News

Competition Programme – Feature Film 2024

Elma Tataragić, programmer of the Competition Programme – Feature Film, will present 9 titles

The selection in the competition programme features one world premiere, one European and six regional premieres. One film out of competition will have its world premiere as a gala screening.

Jury:
President of Jury: Paul Schrader, Director and writer, USA
Sebastian Cavazza, Actor, Slovenia
Una Gunjak, Director, writer and editor, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Juho Kuosmanen, Director and writer, Finland
Noomi Rapace, Actress and producer, Sweden

Awards:

HEART OF SARAJEVO FOR BEST FEATURE FILM
Award in the amount of €16,000, co-sponsored by the Tourism Association of Canton Sarajevo

HEART OF SARAJEVO FOR BEST DIRECTOR
Award in the amount of €10,000, sponsored by the United Nations in Bosnia and Herzegovina in cooperation with UNESCO

HEART OF SARAJEVO FOR BEST ACTRESS
Award in the amount of €2,500

HEART OF SARAJEVO FOR BEST ACTOR
Award in the amount of €2,500

1. DWELLING AMONG THE GODS / MEĐU BOGOVIMA, Vuk Ršumović (Serbia, Italia, Croatia, 2024, 102 min.) – World premiere
Cast: Fereshteh Hosseini, Nikola Ristanovski, Reza Akhlaghirad, Vule Marković

After an exhausting journey to Europe, Fereshteh, a young Afghan woman, reaches Belgrade with her husband and three children. Here, she finds out that her younger brother Ali, who came to Belgrade earlier, has drowned and will soon be buried as an unidentified person. Although Fereshteh does not have documents to prove her own identity, she refuses to leave Belgrade before burying her brother under his proper name. She initiates a complex procedure to prove his identity through use of a sample of DNA from her father, who is still in Afghanistan. After she succeeds and obtains the permit to take over Ali's body, Fereshteh learns that her father wants to bury his son in Afghanistan. All her life, Fereshteh has bent to her father's will without question. This time, she decides to act on her own.

2. FAMILY THERAPY / ODREŠITEV ZA ZAČETNIKE, Sonja Prosenc (Slovenia, Italy, Croatia, Norway, Serbia, 2024, 122 min.) – European premiere
Cast: Borja Repe Novak, Ana Đurić, Kristoffer Joner, Alexis Matera, Aliocha Schneider, Mila Bezjak, Marko Mandić, Katarina Stegnar, Judita Franković Brdar, Jure Henigman

FAMILY THERAPY revolves around a nouveau riche Slovenian family who live in a glass house, exuding an air of detached superiority. This serves as a satirical backdrop for a humorous re-imagining of the premise of Pier Paolo Pasolini's TEOREMA: a young stranger arrives in the family household, disrupting the delicate balance of family dynamics and revealing a world of chaos and dysfunctional relationships hidden beneath the surface. Through this family's story, the film explores contemporary social issues in the tone of tragicomedy.

3. ARCADIA, Yorgos Zois (Greece, Bulgaria, USA, 2024, 99 min.) – Regional premiere
Cast: Vangelis Evangelinos, Asterios Rimagmos, Evangelia Andreadaki, Flomaria Papadaki, Elena Mavridou, Antonis Tsiotsiopoulos, Vangelis Mourikis, Angeliki Papoulia, Elena Topalidou, Nikolas Papagiannis

Radiant neurologist Katerina and Yannis, formerly a well-respected physician, head off to a deserted seaside resort. Silence reigns in the car as they travel across sandy dunes in a windy autumn, matching the less-than-pleasant occasion: Yannis has been summoned to identify the victim of a tragic accident at the hospital of the small town. When the local policeman informs Katerina and Yannis that the victim’s vehicle had plunged over the parapet of a stone bridge before leading them to the morgue, Katerina's worst suspicions are confirmed. Together with Yannis, as well as on her solo nightly excursions to a mysterious, rustic beach bar called Arcadia, Katerina begins to put the pieces of the puzzle together, revealing a haunting story of love, loss, acceptance and letting go.

4. HOLY WEEK / SĂPTĂMÂNA MARE, Andrei Cohn (Romania, Switzerland, 2024, 133 min.) – Regional premiere
Cast: Doru Bem, Nicoleta Lefter, Ciprian Chiricheș, Mario Gheorghe Dinu, Ana Cioneta

Holy Week, somewhere in Romania, about 1900. The troublesome relationship between the Jewish innkeeper Leiba and his Christian employee Gheorghe comes to a head, and so Leiba decides to dismiss the latter. Vengeful, Gheorghe promises he will return on Easter Night to “settle” accounts with Leiba. This threat is the last straw that crushes Leiba’s attempts to inhabit the hostile, anti-Semitic environment that surrounds him. From this moment on, Leiba struggles to distinguish between actual danger and that fabricated by his anxieties, and he goes down a path of transformation that leads to extreme consequences.

5. THE EDITORIAL OFFICE / REDAKTSIYA, Roman Bondarchuk (Ukraine, Germany, Slovakia, Czechia, 2024, 126 min.) – Regional premiere
Cast: Rymma Ziubina, Andrii Kyrylchuk, Oleksandr Shmal, Vasyl Kukharskyi, Maksym Kurochkin, Oleksandr Hannochenko, Serhii Ivanov, Dmytro Bahnenko, Zhanna Ozirna

In the wild steppes of southern Ukraine, a young nature researcher named Yura is looking for an endangered species of groundhog. Instead, he witnesses a crime. Eager to expose the truth, Yura takes his photo evidence to the editorial office of the local newspaper. He soon realises, however, that nobody there cares about the pursuit of justice. While a major war looms on the horizon, Yura's naive worldview splinters in a storm of fake news, rigged political elections, and mysterious cult rituals. On his quest, this hero will find out who he really is—that endangered species of the good man, or merely a loser?

6. THE VILLAGE NEXT TO PARADISE, Mo Harawe (Austria, France, Germany, Somalia, 2024, 132 min.) – Regional premiere
Cast: Ahmed Ali Farah, Ahmed Mohamud Saleban, Anab Ahmed Ibrahim

In a windy Somali village, a newly assembled family must navigate a way between their various aspirations and the complex world that surrounds them. Love, trust, and resilience will power them through their life paths.

7. THREE KILOMETRES TO THE END OF THE WORLD / TREI KILOMETRI PÂNĂ LA CAPĂTUL LUMII, Emanuel Pârvu (Romania, 2023, 105 min.) – Regional premiere
Cast: Ingrid Micu-Berescu, Valeriu Andriuță, Adrian Titieni, Ciprian Chiujdea, Laura Vasiliu, Bogdan Dumitrache

Seventeen-year-old Adi is spending the summer in his home village in the Danube Delta. One night, he is brutally attacked on the street; the next day, his world is turned upside-down. His parents no longer look at him as they did, and the seeming tranquillity of the village starts to crack.

8. HOLY ELECTRICITY / TSMINDA ELEKTROENERGIA, Tato Kotetishvili (Georgia, Netherlands, 2024, 95 min.) – Regional premiere
Cast: Nikolo Ghviniashvili, Nika Gongadze

When young Gonga and his cousin Bart find a suitcase full of rusty crosses in a scrapyard, Bart comes up with the idea of turning them into neon crucifixes and selling them door-to-door to the gullible inhabitants of Tbilisi. A crusade through the suburbs of the city becomes a quest for love and friendship.

9. MOTHER MARA / MAJKA MARA, Mirjana Karanović (Serbia, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, 2024, 96 min.) - Gala screening, World premiere, out of competition

Cast: Mirjana Karanović, Vučić Perović, Boris Isaković, Jasna Žalica, Pavle Čemerikić, Alen Liverić, Jelena Ćuruvija

Mara, a successful businesswoman and single mother, is heartbroken after her son Nemanja’s untimely death. She becomes emotionally detached, refusing to communicate with friends or family. When she meets Milan, Nemanja’s close friend, however, she finds solace and comfort in their relationship. As they grow closer, they uncover more about Nemanja’s life and his passing, giving Mara an opportunity to face her life and emotions.

The 30th Sarajevo Film Festival will take place from 16 to 23 August 2024.