News
World Premiere of "Bridges of Sarajevo" at Cannes Film Festival
BRIDGES OF SARAJEVO / LES PONTS DE SARAJEVO, produced by Obala Art Center Sarajevo and French Cinétévé, has been selected in the official program of the Cannes Film Festival (May 14-25). The film will have its world premiere on May 22nd, when its authors and film crew will walk the red carpet at the Cannes Festival.
The omnibus produced on the occasion of World War I centenary includes 13 short films directed by: Aida Begić, Leonardo Di Costanza, Jean-Luc Godard, Kamen Kalev, Isild Le Besco, Sergei Loznitsa, Vincenzo Marra, Ursula Meier, Vladimir Perišić, Cristi Puiu, Marc Recha, Angela Schanelec and Teresa Villaverde.
In the film, authors deal with different moments in Sarajevo’s present and past, including in the 1914-1918 and 1992 - 1995 periods. It is a mosaic of critical, artistic perceptions of different universal issues symbolized by a historic place such as Sarajevo.
“Each and every one story is different, and in its own way, unique. Initially there was only one guideline: not to unify, not to homogenize. These filmmakers, loved and recognized for their existing work, as original and engaging with the world as different from one another, now turned their lens towards Sarajevo”, artistic director Jean-Michel Frodon said.
Producers of BRIDGES OF SARAJEVO are Mirsad Purivatra, Jovan Marjanović, Fabienne Servan Schreiber and Laurence Miller. Film was realized in coproduction with partners from Switzerland (BANDE A PART FILMS), Italy (MIR CINEMATOGRAFICA), Portugal (UKBAR FILMES) and Germany (UNAFILM).
This project was a step forward taken by the Sarajevo Film Festival and its Sarajevo City of Film Fund which will focus solely on production of long feature films in the future.
“Selection of BRIDGES OF SARAJEVO in the official programme of the Cannes Film Festival is an indicator of success of our Fund’s vision and development strategy. The fact that the film will have its world premiere at the Cannes Festival gives us satisfaction, but it is also a great challenge for us in terms of our future projects,” producer Mirsad Purivatra said.
“It is great that our long term main partner Atlantic Grupa have pledged their support as the Sarajevo City of Film Fund takes the next step. Also, it was great to involve Sarajevo City of Film partner Digital Cube from Bucharest, who co-produced the segment directed by Cristi Puiu with us”, producer Jovan Marjanović said.
Since its founding in 2007, the Sarajevo City of Film Fund has been supporting the work of young filmmakers from South-East Europe. By 2013, the Fund has brought 25 short films involving over 300 film directors, scriptwriters, producers, actors and actresses, cinematographers, film editors and music composers from twelve different countries of the region. Many of those films have marked the beginning of promising careers of their authors.
Following the world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival, BRIDGES OF SARAJEVO will be presented to the Sarajevo audiences on June 27th as part of ceremonies to commemorate the centenary of the First World War. The film will also be included in the program of the 20th Sarajevo Film Festival prior to its distribution in cinemas throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina.