22/07/2022 - Running from 12-19 August, the festival will showcase 51 films in its four competitive sections, with 21 of those being world premieres

Actors Marija Pikić and Enes Kozličić in A Ballad, by Aida Begić

Now reaching its 28th edition, the Sarajevo Film Festival (running 12-19 August) has announced its competition sections, where 51 films will vie for the Heart of Sarajevo awards. The individual competition sections — for feature, documentary, fiction short, and student work — will be composed of 21 world, seven international, one European, 21 regional, and one national premieres. 

The feature competition will number eight titles, down from 10 the previous year, and be split evenly between world and regional premieres as well as having a majority of female filmmakers. A Ballad [+see also:
film review
interview: Aida Begic
film profile] by Aida Begić, the festival’s most notable Bosnian world premiere, is featured in this section, after being developed through the festival’s CineLink Industry Days. The film features a nice meta-element, where an unambitious housewife and mother returns to the town she grew up in, and upon learning a film is being shot in her neighbourhood, decides to audition. The other world premieres are Men of Deeds [+see also:
film review
interview: Paul Negoescu
film profile], the new film by Romania's Paul Negoescu (The Story of a Summer Lover [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], Two Lottery Tickets [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Paul Negoescu
film profile]), and two first fiction features: Riders [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Dominik Mencej
film profile] by Slovenia's Dominik Mencej and Six Weeks [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Noemi Veronika Szakonyi
film profile] by Hungary's Noémi Veronika Szakonyi. The section is rounded off by titles coming from major film festivals such as Cannes (Corsage [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Marie Kreutzer
interview: Marie Kreutzer
film profile] by Marie Kreutzer), Sundance and Berlinale (Klondike [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Maryna Er Gorbach
film profile] by Maryna Er Gorbach) and Locarno (Safe Place [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Juraj Lerotić
film profile] by Juraj Lerotić and Serviam - I Will Serve [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Ruth Mader
film profile] by Ruth Mader). The Best Feature Film Prize will be an award in the amount of €16,000, co-sponsored by the Tourism Association of Canton Sarajevo.

The documentary competition has 22 titles, up from 16 the previous year, although eight of them could be classified as shorts, with one of these a new work by the recently Cannes-selected director Dmytro Sukholytkyy-Sobchuk. There is also a film with a 47-minute runtime, making it a mid-length or featurette: Beauty of the Beast by Anna Eszter Nemes, a Hungary-Serbia co-production. The world-premiering features are Marta Smerechynska's Diary of a Bride of Christ [+see also:
film review
interview: Marta Smerechynska
film profile] (Ukraine), Srđan Perkić's Lights of Sarajevo [+see also:
film review
film profile] (Bosnia and Herzegovina), Mátyás Kálmán's Paying a Visit to Fortuna [+see also:
film review
film profile] (Hungary/Croatia), Cătălina Tesăr and Dana Bunescu's The Chalice. Of Sons and Daughters [+see also:
film review
film profile] (Romania) and Botond Püsök's Too Close [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] (Romania/Hungary), while other titles such as Vedrana Pribačić's Bigger Than Trauma [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Vedrana Pribačić, Mirta Puh…
film profile] (Croatia), Mladen Kovačević's Another Spring [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Mladen Kovačević
film profile] (Serbia/France/Qatar), Ilan Metev, Ivan Chertov and Zlatina Teneva's A Provincial Hospital [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Ilian Metev, Ivan Chertov a…
film profile] (Bulgaria/Germany), Nikolay Stefanov's No Place For You in Our Town [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] (Bulgaria), Srđan Keča's Museum of the Revolution [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Srđan Keča
film profile] (Serbia/Croatia/Czech Republic), Igor Ivanjko's Fragile Memory [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Igor Ivanko
film profile] (Ukraine) and Thomas Fürhapter's Living Together [+see also:
film review
film profile] (Austria) come from previous film festivals. This section’s top feature prize will receive an award of €4,000, sponsored by the Government of Switzerland.

The programming team, led by the festival’s Creative Director Izeta Građević, viewed a total of 751 titles submitted for the festival, with its competitive sections reserved for films from the Balkan and Eastern European region.

Previously announced by the festival were Honorary Heart of Sarajevo awardees Sergei Loznitsa, Paul Schrader, and Ruben Östlund, whose Palme d’Or victor Triangle of Sadness [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Ruben Östlund
interview: Ruben Östlund
film profile] will also open the festival. 

The full list of competition titles is as follows:

Feature Film Competition

A Ballad [+see also:
film review
interview: Aida Begic
film profile] - Aida Begić (Bosnia and Herzegovina)
Men of Deeds [+see also:
film review
interview: Paul Negoescu
film profile] - Paul Negoescu (Romania/Bulgaria)
Riders [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Dominik Mencej
film profile] - Dominik Mencej (Slovenia/Croatia/Serbia/Italy/Bosnia and Herzegovina) 
Six Weeks [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Noemi Veronika Szakonyi
film profile] - Noémi Veronika Szakonyi (Hungary)
Corsage [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Marie Kreutzer
interview: Marie Kreutzer
film profile] - Marie Kreutzer (Austria/Luxembourg/Germany/France)
Klondike [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Maryna Er Gorbach
film profile] - Maryna Er Gorbach (Ukraine/Turkey)
Safe Place [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Juraj Lerotić
film profile] - Juraj Lerotić (Croatia)
Serviam - I Will Serve [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Ruth Mader
film profile] - Ruth Mader (Austria)

Documentary Film Competition

Diary of a Bride of Christ [+see also:
film review
interview: Marta Smerechynska
film profile] - Marta Smerechynska (Ukraine)
Lights of Sarajevo [+see also:
film review
film profile] - Srđan Perkić (Bosnia and Herzegovina) 
Liturgy of Anti-Tank Obstacles - Dmytro Sukholytkyy-Sobchuk (Ukraine/USA) (short film)
Paying a Visit to Fortuna [+see also:
film review
film profile] - Mátyás Kálmán (Hungary/Croatia)
Shadowed by the Plane Tree - Aynur Elgunesh (Azerbaijan) (short film)
The Chalice. Of Sons and Daughters [+see also:
film review
film profile] - Cătălina Tesăr, Dana Bunescu (Romania) 
The Film Factory - Silvestar Kolbas (Croatia) (short film)
Too Close [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] - Botond Püsök (Romania/Hungary)
Babajanja - Ante Zlatko Stolica (Croatia) (short film)
Retreat - Anabela Angelovska (North Macedonia/Germany) (short film)
We, ... Composition - Visar Jusufi (Kosovo/Germany) (short film)
Bigger Than Trauma [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Vedrana Pribačić, Mirta Puh…
film profile] - Vedrana Pribačić (Croatia)
Another Spring [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Mladen Kovačević
film profile] - Mladen Kovačević (Serbia/France/Qatar)
A Provincial Hospital [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Ilian Metev, Ivan Chertov a…
film profile] - Ilan Metev, Ivan Chertov, Zlatina Teneva (Bulgaria/Germany)
Atonal Glow [+see also:
film review
film profile] - Alexander Koridze (Georgia)
Beauty of the Beast - Anna Eszter Nemes (Hungary/Serbia) (medium-length film)
Fragile Memory [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Igor Ivanko
film profile] - Igor Ivanjko (Ukraine)
Living Together [+see also:
film review
film profile] - Thomas Fürhapter (Austria)
Microbiome - Stavros Petropoulos (Greece) (short film)
No Place For You in Our Town [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] - Nikolay Stefanov (Bulgaria) 
Ribs - Farah Hasanbegović (Bosnia and Herzegovina/Hungary/Belgium/Portugal) (short film)
Museum of the Revolution [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Srđan Keča
film profile] - Srđan Keča (Serbia/Croatia/Czech Republic) 

Short Film Competition

Affricate - Anna Gyimesi (Hungary)
It is Quiet Here. - Novruz Hikmet, Olena Podolianko (Ukraine)
My Neighbour Wolf - Nebojša Slijepčević (Croatia/Serbia)
Together, Alone - Kasim Ördek (Turkey/France)
Alba Vulba - Dorka Vermes (Hungary)
Amok - Balázs Turai (Hungary/Romania) 
Money and Happiness - Ana Nedeljković, Nikola Majdak Jr. (Serbia/Slovenia/Slovakia) 
On Xerxes’ Throne - Evi Kalogiropoulou (Greece)
That’s How the Summer Ended - Matjaž Ivanišin (Slovenia/Hungary/Italy) 
5pm Seaside - Valentin Sejskal (Greece/Austria) 

Student Film Competition

It’s Not Cold for Mosquitoes - Josip Lukić (Croatia)
My Nikola - Martina Marasović (Croatia)
Rainbow - Sandra Marić (Bosnia and Herzegovina) 
The Other End of the Street - Kálmán Nagy (Austria/Hungary)
Water Balloons - Aleksa Borković (Serbia) 
Hollywood - Leni Gruber, Alex Reinberg (Austria)
Mon Ami - Carina Dasoveanu (Romania)
My Sister and I - Theodor Ioniță (Romania)
Craze - Bianka Szelestey (Hungary) 
Resting Fog - Nikolett Fábián (Hungary)
The Analogy of Space - Oleksandr Hoisan (Ukraine)