Vying for the Heart of Sarajevo Award is a total of 47 films included in different competition programmes. The four official competitions – Fiction, Documentary, Short and Student Film – will present 18 world, three international, one European, 24 regional and one B&H premiere.  

The Feature Film competition will feature Antoneta Alamat Kusijanović’s feature debut Murina, arriving after a recent win of the Camera d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival. The Feature Film programme will include nine titles, two of which will have their world premieres, while programme selector is Elma Tataragić. The Feature Film competition president of the jury is actress Jasna Đuričić, winner of numerous awards, including the recent accolades for her role of Aida in Jasmila Žbanić’s Oscar-nominated Quo Vadis Aida?. 

The Documentary competition will feature 16 films, three of which from Croatia: Jasmina Beširević’s Bosnian Broadway, Tanja Deman’s experimental-documentary short Horizon, and Srđan Kovačević’s feature-length Factory to the Workers, the first two of which will have their world premieres at SFF. The documentary programme selector is Rada Šešić. 

The Short film competition, again selected by Elma Tataragić, will present ten films, including two Croatian titles: the wold premiere of Mate Ugrina’s Everything Ahead and Rok Biček’s Penalty Shot. 

The Student Film competition will feature 12 films, selected by festival programmer Asja Krsmanović, while the section will include Damir Markovina’s Wait for Me, which will be its international premiere.  

The competition programmes will showcase films from Croatia, Albania, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Greece, Georgia, Hungary, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Malta, Moldova, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia and Turkey.   

This year, the biggest festival in the region includes a novel category of TV Series. Competing for the Heart of Sarajevo are television productions from B&H, Croatia, Serbia, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Kosovo and Slovenia that premiered in the period from 1st Sept, 2019 to 31st May 2021. The SFF selection committee has chosen 16 series, four of which from Croatia: The Paper, Black & White World, Diary of the Great Perica and The Group (Serbia and Croatia).   

The film professional to be honoured with the Honorary Heart of Sarajevo for exceptional contribution to cinematic art is Wim Wenders. The award will be presented at the festival, while Wenders will also hold a masterclass in the Industry section of SFF. In addition, his retrospective will be screened in a special Tribute To festival programme. SFF will also organize a special screening of the newly restored copy of his film The Million Dollar Hotel, winner of the Silver Bear Award at Berlinale in 2000.   

This year’s, 27th edition of the Sarajevo Film Festival runs 13th – 20th August. More information about the festival and its programmes is available on the official website.