Introducing Sarajevo Film Festival’s Special Award for Promoting Gender Equality

Given the size and scope of the Sarajevo Film Festival programme, which showcases around 230 films each year, we want to put the spotlight on female filmmakers’ debuts. Although other Sarajevo Film Festival awards are linked to specific competition programmes covering the region of Southeast Europe*, films and directors eligible for the SPECIAL AWARD FOR PROMOTING GENDER EQUALITY are not limited to Competition strands and include other programmes and territories as well, provided that the film is the director’s first feature film. The selection will cross sections and genres (both fiction and documentary feature films are eligible). Films coming from following strands are eligible: Competition Programme – Feature Film, Competition Programme – Documentary Film, In Focus, Dealing with the Past and Kinoscope.

 

This award is a continuation of the activities by which Sarajevo Film festival contributes to the establishment of equality in the film industry: The Sarajevo Film Festival is a signatory of the 5050X2020 Gender Parity Pledge which advocates equal possibilities for women in film industry. The pledge was signed at the 24th Sarajevo Film Festival in 2018. Because of its long term advocacy for gender parity and diversity in the film industry, the Sarajevo Film Festival had the privilege to host last year’s fifth Audentia award ceremony for the best female director, founded by Council of Europe’s Eurimages fund to promote gender equality in the European film industry.

 

Moreover, in this year’s Competition Programme – Feature Film, out of 10 films, eight have been directed by women. In Competition Programme – Documentary Film out of 16 films, 6 have been directed by women.

 

A separate three-member jury will screen all eligible films and the award will be presented at the official Sarajevo Film Festival Award Ceremony. The award pool is set to 7500 euros. The award is sponsored by Mastercard.

 

 

1. THINGS WORTH WEEPING FOR / A LEGJOBB DOLGOKON BŐGNI KELL, Cristina Grosan (Hungary, 2021, 84 min) / Competition Programme – Feature Film

2. BEBIA, À MON SEUL DÉSIR, Juja Dobrachkous (Georgia, United Kingdom, 2020, 113 min.) / Competition Programme – Feature Film

3. CELTS / KELTI, Milica Tomović (Serbia, 2021, 106 min.) / Competition Programme – Feature Film

4. LOOKING FOR VENERA / NË KËRKIM TË VENERËS, Norika Sefa (Kosovo, 2020, 111 min.) / Competition Programme – Feature Film

5. MOON, 66 QUESTIONS / SELENE 66 QUESTIONS, Jacqueline Lentzou (Greece, France, 2021, 108 min.)  / Competition Programme – Feature Film

6. MURINA, Antoneta Alamat Kusijanović (Croatia, Brazil, United States, Slovenia, 2021, 92 min.) / Competition Programme – Feature Film

7. THE HILL WHERE LIONESSES ROAR / LA COLLINE OÙ RUGISSENT LES LIONESS, Luàna Bajrami (Kosovo, France, 2021, 83 min.) / Competition Programme – Feature Film

8. RECONCILIATION / ODPUŠČANJE, Marija Zidar (Slovenia, Serbia, Montenegro, Kosovo, 2021, 82 min.) / Competition Programme – Documentary Film

9. HIVE / ZGJOI, Blerta Basholli (Kosovo, Switzerland, North Macedonia, Albania, 2021, 84 min.) / In Focus

10. EL PLANETE, Amalia Ulman (United States, Spain, 2021, 82 min.) / Kinoscope

11. PLAYGROUND, Laura Wandel (Belgium, 2021, 72 min.) / Kinoscope

12. SUPERIOR, Erin Vassilopoulos (United States, 2021, 99 min.) / Kinoscope

13. CENSOR, Prano Bailey-Bond (United Kingdom, 2021, 84 min.) / Kinoscope

 

This year, Sarajevo Film Festival and Mastercard are launching What Women Want: Quotas and Reality panel discussions on seeing the world from a different perspective and promotion of gender equality. The panel can be watched online on 16 August from 15:00 to 16:00h as part of CineLink Talks, the Sarajevo Film Festival conference programme.

 

Discussions will be moderated by producer Amra Bakšić Čamo and the panel will include Aida Begić, director from BiH, Antoneta Alamat Kusijanović, director from Croatia, Bianca Oana, producer and scriptwriter from Romania and Agustina Chiarino, producer from Uruguay. 

 

Watch the panel discussion at this LINK.

 

 

Festival programmer and curator, Italy

 

Teresa Cavina is a festival programmer and curator. She worked on the programming team of the Venice Film Festival from 1989 through 1997, then in 1998 moved to the Locarno Festival, which she co-directed from 2001 to 2005. There, she founded In Progress, which explores cross-pollination between art and cinema, and Open Doors, which is devoted to supporting emerging cinemas. In 2006, she launched the Rome Film Festival, where she was Co-Artistic Director until 2008. In Rome, she founded the New Cinema Network, an international co-production platform aimed at training and supporting filmmakers working on their second feature film projects. She has held positions as Artistic Director of FIPA Biarritz and Programming Director of the Abu Dhabi Film Festival, where she co-created SANAD, a development and post-production fund. Currently, Cavina collaborates in programming Venice Days and the El Gouna Film Festival, and works closely with filmmakers, producers, script labs and international funds, among them Talents Sarajevo, Locarno Open Doors, the Doha Film Institute, the Solinas Award and FFFMED.

 

Director, Serbia

 

Ognjen Glavonić is a filmmaker from Pančevo, Serbia. His films have been shown at major festivals in Cannes, Berlin, Toronto, Rotterdam and New York City, among many others, and have won several awards. His work has also been presented at institutions such as the Museum of Modern Art, the Museum of the Moving Image and the Lincoln Center in New York City, the Pompidou Center in Paris, and the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London. Glavonić is also the director and co-founder of the Pančevo Film Festival. Two feature-length films stand out in his filmography: the documentary DEPTH TWO and the narrative THE LOAD.

 

Film producer, festival curator, Malaysia, The Netherland

 

Lorna Tee is a film producer and film festival curator, dividing her time between Asia and Europe. She has worked for Focus Films in Hong Kong, Variety in the United States, Irresistible Films in Hong Kong and Japan), the Berlin International Film Festival, the CinemAsia Film Festival, and is the founder and previous Head of Festival Management for the International Film Festival & Awards Macao. Tee develops film projects in Asia through her production company Paperheart, is a mentor and lecturer with a number of film training programmes and labs, and consults for various international film institutions and film funds. Currently, she is the year-round curator and programmer for Cinematheque Passion in Macao.