, a cinematic retelling of his escape from mobilisation during the conflict in Kosovo* while feigning mental illness to escape the madness of war.
The programme is crowned by the winner of the Palme d’Or for Best Short Film at Cannes: Nebojša Slijepčević’s THE MAN WHO COULD NOT REMAIN SILENT, which concerns the murder of a Yugoslav National Army Captain who stood up to the paramilitary forces that were executing Muslim civilians from Bosnia and Herzegovina in Štrbci in 1993.
On the final day of the programme, two films are dedicated to war reporters and journalists —the people who bring glimpses of truth to the rest of the world while putting their own lives at stake. Lucy Lawless’s NEVER LOOK AWAY is a captivating documentary that depicts the life of Margaret Moth, the brave ‘warrior princess’ camerawoman who fought for the truth on the front lines, camera in hand. Finally, Rithy Phan’s MEETING WITH POL POT traces the fate of three journalists who find themselves in Democratic Kampuchea (now Cambodia) during the bloodiest years of the Khmer Rouge regime.
Alongside its rich selection of films, the Dealing with the Past programme remains committed to its socially engaged nature, welcoming more than twenty-five young participants from the Western Balkans as part of the In Youth Eyes programme,
which is made possible thanks to the cooperation of the Freidrich-Ebert Stiftung SOE, Swiss Embassy, forumZFD, and Europe House. These young participants attend the screenings, as well as panel discussions, workshops, and exhibitions during the Sarajevo Film Festival, engaging in meaningful discussion that will serve as a foundation for the development of their critical thinking skills—so crucial in building a better future while taking the reality of the past into account.
We are also proud to announce this year’s edition of the True Stories Market, featuring seven carefully curated, true stories presented by esteemed organisations and individuals. These stories are presented to film industry professionals during an open pitching session, with the intention that some of them will be picked up for cinematic development. After the Festival, attendees are invited to submit concepts for films based on the stories and enter the competition for the €10,000 development award presented by the FreidrichEbert Stiftung SOE.
This year, the Sarajevo Film Festival celebrates its thirtieth edition. Now seems like a good time to look back at how far our beloved Festival has come, and how it has grown up in times of seemingly never-ending transition since its beginnings in wartime. Three decades ago, the Festival opened a window to the outside world for the people of a besieged city. Today, we hope the Dealing with the Past programme keeps the hearts of audiences open to lessons learned and never to be unlearned, so that the humanity in all of us may prevail, never to be displaced.
Maša Marković, Dealing with the Past Selector and Programme Manager
Programme
SATURDAY, 17TH OF AUGUST
19:00
Cineplexx 7
THE MOST PRECIOUS OF CARGOES
Director: Michel Hazanavicius France, Belgium, 2024, 81’
SUNDAY, 18TH of AUGUST
17:45
Swissotel Sarajevo / CineLink Talks Conference Room
TRUE STORIES MARKET
Moderated by: Robert Zuber
19:00
Cineplexx 7
EL SHATT: A BLUEPRINT FOR UTOPIA
Director: Ivan Ramljak Croatia, Serbia, 2023, 96’
MONDAY, 19TH OF AUGUST
19:00
Cineplexx 7
DIARIES FROM LEBANON
Director: Myriam El Hajj Lebanon, France, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, 2024, 110’
TUESDAY, 20TH OF AUGUST
19:00
Cineplexx 7
LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL
Director: Mohamed Jabaly Norway, Palestine, Qatar, 2023, 93’
WEDNESDAY, 21ST OF AUGUST
19:00
Cineplexx 7
DEALING WITH THE PAST SHORTS SLOT: MILENA (2024); SAMIR MEHIĆ
BOWIE – LETTERS FROM SREBRENICA (2024); EXIT THROUGH THE CUCKOO’S NEST (2024); THE MAN WHO COULD NOT REMAIN SILENT (2024)
Directors: Željko Stanetić; Lamija Grebo; Nikola Ilić; Nebojša Slijepčević
THURSDAY, 22ND OF AUGUST
19:00
Cineplexx 7
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Hamdan Ballal, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor Palestine, Norway, 2024, 95’
FRIDAY, 23RD OF AUGUST
15:00
Cineplexx 7
NEVER LOOK AWAY
Director: Lucy Lawless New Zealand, 2023, 85’
19:00 Cineplexx 7
MEETING WITH POL POT
Director: Rithy Panh France, Cambodia, Taiwan, Qatar, Türkiye, 2024, 112’
True Stories Market
The True Stories Market facilitates a platform for untold true stories from primarily Western Balkan countries, addressing the enduring consequences of past conflicts. It features seven carefully curated cases from prominent organizations and individuals, dedicated to documenting the aftermath of these conflicts. Film Industry professional gain access to these cases via a public pitching session, enabling them to bring to screen these compelling stories, making them more accessible for broader audiences through the power of cinema.
After the festival, an open call invites filmmakers to apply for projects inspired by the showcased cases, facilitating their transition from market to screen. This year, a €10,000 award sponsored by FriedrichEbert-Stiftung (FES) Dialogue Southeast Europe will be presented to a deserving recipient, recognizing important stories.
RAB BATTALION by Eli Tauber
Eli Tauber, a renowned Jewish histžorian based in Sarajevo, shares the history of Rab Battalion, a unique instance of Jewish armed resistance during World War II, through a retelling of his parents’ personal experience. Going from one check point to another, the story focuses on Taubers’ journey from various concentration camps located on islands by the Adriatic coastline, now boasting titles of most desirable tourist locations, ending at the these days almost completely forgotten concentration camp on the island of Rab. After Italy’s capitulation, Jewish prisoners used the opportunity to form a battalion and join the armed resistance in the people’s liberation war. This unique case, presented with a personal approach, is underscored by thorough research of the subject matter, conducted by Eli Tauber himself.
NOTIONS OF NORMALCY
by Esad Boškailo
A world-renowned psychiatrist, professor and PTSD expert Esad Boškailo MD, recounts his personal experience of imprisonment at six concentration camps during the 90s war. This story begins and ends with basketball. Years before the war, young Boškailo was a healthy young man, with a career in professional basketball, before concentrating on his education, acquiring a title of MD. During the war, he is subjected to horrendous torture at the concentration camp. Focusing on the notions of non-normal and normal, the story focuses on two events – a rampant torture of shooting at the prisoners through thin hangar walls, expelling bullets in the dark with a blunt nail clipper, and a human reaction to accidentally found out news of the tragic death of formerly Yugoslavian basketball superstar Dražen Petrović. Prisoners and criminals both react to tragic news “normally”, with a healthy dosage of grief, despite the evidently nonnormal circumstances and context surrounding them.
ZIJO RIBIĆ: RED BLOOD
by forumZFD, presented by Vjera Reljić Zijo Ribić, now 40, survived the massacre of nine family members by “Simini četnici” in Skočić on July 12, 1992. Rescued by JNA soldiers, he spent years in hospitals and orphanages. Despite his tragic past, Zijo promotes forgiveness and reconciliation, traveling Europe as a Roma peace activist. He now lives in Tuzla with his wife and two children, working as a cook. The 2018 Belgrade Court acquitted the perpetrators of mass murder but convicted them of other crimes. Zijo, who forgave his attackers, emphasizes love and unity, reminding everyone that all blood is red, symbolizing love and desire for a more united humanity.
MAHMUT by Admir Rahmanović
The film to be focuses on the director’s relationship with his father-in-law, Mahmut Kljajić, and their shared traumas and hopes for a better future. Mahmut survived two concentration camps in the 1990s. His family, including the director’s wife, was separated and expelled. The director himself spent 19921993 near the “Music school” concentration camp in Zenica. Decades later, both live in Sweden, revisiting these traumas and memories. Despite his past, Mahmut now works with a Croat and a Serb, his closest friends. The film ends with hopes for a peaceful future.
THE CURSE by Ferida Abdagić
Ferida Abdagić’s parents built their house with their own hands, but her grandmother cursed it. The house burned down during the war, and Ferida’s brother barely saved a few items. Their father, disabled from his time in the JNA, couldn’t witness the curse materializing. For 30 years, he tended to the ruins, believing in justice and waiting for reconstruction aid that never came. Despite having close ties in the local administration, their house was always mysteriously omitted from aid lists. This felt like a curse on the family. Discovering ancient bones on their land provided a haunting explanation: “No one will return home until we all do.”
“Murders for Greater Goals: Is Politics Hiding the Killers of 28 Mostar Residents?” by tacno.net’s Predrag Blagovčanin
In 1994, Zejna and Jusuf Piragić were murdered in their Mostar apartment. For 23 years, their son Nijaz has pursued justice, but their case is one of 26 unsolved murders in West Mostar from 1994 to 2003, years after the initial ceasefire and peace treaties were signed. Authorities have failed to resolve these crimes, which many claimed were politically motivated to prevent the return of Bosniaks and Serbs. Despite his never-ending quest for justice, Nijaz manages to lead an almost-normal life, working as a painter, consistently crossing between two sides of the divided city, entering into strangers’ homes with a job to make them better, almost regularly running into people suspected of his parents’ murder. His brother works as a truck driver across the globe, in the USA. Unlike Nijaz, he desires revenge and avoids coming back to Mostar in order to not act on his vengeful urges. Depicting two opposite manifestations of consequences war and trauma have on individuals, this story paints an accurate portrait of a post-conflict society and Mostar today. It is based on a thorough investigative article written by Predrag Blagovčanin, recently re-published in anticipation of the 30th anniversary of the murder of Zejna and Jusuf Piragić.
THE PARTISAN NECROPOLIS
by Chris Leslie
The Partisan Necropolis in Mostar, a national monument, has been vandalized and neglected for decades. This documentary showcases its history, legacy, and fight for survival, featuring exclusive unseen archives and interviews. The trailer will be showcased as the film is seeking future funding, though its potential has already been acknowledged and in part supported by Al Jazeera Balkans.
If interested in learning more about any of the stories presented at True Stories Market, feel free to send an email to dwp@sff.ba
True Stories Market Mentors:
ROBERT ZUBER – born in 1976 in Pula. For 18 years, he has worked across all segments of media in Croatia and was twice awarded by the Croatian Journalists’ Association. After gaining necessary professional experience as a journalist and editor while working, among others, for BBC, Radio 101 and Nova TV, he started working for the Croatian public broadcaster, HRT, where he spent 11 years investigating various social and humanitarian issues, mostly through his TV show THE MISSION. He started making documentaries in 2001, when he completed his first documentary film, NA STANICI U PULI, which became the most successful theatrically released documentary in Croatia that year. His second autobiographical documentary, AN ACCIDENTAL SON, filmed within the UNICEF ‘Every Child Needs a Home’ project, received the Oktavijan award for the best documentary at the Croatian Film Days festival. His next documentary, MILA SEEKS SENIDA, won the human rights award of the Sarajevo Film Festival. In 2017, he directed MILLION DOLLAR LIFE which won the “Golden Studio” media award for the best Croatian documentary. After spending three years at the helm of HRT’s Documentary Production Department, in 2016 he quit his job with the public broadcaster to establish his own production company ToroLab. ToroLab produces content for digital platforms, as well as documentary films and series. He also works as an associated professor at the Vern University in Zagreb.
NATAŠA DAMNJANOVIĆ, born in 1981 in Belgrade, where she graduated film editing at the Faculty of Drama Arts. She participated in the 2008 Sarajevo Talent Campus, 2011 Berlinale Talent Campus, was nominated for the 2010 Robert Bosch Stiftung Co-production Prize, in 2012 she participated as a script editor trainee to the Torino FilmLab, as well as in 2013 EAVE Producer’s Workshop. Since 2006 she is the co-founder of DART film, a production company based in Belgrade. So far she produced two feature films - HUMIDITY by Nikola Ljuca (Berlinale Forum 2016, FEST 2016 – Best Film, Best Director, Best Male Actor, “Nebojsa Djukelic” jury special mention, Valencia Int FF – Jury Special Mention, Five Lakes Film Festival - Best Script, Vilnius Int FF, SFF, etc.) and ALL THE CITIES OF THE NORTH by Dane Komljen (Locarno 2016 - Signs of Life, Sarajevo FF, New York FF, IFF Rotterdam, Valdivia IFF, Mar del Plata, FICUNAM, Jeonju etc.), edited several documentaries and a vast number of short films. She actively pursues European co-productions and one of the latest films she co-produced ICH WAR ZUHAUSE ABER by German director Angela Schanelec premiered in Berlinale Competition in 2019, won the Silver Bear for Best Director and was nominated for European Film Award.
TUE STEEN MILLER worked with documentary films for more than 20 years at the Danish Film Board, as press officer, festival representative and film consultant/commissioner. Co-founder of Balticum Film and TV Festival, Filmkontakt Nord, Documentary of the EU and EDN (European Documentary Network). From 1996 until 2005 he was the first director of EDN (European Documentary Network). From 2006 a freelance consultant and teacher in workshops like Ex Oriente, DocsBarcelona, Archidoc, Documentary Campus, Storydoc, Baltic Sea Forum, Black Sea DocStories, Caucadoc, CinéDOC Tbilisi, Docudays Kiev, Dealing With the Past Sarajevo FF as well as programme consultant for the festivals Magnificent7 in Belgrade, DOCSBarcelona, Message2Man in St. Petersburg and DOKLeipzig. Teaches at the Zelig Documentary School in Bolzano Italy. And writes reviews at www.filmkommentaren.dk
EMINA KOVAČEVIĆ-PODGORČEVIĆ, born in 1995, is an award-winning playwright, dramaturge and poet. Among her accolades, she takes special pride in being the recipient of Karim Zaimović Foundation stipend, „Miodrag Žalica“ Award for the play „Zbogom, Kalifornijo!“, and the Chevening Scholarship to further her education in the UK attending MA Advanced Theatre Practice programme at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama.
In Youth Eyes:
Western Balkans Team Programme:
Programme Partners Representatives
SAŠA VASIĆ, FES SOE
With 15 years of extensive experience in the field of program management, Saša Vasić has established robust expertise in managing projects focused on social dimensions, reconciliation, and youth empowerment. Over the past five years, Saša has served as a Project Manager at Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, a prestigious organization known for its commitment to social justice and democratic development. In this role, Saša has successfully led numerous initiatives, particularly excelling in the Reconciliation and Dealing with the Past program with SFF. This work has made significant contributions to addressing past conflicts, fostering dialogue and understanding within communities, playing a crucial role in promoting long-term peace and societal healing.
SORAJA ŽAGIĆ, FORUMZFD
Soraja Zagić graduated in Political Science and International Relations and holds a master’s degree in Human Rights and Democracy. Over the past ten years, she has worked in the field of dealing with the past, with a particular focus on art and the exploration of marginalized narratives. She currently works as a project manager at the ForumZFD office in Sarajevo, where she leads projects in collaboration with various regional festivals and initiatives that focus on artistic representation and analysis of neglected stories and perspectives.
EUROPE HOUSE
Europe House is a long-term communications project of the Delegation of the European Union in Bosnia and Herzegovina, superseding the EU Info Centre in BiH, with its central office in Sarajevo (Europe House) and a network of Europe House Info Points across Bosnia and Herzegovina. As a project, Europe House provides relevant information on programmes, projects, institutions and policies of the European Union, as well as on relations between Bosnia and Herzegovina and the European Union.
Europe House network activities include organisation of informative and inspiring events across BiH, with the aim of promoting European values in BiH.
Facilitators
LEJLA GAČANICA is a PhD candidate in law, currently working as a legal expert and independent researcher in the field of transitional justice with a focus on the politics and culture of remembrance. She is the author of published articles, analytical, scientific and research papers in these fields.
SLOBODAN
BLAGOVČANIN is a trained Balkan Diskurs correspondent from Bijeljina. Slobodan works as a project manager at the Youth Resource Center Tuzla, where he initiated the digital youth story CAT Bosnia and Herzegovina, which deals with the creation of alternative narratives in opposition to the existing radical ones.
Mentors and Key Speakers:
NICOLAS MOLL, born in 1965 in Brussels, holds a PhD in Contemporary History from the University of Freiburg (Germany), and has been living in Sarajevo since 2007. He is working as an independent researcher and as free-lance trainer in the fields of dealing with the past, international cooperation and civil society development. More information: https://www.nicolasmoll.eu/
ALMIN ZRNO, born in Sarajevo in 1966, is one of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s most influential photographers. He began his career early, joining the photo club CEDUS and receiving his first award at 17. The Bosnian war interrupted his work, but he resumed in 1996, earning recognition for his journalistic photography, including two awards from the Association of Journalists of Bosnia and Herzegovina. In 2000, Zrno joined the Association of Applied Artists and Designers of Bosnia and Herzegovina, creating his iconic photograph “Mother of Srebrenica.” Over his career, he shifted from journalism to fine art, focusing on nude and portrait photography. As the official photographer for the Sarajevo Film Festival, he has captured prominent figures in the film industry. Today, he leads the Association of Applied Artists and Designers of Bosnia and Herzegovina and remains a key figure in the country’s cultural scene.
AIDA REDŽEPAGIĆ is the director of the Sarajevo Photography Festival, a prominent cultural event in Bosnia and Herzegovina dedicated to showcasing the art of photography. Under her leadership, the festival has grown to become an important platform for both local and international photographers to exhibit their work, engage in creative dialogue, and explore contemporary issues through the lens of photography. Redžepagić’s vision and commitment to the arts have played a key role in establishing the festival as a significant cultural event in the region, attracting a diverse audience and fostering a deeper appreciation for photography as an art form. Her work continues to contribute to the cultural vitality of Sarajevo and the broader artistic community in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
PAUL LOWE is a Reader in Documentary Photography at the London College of Communication, University of the Arts, London, UK. Paul is an award-winning photographer, educator and researcher, whose work is represented by VII Photos, and who has been published in Time, Newsweek, Life, The Sunday Times Magazine, The Observer and The Independent amongst others. He has covered breaking news the world over, including the fall of the Berlin Wall, Nelson Mandela’s release, famine in Africa, the conflict in the former Yugoslavia and the destruction of Grozny. His book, Bosnians, documenting 10 years of the war and post war situation in Bosnia, was published in April 2005 by Saqi books. His research interest focuses on the photography of conflict, and he has contributed chapters to the books Picturing Atrocity: Photography in Crisis (Reaktion, 2012) and Photography and Conflict. His most recent books include Photography Masterclass published by Thames and Hudson, and Understanding Photojournalism, coauthored with Dr. Jenny Good, published by Bloomsbury Academic Press, and Reporting the Siege of Sarajevo co-authored with Kenneth Morrisson also with Bloomsbury.
ZIYAH GAFIĆ (Regional Director, VII Academy Sarajevo) is an award-winning photojournalist and educator based in Sarajevo focusing on societies locked in a perpetual cycle of violence, and on Muslim communities around the world. He covered major stories in over 50 countries including conflicts in Chechnya, Palestine, Iraq, Lebanon and Afghanistan. Ziyah’s work received many prestigious awards such as multiple awards from World Press Photo, Grand Prix Discovery of the Year at Les Rencontres d’Arles, Hasselblad Masters Award, Visa pour l’Image, Photo District News, Getty Images grant for editorial photography,
TED fellowship, Prince Claus grant, National Geographic Society, Pulitzer Center and Magnum Emergency fund grant. His work is regularly published in leading international publications. Ziyah authored several monographs including Troubled Islam – Short Stories From Troubled Societies, Quest for Identity, and most recently, Heartland. Ziyah is a contributing photographer to National Geographic, member of VII photo agecny, TED speaker and Logan fellow.
DAMIR ŠAGOLJ born in 1971 in Sarajevo, is a Bosnian photographer and journalist. He completed power engineering studies in Moscow and Sarajevo but the Bosnian war and its total destruction meant a change in career for Damir. In 1996 he joined Reuters news agency as theirs Bosnia based photojournalist. For next 22 years Damir travelled the world and reported on major news stories for the agency –mostly on conflicts, civil and other disturbances and natural catastrophes, but also on contemporary and other issues. He lived in Russia, Thailand, China and spent years in the Middle East. Damir’s work was recognised with industry’s major awards – the Pulitzer prize and World Press Photo among many others. He holds a master degree from the University of Arts in London. Currently, Damir lives in Sarajevo and teaches photography at the Sarajevo Academy of Performing Arts.
JASNA KOVAČEVIĆ is an associate professor of management and organization at School of Economics and Business, University of Sarajevo. Jasna is interested in Leadership and Strategy, Educational Leadership and Administration, Organizational Culture, Complex Adaptive Systems and Social Psychology.
MYRIAM EL HAJJ was born in 1983 in Beirut, Lebanon. She completed her B.A. studies in cinema and theatre at the Lebanese American University where she directed short films and plays. After working as an assistant director on feature Lebanese films, el Hajj travelled to Paris where she pursued her masters in filmmaking and in theatre. She is also an actress with Les Festinanti, a theater troupe working in the commedia dell’arte genre. She has directed numerous short films and videos and two critically acclaimed feature documentary films - TRUCE (2015) and DIARIES FROM LEBANON (2024). She has been teaching cinema and acting for films since 2011 at the Lebanese Academy of Fine Arts (ALBA).
SAMIR LEMEŠ is a dean of the Polytechnic Faculty and a professor at the University of Zenica, teaching lectures about Computer Graphics, CAD and Measurements. He earned a PhD in mechanical engineering at the University of Ljubljana, Slovenia, in 2010. He (coauthored 17 books and more than 80 scientific papers.
DINO ABAZOVIĆ is full-time professor of Sociology at the University of Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina. He has also worked as the Director of the Human Rights Center of the University of Sarajevo and as the Academic Coordinator of the Religious Studies Program of the Center for Interdisciplinary Postgraduate Studies at University of Sarajevo. He has published a number of chapters and papers in English and the South-Slavic languages, including three books in Bosnian (“Bosnian Muslims between Secularization and Desecularisation”, 2012; “Religion in Transition: Essays on Religion and Politics”, 2010, “For God and Nation: Sociological approach to Religious Nationalism”, 2006). He has also co-authored a book with Jelena Radojković and Milan Vukomanović (Religions of the World: Buddhism, Christianity, Islam, 2007), and edited six books (including: A Short Introduction in the Problem of Political Will: Case Study of B-H with Asim Mujkic, 2015 and Post-Yugoslavia: New Cultural and Political Perspectives, with Mitja Velikonja, 2014). In 2012 Abazović was awarded a research fellowship at the Netherlands Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities and Social Sciences (NIAS).
ŽELJKO STANETIĆ is a journalist and human rights activist, director of the Vojvodina Civic Center in Novi Sad. This organization brings together young people who work on building a responsible relationship towards events from the past, react to negative aspects of the present, and strive to change and improve the environment they live in. Among other things, VGC organized a film screening about the siege of Sarajevo, ‘Sarajevo Roses – Terror in 12 Pictures,’ a panel discussion on the occasion of International Day of the Disappeared. Željko is also the writer and director of the short film MILENA (2024.)
ALEN DRLJEVIĆ was born in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. He graduated from the Academy of Performing Arts in Sarajevo, Department of Directing, in 2005. His diploma work, the short fiction film PRVA PLATA (PAYCHECK) was nominated for a European Film Academy Award. His documentary feature debut KARNEVAL (CARNIVAL) was presented in the “First Appearance” and “Movies that Matter” competitions of IDFA in 2006. He is a member of the European Film Academy. His film MEN DON’T CRY premiered at Karlovy Vary IFF where it received a Special Jury Mention.
FARUK ŠEHIĆ was born in Bihać and grew up in Bosanska Krupa. He studied veterinary medicine in Zagreb until the outbreak of the Bosnian war in which he was an active combatant. After the war, he turned to literature. His first book was a collection of poems Pjesme u nastajanju (Acquired Poems, 2000). His short story collection Pod pritiskom (Under Pressure) was published in 2004 and won the Zoro Verlag Prize. The English translation of Under Pressure was published in May 2019 by Istros Books. [1] His debut novel Knjiga o Uni (Quiet Flows the Una, 2011), was translated into English in 2016 by Istros Books and into Italian in 2017 by E. Mujčić (Il mio fiume) for Mimesis, and also into Romanian, Bulgarian, Turkish, Spanish, Macedonian, Arabic, Dutch, Polish, Slovenian and Hungarian language. Quiet Flows the Una won the Meša Selimović prize for the best novel published in the former Yugoslavia in 2011, and the EU Prize for Literature in 2013.[2] His most recent poetry book is a collection of poetry entitled My Rivers (Moje rijeke, Buybook, 2014), for which he received the Risto Ratković Award for the best poetry book in Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and Croatia in 2014, and Annual award from the Association of Writers of Bosnia and Herzegovina. He also received XXXI Premio Letterario Camaiore Francesco Belluomini (Premio Internazionale 2019) for selected poems “Ritorno alla natura” as a youngest laureate so far. In 2018, he published a collection of short stories, Clockwork Stories. Šehić lives in Sarajevo, where he works as a columnist and journalist. He is a member of the Writers’ Association and the PEN Centre of Bosnia and Herzegovina. His books have been translated into 15 languages and published in 19 countries. In 2017, Šehić has signed the Declaration on the Common Language othe Croats, Serbs, Bosniaks and Montenegrins.
DAMIR OVČINA is a Bosnian writer known for his poignant and powerful storytelling, particularly his novel “Two Thousand and One Nights” (Bosnian: “Kad sam bio hodža”). Born in Sarajevo, Ovčina spent much of his life in the city, and his work is deeply influenced by the events of the Bosnian War, particularly the Siege of Sarajevo. Ovčina’s most notable work, “Kad sam bio hodža,” published in 2016, is a harrowing account of the war, told from the perspective of a young man who becomes a forced laborer in a Sarajevo neighborhood during the siege. The novel is acclaimed for its raw, minimalist style and its ability to convey the brutal realities of war while exploring themes of survival, human dignity, and moral ambiguity. Apart from his literary work, Damir Ovčina has also contributed to various cultural and literary initiatives in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and he remains an influential voice in the region’s post-war literary scene.
SELMA KORJENIĆ is Head of the Trial International BiH program since 2014. She joined TRIAL International in August 2010 as a human rights officer on wartime sexual violence. Before joining the team, she was a project manager for over five years at the Research and Documentation Centre in Sarajevo (BiH), where she worked on different projects related to the 1992-1995 war in BiH. Selma holds a degree in Sociology from the Faculty of Political Science in Sarajevo (BiH), where she is currently completing her studies for a Master’s degree in Sociology. She is specialized in the field of transitional justice and direct work with wartime survivors. Her working languages are Bosnian and English.
AJNA MAHMIĆ joined TRIAL International in April 2021 as a legal advisor, after a career in international law offices. During her previous work, she dealt with human rights, criminal law, labor law, international commercial arbitration and corporate law. Even as a student, she showed significant results at numerous national, regional and world competitions. Ajna holds a BA in Law from the University of Zenica where she also won the Rector’s Award for her contribution to scientific research. Her working languages are Bosnian and English with a certain knowledge of French.
RALF MELZER, born 1967, is a German historian and journalist and since 2004 staff member of the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES), a non-profit political foundation close to the German social democratic party SPD. Among a variety of responsibilities in Germany and abroad he served as the foundation’s resident director in Tunisia, as the head of the foundation’s working unit on combatting right-wing extremism and as the head of the FES office in Munich. Since 2020 he is the director of the FES regional office Dialogue Southeast Europe based in Sarajevo. He intensively published on the German history in the 20th century, on anti-Semitism and on the political far right. He holds a Ph.D. in Modern History from the Freie Universität Berlin.
NEBOJŠA SLIJEPČEVIĆ was born in Zagreb in 1973, where he earned a degree in film directing from the Academy of Dramatic Arts. He began his career as one of the authors of the television series “Direct.” He directed two successful feature documentaries (“Gangster of Love” and “Srbenka”) as well as numerous short documentaries and fiction films that have been screened at international documentary film festivals, where they won more than 40 awards. He received the Vladimir Nazor Award for Film Art in 2018, and in the same year, he won the DOC Alliance Award in Cannes for his feature documentary “Srbenka.” His short film “The Man Who Couldn’t Stay Silent” won the Palme d’Or at the 77th Cannes Film Festival in the category of Best Short Film. This marked the first time since Croatia’s independence that a Croatian filmmaker’s work won the Palme d’Or (French: Palme d’Or). Upon receiving the award at the ceremony, Slijepčević stated that the film is dedicated to “peaceful resistance to violence.”
AIDA MIDŽIĆ is an environmental activist in Bosnia and Herzegovina, dedicated to promoting sustainable practices and raising awareness about environmental issues. She has been actively involved in various initiatives aimed at protecting natural resources, advocating for green policies, and educating the public on the importance of environmental stewardship. Midžić works with local communities, NGOs, and governmental bodies to address challenges such as pollution, waste management, and conservation. Her efforts are focused on creating a more sustainable future for Bosnia and Herzegovina by encouraging responsible environmental behavior and supporting grassroots activism. Midžić’s passion for the environment and her commitment to social change make her a leading voice in the environmental movement in the country.
Films:
The Most Precious of Cargoes
France, Belgium, 2024, Colour, 81 min, French
Director: Michel Hazanavicius
Screenplay: Michel Hazanavicius, Jean-Claude Grumberg
Once upon a time, a poor woodcutter and his wife lived in a great forest. Cold, hunger, poverty, and the war raging all around them make their lives very hard. One day, the woodcutter’s wife rescues a baby girl, who is thrown from one of the many trains that constantly pass through the forest. This baby, this “most precious of cargoes,” will transform the lives of the poor woodcutter’s wife and her husband, as well as those whose paths the child will cross—including the man who threw her from the train. Some will try to protect her, no matter the cost. Their story will reveal the worst and the best in the hearts of humankind.
El Shatt –Blueprint for Utopia
Croatia, Serbia, 2023, Colour, 96 min, Croatian
Director: Ivan Ramljak
Screenplay: Ivan Ramljak
Hundreds of frozen and starving people floating on boats in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, fleeing war. These are familiar scenes in recent times. But here, the year is 1944 and the refugees are travelling from Europe to Africa. After Italian capitulation to the Allied Forces, and ahead of the arrival of the German Army, twenty-eight thousand Dalmatian Croats left their villages and towns to live for two years in tents in the middle of the desert in Egypy, in a kind of communist model village that was formed to demonstrate to the Allies how the new Yugoslavia will look when the war ends. This is a story about them.
Diaries from Lebanon
Lebanon, France, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, 2024, Colour, 110 min, Arabic
Director: Myriam El Hajj
Screenplay: Myriam El Hajj
In 2018, Joumana, a fiery feminist writer, poet, and activist, runs for election, defying a political system that has been suffocating Lebanon for forty years. She is elected, only to be fraudulently ousted the very next day, leaving her supporters furious. In 2019, the people’s rage becomes a revolution. The streets swell with thousands of voices. Among them is Perla Joe, a fearless woman who rapidly becomes a symbol of this uprising. Her unyielding voice echoes the frustration of youth struggling to find their place. But the past looms like a shadow over their aspirations for progress and change. Georges is the guardian of the mysterious and violent past. He is a veteran of the Lebanese Civil War, where he lost a leg but clung to his delusions of “glory.” In diary form, filmmaker Myriam El Hajj narrates four tumultuous years of a nation in turmoil, battling to break free from its own chains.
Life Is Beautiful
Norway, Palestine, Qatar, 2023, Colour, 93 min, Arabic, English, Norwegian
Director: Mohamed Jabaly
LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL tells the story of director Mohamed Jabaly’s fight for his rights as a Palestinian and a filmmaker, when he is stranded in Norway due to circumstances beyond his control. Through his personal archive and video calls, Jabaly shares his love and longing for his hometown, friends and family, as he tries to make a new life for himself in the Arctic. The film is a love letter to Gaza, to his adopted hometown in Tromsø, and to the empowering force of storytelling.
Milena
Serbia, 2024, Colour, 25 min, Serbo-Croatian
Director: Željko Stanetić
Screenplay: Željko Stanetić
Twenty years after Milena and Stevan fled war-torn Croatia for Serbia, a journalist investigating refugee stories comes to speak with them, unaware this interview will be different from those she has conducted previously.
Samir Mehić Bowie –Letters from Srebrenica
Bosnia and Herzegovina, 2024, Colour, 34 min, Bosnian
Director: Lamija Grebo
Screenplay: Lamija Grebo
In the spring of 1992, war separates friends and members of a rock’n’roll band from Srebrenica. Drummer Faruk leaves Srebrenica, while guitarist Samir remains in the city. In letters, they dream of a reunion until July 1995.
Exit Through the Cuckoo’s Nest
Switzerland, 2024, Colour, 19 min, Serbian
Director: Nikola Ilić
Screenplay: Nikola Ilić
An essayistic personal short documentary that tells the story of a soldier who never wanted to be one. Choosing never to pull the trigger, his defiance leads to military prison.
The Man Who Could Not Remain Silent
Croatia, Bulgaria, France, Slovenia, 2024, Colour, 14 min, Croatian, Serbian
Director: Nebojša Slijepčević
Screenplay: Nebojša Slijepčević
Strpci, Bosnia and Herzegovina, 27 February, 1993: A passenger train from Belgrade to Bar is stopped by paramilitary forces in an ethnic cleansing operation. As they haul off innocent civilians, only one man out of five hundred passengers dares stand up to them.
No Other Land
Palestine, Norway, 2024, Colour, 95 min, Arabic, Hebrew, English
Director: Basel Adra, Hamdan Ballal, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor
Basel Adra, a young Palestinian activist from Masafer Yatta, has been fighting the mass expulsion of his community by Israeli occupying forces since his childhood. Basel documents the gradual erasure of Masafer Yatta as soldiers destroy homes of Palestinian families—the largest single act of forced transfer ever carried out in the occupied West Bank. He crosses paths with Yuval, an Israeli journalist who joins his struggle, and for over half a decade they fight against the expulsion while growing closer. Their complex bond is haunted by the extreme inequality between them: Basel, living under a brutal military occupation, and Yuval, unrestricted and free. This film, by a Palestinian-Israeli collective of four young activists, was co-created during some of the darkest, most terrifying times in the region, as an act of creative resistance to apartheid and a search for a path towards equality and justice.
Never Look Away
New Zealand, 2023, Colour, 85 min, English, French
Director: Lucy Lawless
Screenplay: Matthew Metcalfe, Tom Blackwell, Lucy Lawless, Whetham Allpress
CNN camerawoman Margaret Moth made the wars in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Lebanon, and Operation Desert Storm in Iraq, real for North American television audiences. While her fellow journalists took cover, Moth ran towards danger, camera in hand, to get the shots. Colleagues including Christiane Amanpour attest to her bravery but it is Moth’s friends and lovers who reveal the self-destructive nature of the artist behind the lens. Innovative reconstructions of her near-lethal assignment in Sarajevo’s Sniper Alley, which turned Moth into headline news, are paired with unsettling interviews with witnesses to her daredevilry, forming the grit of this unconventional portrait.
Meeting with Pol Pot
France, Cambodia, Taiwan, Qatar, Türkiye, 2024, Colour, 112 min, French, Khmer
Director: Rithy Panh
Screenplay: Pierre Erwan Guillaume, Rithy Panh
Democratic Kampuchea (now Cambodia), 1978. Three French journalists are invited by the Khmer Rouge to conduct an exclusive interview with the regime’s leader, Pol Pot. The country appears to be in excellent form. But, behind the Potemkin village, the Khmer Rouge regime is declining and the war with Vietnam threatens the country. The regime is looking for culprits, secretly carrying out a large-scale genocide. Freely inspired by journalist Elizabeth Becker’s account “When the War Was Over.”
Team
Project Manager: Maša Marković
Project Coordinator: Emina Kovačević-Podgorčević
Project Consultant: Ishak Jalimam
Host of the programme True Stories Market: Robert Tomić Zuber Sarajevo Film Festival / Zelenih beretki 12, 71000 Sarajevo / Bosnia and Herzegovina tel. +387 33 221 516 / +387 33 209 411 / +387 33 263 380 / fax +387 33 263 381 www.sff.ba | info-sff@sff.ba | dwp@sff.ba | facebook | twitter | instagram