Opening Films of the 27th Sarajevo Film Festival and Open Air Programme

Oscar® winning director Danis Tanović's film NOT SO FRIENDLY NEIGHBOURHOOD AFFAIR and the omnibus film LETTERS FROM THE ENDS OF THE WORLD by the film collective Bistrik7, an international group of first-generation directors at the Sarajevo film.factory of the iconic director Béla Tarr will open this year's edition of Sarajevo Film Festival.

 

Both films have just been completed and the authors have done their best for them to be shown exclusively in front of the festival audience.

 

Danis Tanović's film will be screened at several festival locations at the opening of the Festival, and will be shown as part of the Open Air program of the Sarajevo Film Festival. It was created within the Sarajevo City of Global Screen Film (SCF GS) project by Obala Art Centar and Turkish State Radio and Television (TRT), with a focus on directors from Southeast Europe whose films were previously screened and awarded at the Sarajevo Film Festival, and with the support of BH Telecom.

 

Omnibus film LETTERS FROM THE ENDS OF THE WORLD will have its world premiere at the opening of the Sarajevo Film Festival as part of the Special Screening program. This omnibus film is an international chronicle of the first days of lockdown due to Covid-19 of 14 private home movies. It is the work of the film collective Bistrik7, 13 international authors united by the experience of the first generation of graduates at film.factory of Béla Tarr in Sarajevo. The directors are Ghazi Alqudcy, Graeme Cole, Gonzalo Escobar Mora, Grant Gulczynski, Marta Hernaiz Pidal, Namsuk Kim, Bianca Lucas, Stefan Malešević, Patrick Marshall, Aleksandra Niemczyk, Pilar Palomero, Emma Rozanski and Gustavo Vega.

The festival will close on August 20th with the world premiere of Dragan Bjelogrlić's film ‘’Toma’’ (Serbia, 2021), which will be screened in the Open Air festival program.

 

The film TOMA is an impressionist portrait of Toma Zdravković, which shows his very beginnings, as well as the peak of fame, loves that inspired him when composing some of the greatest hits, as well as the relationship with many friends he had in the artistic milieu of former Yugoslavia. In addition to Toma, through the film we follow the lives of famous artists of that time: Silvana Armenulić, Zoran Radmilović, Mika Antić, Tozovac and others. The script is written by Nikola Pejaković, Zoran Lisinac, Dragan Bjelogrlić, Maja Todorović, and the director of photography is Goran Volarević. Cast: Milan Marić, Tamara Dragičević, Petar Benčina, Andrija Kuzmanović, Sanja Marković, Paulina Manov, Milan Kolak, playing the role of the mother - Mirjana Karanović. The film will screen on the closing of the 27th Sarajevo Film Festival at several festival locations.

 

Along with Tanović's and Bjelogrlić's films, the audience of the 27th Sarajevo Film can expect more great titles in the Open Air programme. The program will feature Florian Zeller's THE FATHER - Oscar® winner for Best Actor (Anthony Hopkins) and Best Adapted Screenplay (Christopher Hampton and Florian Zeller), Panah Panahi's debut feature film HIT THE ROAD, screened at this year's Cannes Film Festival in the Festival's Directors Fortnight section, RIDERS OF JUSTICE by Anders Thomas Jensen, in which one of the main roles is played by Mads Mikkelsen, winner of the Honorary Heart of Sarajevo at the 26th Sarajevo Film Festival (2020), HERO, a new film by Asghar Farhadi, otherwise the president of the jury at the 24th Sarajevo Film Festival (2018) - winner of the Grand Prix at this year's Cannes Film Festival, NEW ORDER - a new feature film by Michel Franco, winner of the Honorary Heart of Sarajevo at the 26th Sarajevo Film Festival, premiered in Venice 2020, where the movie won the Silver Lion - Grand Jury Prize. In addition, the Open Air program will feature the classic PARIS, TEXAS (1984) by the winner of the Honorary Heart of Sarajevo, Wim Wenders, to whom this year's Tribute to program is dedicated.

 

 

You can purchase them HERE.

 

Capacities of all festival locations of the 27th Sarajevo Film Festivals are limited in accordance with COVID measures, i.e issued measures and instructions of the Public Health Institute of Sarajevo Canton for the Sarajevo Film Festival. All instructions will be published on the Sarajevo Film Festival website.