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Introducing the In Focus programme of the 31st Sarajevo Film Festival
This year, the In Focus programme of the 31st Sarajevo Film Festival brings a carefully selected selection of notable film achievements that have previously been screened and recognized at international and domestic festivals.
These are films that stand out for their topical relevance, thoughtful authorial approach, and clear artistic expression.
“This year's In Focus programme brings a strong blend of established authors and a new generation of regional filmmakers, united by a common ambition: to tell urgent and important stories in an increasingly unstable and unstable world. Seven feature and, as an exception, one short film have been selected - all with international festival successes and critical accolades,” said the programmer of the In Focus programme, Elma Tataragić.
In addition to the films in the In Focus programme, we are also presenting a film that has been added to the Competition Programme – Feature Film, and will be screened out of competition: the world premiere of „Man of the House“ by Andamion Murataj.
DESIRE LINES / LINIJE ŽELJE
Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Netherlands, Germany, 2025, 107 min.
Director: Dane Komljen
Cast: Ivan Čuić, Branka Katić, Petja Golec Horvat, Rok Juričić
Branko lives on the margins of society, tormented by insomnia and loneliness. He speaks to no one. His only obsession appears to be with his younger brother, whose muddy shoes, bloody bedsheets, and mysterious presence stoke unease. Through street passages, shrubbery in parks, and brutalist landscapes, Branko follows his brother's every step, concerned about his behaviour. While his paranoia grows, Branko begins to realise that it is he, and not his brother, who is strange.
EIGHTY PLUS / RESTAURACIJA, ILI, SAN I JAVA STARE GARDE
Serbia, Slovenia, 2025, 118 min.
Director: Želimir Žilnik
Cast: Milan Kovačević, Milivoj Kiždobranski, Vera Hrćan Ostojić, Mirjana Gardinovački, Lidija Stevanović, Katharina Gualtieri, Radoje Čupić, Nina Stamenković
After living in Germany for six decades, Stevan, an elderly jazz pianist returns home to Serbia. After concluding a lengthy legal process, the government confirms that—as a result of post-socialist restitution—he can inherit the neglected mansion bequeathed to him by his parents. A series of encounters and reunions opens an unexpected new chapter in Stevan’s life.
HOW COME IT’S ALL GREEN OUT HERE? / KAKO JE OVDE TAKO ZELENO?
Serbia, Croatia, Bulgaria, 2025, 114 min.
Director: Nikola Ležaić
Cast: Filip Đurić, Izudin Bajrović, Stojan Matavulj, Snježana Sinovčić Šiškov, Leon Lučev, Rada Mrkšić, Dobrila Stojnić
Nikola is a film director stuck working in the world of advertising. His grandmother escaped from Croatia during the war and died in Serbia in the early 2000s; now, Nikola hears from his parents of the possibility of at last bringing her remains home. Together with his father, Nikola takes that journey. Along the way, he learns lessons about parenthood, family, and memories that sometimes are not real.
KONTINENTAL ‘25
Romania, 2025, 109 min.
Director: Radu Jude
Cast: Eszter Tompa, Gabriel Spahiu, Adonis Tanța, Oana Mardare, Șerban Pavlu, Annamária Biluska, Ilinca Manolache
Orsolya is a bailiff in Cluj, the main city in Transylvania. One day, she must evict a homeless man who lives in the basement of a building. An unexpected event creates a moral crisis that Orsolya tries to solve as best she can.
LITTLE TROUBLE GIRLS / KAJ TI JE DEKLICA
Slovenia, Italy, Croatia, Serbia, 2025, 89 min.
Director: Urška Djukić
Cast: Jara Sofija Ostan, Mina Švajger, Saša Tabaković, Nataša Burger, Staša Popović, Mateja Strle, Saša Pavček, Irena Tomažin Zagoričnik, Damjan Trbovc, Matia Cason
Introverted 16-year-old Lucia joins her Catholic school's all-girl choir, where she befriends Ana-Maria, a popular and flirty third-year student. But when the choir travels to a convent in the countryside for a weekend of intensive rehearsals, Lucia’s interest in a dark-eyed restoration worker tests her friendship with Ana-Maria and the other girls. As she navigates unfamiliar surroundings and her budding sexuality, Lucia begins to question her beliefs and values, disrupting the harmony within the choir.
PALEONTOLOGY LESSON
Netherlands, 2025, 12 min.
Director: Sergei Loznitsa
June 2023. It has been over a year since Russia's invasion which turned the lives of Ukrainians into a daily struggle for survival. Yet, amid pain, grief, and rage, the dreams and aspirations of Ukrainian children and adults keep the country going. In Kyiv, a group of schoolchildren visits the Natural History Museum, guided by a paleontology teacher, who, as if by magic, transports the kids into a faraway world where there is no war.
TWO PROSECUTORS / ZWEI STAATSANWÄLTE
France, Germany, Netherlands, Latvia, Romania, Lithuania, 2025, 118 min.
Director: Sergei Lozntsa
Cast: Aleksandr Kuznetsov, Alexander Filippenko, Anatoli Beliy, Andris Keišs, Vytautas Kaniušonis
The Soviet Union, 1937. Thousands of letters from detainees falsely accused by the regime are burned in a prison cell. Against all odds, one of them reaches its destination: the desk of Alexander Kornyev, a newly appointed local prosecutor. He does his utmost to meet the writer of the letter, a victim of agents of the secret police. A dedicated Bolshevik of integrity, the young prosecutor suspects foul play. His quest for justice will take him all the way to the office of the attorney general in Moscow. In the age of the great Stalinist purges, this is the plunge of a man into the corridors of a totalitarian regime that tries to present itself otherwise.
WONDROUS IS THE SILENCE OF MY MASTER / OTAPANJE VLADARA
Montenegro, Italy, France, Croatia, Serbia, 2025, 93 min.
Director: Ivan Salatić
Cast: Marko Pogačar, Luka Petrone, Tea Ljubešić, Jakov Zovko, Vanja Matić, Vladimir Milošević, Igor Božanić
In 19th-century Montenegro, a dying poet-ruler journeys to Italy in search of a cure for his condition. As his health worsens, his devoted servant, torn between duty and longing, faces the lengthening shadow of his master’s fate, battling jealousy, homesickness, and an unshakable sense of doom.
Competition Programme – Feature Film
OUT OF COMPETITION
WORLD PREMIERE
MAN OF THE HOUSE / BURRI I SHTËPISË
Albania, Italy, Austria, Croatia, Kosovo*, North Macedonia, 2025, 104 min.
Director: Andamion Murataj
Cast: Drita Kaba Karaga, Alesia Ruçi, Bislim Muçaj, Astrin Alihajdaraj
Fran has chosen to live a celibate life as a man, following the tradition of the Albanian Virgins. Now, if she is to become a mother to her motherless niece, Fran must make a difficult choice: maintaining her status of "manhood" or giving it up and reconnecting with the maternal feelings she has long suppressed. When the time comes to move forward in life, it is her niece’s choice that forces Fran to confront her deepest fears when she must decide whether to act on her desire to keep the young girl close or to give her wings.
* This label does not prejudge the status of Kosovo and is in accordance with Resolution 1244 and the opinion of the ICJ on Kosovo's declaration of independence.
The 31st Sarajevo Film Festival will take place from August 15 to 22, 2025.