23/07/2025 - The selection includes new works by Ivana Mladenović, Hana Jušić and Srdjan Vuletić

The Sarajevo Film Festival has announced the competition programmes of its 31st edition, set to run 15-22 August. There are 15 world, six international, 28 regional and two national premieres across feature, documentary, short and student selections.

Nine titles, including six debuts, will be competing in the Competition Programme – Feature Film section. Bosnian director Srdjan Vuletić’s fourth feature Otter, Hungarian actor Renátó Olasz’s feature directorial debut Stars of Little Importance, and Yugo Florida by Serbia’s Vladimir Tagić, best known for multi-awarded TV series Operation Sabre, will world-premiere at Sarajevo.

The six remaining entries are screening as regional premieres, with four coming straight from their world bows at Locarno: Ivana Mladenović’s Sorella di Clausura (Romania/Serbia/Italy/Spain/), Hana Jušić’s God Will Not Help (Croatia/Italy/Romania/Greece/France/Slovenia), Elsa Kremser and Levin Peter’s White Snail (Austria/Germany) and Kukla Kešerović’s Fantasy (Slovenia/North Macedonia).

Also joining as regional premieres are the Sundance entry DJ Ahmet [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Georgi M Unkovski
film profile] by North Macedonia’s Georgi M. Unkovski and IFFR title Wind, Talk to Me [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Serbia’s Stefan Djordjević.

There are 12 feature-length and eight short films in the Competition Programme – Documentary Film, including four world and four international premieres. Tarik Hodžić’s Bosnian Knight (Bosnia and Herzegovina/Croatia), Katalin Bársony’s I Saw a ‘Suno’ (Hungary/Belgium), Dalija Dozet’s My Dad’s Lessons (Croatia) and Arsen Oremović’s Third World (Croatia) stand out as features.

The Competition Programme – Short Film selection includes three world premieres among the ten titles, while there are five world and one international premiere in the 11-strong Competition Programme – Student Film line-up. For the full list, please scroll down.

“The backbone of this year's competition programs are films that, transcending national boundaries, remain true to the universal stories that shape our lives. In this range – from topics that deal with today to those that question the past – this selection opens up space to remember, through film stories, what we all have in common: the need for meaning, for closeness, for understanding - ourselves and others,"says Sarajevo’s Creative Director Izeta Gradjević.

The full list of Sarajevo competition selections:

Fiction Features Competition

Wind, Talk to Me [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] - Stefan Djordjević (Serbia/Slovenia/Croatia)
Fantasy - Kukla Kešerović (Slovenia/North Macedonia)
White Snail - Elsa Kremser, Levin Peter (Austria/Germany)
God Will Not Help - Hana Jušić (Croatia/Italy/Romania/Greece/France/Slovenia)
Sorella di Clausura - Ivana Mladenović (Romania/Serbia/Italy/Spain)
Stars of Little Importance - Renátó Olasz (Hungary)
Yugo Florida - Vladimir Tagić (Serbia/Bulgaria/France/Croatia/Montenegro)
DJ Ahmet [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Georgi M Unkovski
film profile] - Georgi M. Unkovski (North Macedonia/Czech Republic/Serbia/Croatia)
Otter - Srdjan Vuletić (Montenegro/Bosnia and Herzegovina/Italy/Croatia/Kosovo)

Documentaries

Competition

The Men's Land – Mariam Bakacho Khatchvani (Georgia/Hungary) (short film)
I Saw a 'Suno' – Katalin Barsony (Hungary/Belgium)
Everytime You Leave, You Are Born Again - Mladen Bundalo (Bosnia and Herzegovina/ Belgium) (short film)
Tata [+see also:
film review
interview: Lina Vdovîi, Radu Ciorniciuc
film profile] - Radu Ciorniciuc, Lina Vdovîi (Romania/Germany/Netherlands)
My Dad's Lessons [+see also:
film review
film profile] - Dalija Dozet (Croatia)
Dreamers: People of the Light - Imam Hasanov (Azerbaijan)
Bosnian Knight - Tarik Hodžić (Bosnia and Herzegovina/Croatia)
Divia [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Dmytro Hreshko
film profile] - Dmytro Hreshko (Ukraine/Poland/ Netherlands/USA)
Letters - Aysel Küçüksu (Bulgaria) (short film)
Our Time Will Come [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] - Ivette Löcker (Austria)
I Believe the Portrait Saved Me - Alban Muja (Kosovo/Netherlands) (short film)
Militantropos [+see also:
film review
interview: Yelizaveta Smith, Alina Gor…
film profile] - Simon Mozgoviy, Yelizaveta Smith, Alina Gorlova (Ukraine/Austria/ France)
In Hell with Ivo - Kristina Nikolova (Bulgaria/USA)
Third World - Arsen Oremović (Croatia)
Slet 1988 - Marta Popivoda (Serbia/Germany/France) (short film)
Kite - Thanos Psichogios (Greece) (short film)
Red Slide - Nebojša Slijepčević (Croatia) (short film)
Steel Hotel Song - Bojan Stojčić (Bosnia and Herzegovina) (short film)
Cuba & Alaska - Yegor Troyanovsky (Ukraine/France/Belgium)
9-Month Contract - Ketevan Vashagashvili (Georgia/Bulgaria/Germany)

Out of Competition

Oho Film - Damjan Kozole (Slovenia/Croatia)

Short Films Competition

Desert, She - Ioanna Digenaki (Greece)
Berna's Eyes - Ermal Gërdovci (Kosovo/North Macedonia)
Hysterical Fit of Laughter - Matija Gluščević, Dušan Zorić (Serbia/Croatia)
Upon Sunrise - Stefan Ivančić (Serbia/Spain/Slovenia/Croatia)
The Spectacle - Bálint Kenyeres (Hungary/France)
Eraserhead in a Knitted Shopping Bag - Lili Koss (Bulgaria)
Winter in March - Natalia Mirzoyan (Armenia/Estonia/France/Belgium)
Index - Radu Muntean (Romania)
Procedure - Rabia Özmen (Turkey)
Alișveriș - Vasile Todinca (Romania)

Student Films Competition

Wish You Were Ear - Mirjana Balogh (Hungary)
Milk and Cookies - Andrei-Tache Codreanu (Romania)
Backstroke - Asya Günen (Turkey)
Peninsula - David Gašo (Croatia)
Living Stones - Jakob Ladányi Jancsó (Hungary)
After Class - Marius Papară (Romania)
Found & Lost - Reza Rasouli (Austria)
Home, A Space Between Us - Effi Rabsilber (Greece)
Rahlo - Jozo Schmuch (Croatia)
Curfew - Yelyzaveta Toptyhina (Ukraine)
Tarik - Adem Tutić (Serbia)