True Stories Market

Part of the Sarajevo Film Festival's Dealing with the Past programme, the True Stories Market is a unique event that connects filmmakers with organisations that are documenting and researching the Yugoslav wars of the 90's, with the aim of bringing these stories to wider audiences.

At the True Stories Market event, the organisations will present cases that have not yet been the subject of films or TV productions to filmmakers. The presentations will be followed by one-on-one meetings where filmmakers can learn more about the cases and the possibility of developing films or documentary projects based on them, using the research, documentation and expertise that the organisations can offer.
The aim is to create an "open source" where these organisations and filmmakers can meet and collaborate, to take these important stories to the larger audiences they deserve, using the urgency and power that cinema can offer. In order to facilitate their transition from market to screen, after the festival an open call invites filmmakers to apply to execute a project inspired by one of the stories highlighted by the market. The Heartefact Fund awards a €3,000 grant to support further research.

Programme partners:
Balkan Investigative Reporting Network (BIRN), Bosnia and Herzegovina; the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights, Serbia; Oral History, Kosovo; the Humanitarian Law Centre, Serbia; the Post-Conflict Research Centre, Bosnia and Herzegovina; Documenta – Center for Dealing with the Past, Croatia; the Centre for Civic Education, Montenegro; the Association for Social Research and Communication, Bosnia and Herzegovina; Medica, Bosnia and Herzegovina; Youth Centre KVART, Bosnia and Herzegovina; The Foundation for Building the Culture of Memory, Bosnia and Herzegovina; Vive Žene, Bosnia and Herzegovina;

The Dealing with the Past programme is presented with support from the Robert Bosch Stiftung, The Heartefact Fund and in partnership with Al Jazeera Balkans