Festival:
The 25th Sarajevo Film Festival
Dates:
August 16-23
About:
Celebrating an anniversary year, this Bosnian and Herzegovinan event – founded during the siege of Sarajevo – presents 35 documentaries among its approximately 100 new or recent features.
THE SOVIET GARDEN
Among the festival’s Documentary Competition are: Dragos Turea’s
THE SOVIET GARDEN, in which the Moldovan filmmaker uncovers a secret Soviet plan that turned his nation into a collective atomic guinea pig; Siniša Gacic’s
DAUGHTER OF CAMORRA, following a former Mafia killer as she attempts to return to her family and society following prison; Denisa Morariu-Tamas and Adrian Robe’s
THE GOLDEN GIRL, about a Romanian gymnast’s attempts to reclaim her Olympic gold medal following a doping scandal; Pelin Esmer’s
QUEEN LEAR, about a Turkish peasant women’s traveling theatre troupe; Réka Szabó’s
THE EUPHORIA OF BEING, in which a 90-year-old Auschwitz-Birkenau survivor takes part in a performance about her life; and Višnja Skorin’s
IF ONLY DREAMS CAME TRUE, following the comeback efforts of a woman who used to work in the entertainment industry.
REGENERATION
Nonfiction appearing in BH Film, focused on work by or about Bosnian and Herzegovinians, includes: Zdenko Jurilj’s
PEOPLE THAT PLANTED TREES, which explores Bosnian War veterans suffering from PTSD and, in some cases, living in the same communities as former enemies; Sladana Lucic’s
LITTLE STAR RISING, about a hijab-wearing female Ironman triathlete; Muhammed Ibrahim Sisman’s
INVISIBLE CHILD, about children of rape victims during the Bosnian War; Bojan Bodružic’s
THE MUSEUM OF FORGOTTEN TRIUMPHS, which explores Yugoslavian history through a longitudinal study of his grandparents’ lives; and Emir Kapetanovic’s
REGENERATION, looking at youth-led attempts to provide post-war reconciliation for Bosnia and Herzegovina.
