The Sarajevo Film Festival has announced the competition programmes of its 31st edition, set to run from 15-22 August. There are 15 world, six international, 28 regional and two national premieres across the 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-length directorial debut, Stars of Little Importance, and Yugo Florida by Serbia’s Vladimir Tagić, best known for the multi-award-winning 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 [+leggi anche:
recensione
intervista: Hana Jušić
scheda film] (Croatia/Italy/Romania/Greece/France/Slovenia), Elsa Kremser and Levin Peter’s White Snail [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Elsa Kremser e Levin Peter
scheda film] (Austria/Germany) and Kukla Kešerović’s Fantasy [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] (Slovenia/North Macedonia).

Also joining as regional premieres are the Sundance entry DJ Ahmet [+leggi anche:
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trailer
intervista: Georgi M. Unkovski
scheda film] by North Macedonia’s Georgi M Unkovski and the IFFR title Wind, Talk to Me [+leggi anche:
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trailer
scheda film] 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 programmes 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 and for understanding - ourselves and others," says Sarajevo’s creative director, Izeta Gradjević.

Here is the full list of Sarajevo competition selections:

Fiction Features

Competition

Wind, Talk to Me [+leggi anche:
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trailer
scheda film] - Stefan Djordjević (Serbia/Slovenia/Croatia)
Fantasy [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] - Kukla Kešerović (Slovenia/North Macedonia)
White Snail [+leggi anche:
recensione
intervista: Elsa Kremser e Levin Peter
scheda film] - Elsa Kremser, Levin Peter (Austria/Germany)
God Will Not Help [+leggi anche:
recensione
intervista: Hana Jušić
scheda film] - 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 [+leggi anche:
recensione
trailer
intervista: Georgi M. Unkovski
scheda film] - Georgi M Unkovski (North Macedonia/Czech Republic/Serbia/Croatia)
Otter - Srdjan Vuletić (Montenegro/Bosnia and Herzegovina/Italy/Croatia/Kosovo)

Out of Competition

Man of the House - Andamion Murataj (Albania/Italy/Austria/Greece/Croatia/Kosovo/North Macedonia)

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 [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Lina Vdovîi, Radu Ciorniciuc
scheda film] - Radu Ciorniciuc, Lina Vdovîi (Romania/Germany/Netherlands)
My Dad's Lessons [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] - Dalija Dozet (Croatia)
Dreamers: People of the Light - Imam Hasanov (Azerbaijan)
Bosnian Knight - Tarik Hodžić (Bosnia and Herzegovina/Croatia)
Divia [+leggi anche:
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trailer
intervista: Dmytro Hreshko
scheda film] - Dmytro Hreshko (Ukraine/Poland/ Netherlands/USA)
Letters - Aysel Küçüksu (Bulgaria) (short film)
Our Time Will Come [+leggi anche:
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trailer
scheda film] - Ivette Löcker (Austria)
Militantropos [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Yelizaveta Smith, Alina Go…
scheda film] - Simon Mozgoviy, Yelizaveta Smith, Alina Gorlova (Ukraine/Austria/France)
I Believe the Portrait Saved Me - Alban Muja (Kosovo/Netherlands) (short film)
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 [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] - 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)
Peninsula - David Gašo (Croatia)
Backstroke - Asya Günen (Turkey)
Living Stones - Jakob Ladányi Jancsó (Hungary)
After Class - Marius Papară (Romania)
Home, A Space Between Us - Effi Rabsilber (Greece)
Found & Lost - Reza Rasouli (Austria)
Rahlo - Jozo Schmuch (Croatia)
Curfew - Yelyzaveta Toptyhina (Ukraine)
Tarik - Adem Tutić (Serbia)