Fifty films contribute for prizes at the 31st Film Festival Sarajevo

Fifty films will participate in The Heart of Sarajevo Awards at the 31st Sarajevo Film Festival, and a film will be presented outside the competition. The four festival competition sections – for the feature film, documentary, short -circuit and student – will present 15 worlds, six, 28 regional and two national first.
Sarajevo’s programming team, led by creative director Izeta Građević, saw 1,036 films, including 195 fiction feature films and 291 documentaries.
Građević said the programs bring together filmmakers who “explore how we live and how we survive in complex and unstable social frameworks”.
She added: “This selection opens up a space to remind us of what we all have in common: the need for meaning, proximity, understanding – ourselves and others.”
Competition program – feature film
Otter, Srdjan Vulétic (Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Italy, Croatia, Kosovo, 88 min.) – World Premiere.
A reserved teenager, Hana, was invited by her crush, Balsa, to go to a lake with him to film a solar eclipse. On the morning of their planned trip, Hana’s father, a first -rate pilot, died. In his will, Hana’s father asks that he is buried in a space costume. Frustrated by the inability of her mother to resist the rest of the family, who wants to give her father a traditional funeral, Hana fled from his home and goes to the lake, where she realizes that the balsa is an aggressive predator. Hana must remove her considerate and obedient nature where her destiny will be as dark as the solar eclipse.
Stars of little importance, Italian Renátó (Hungary, 83 min.) – World Premiere
A brother and a sister return to the house of the capital for Christmas to find friends of childhood and the first love. They organize a party. They drink a lot. Nothing is the same as before. But everything is good, right? Through the eyes of the brothers and sisters, we observe an abandoned city, where time has frozen, and we live in Hungarian rural destinies. The brothers and sisters have to face certain questions: where are they going, now that they are 30 years old? Is that how they imagined that their life would be when they were adolescents?
Yugo Florida, Vladimir Tagić (Serbia, Bulgaria, France, Croatia, Montenegro, 112 min.) – First world first
The clumsy and almost unnecessary life of Zoran – who presents a roommate, an ex -girlfriend unavailable, and a work on reality TV – is upset when his distant and intolerable father is diagnosed with a terminal illness and that Zoran is committed to helping him during his last weeks.
DJ Ahmet, Georgi M. Unkovski (North Macedonia, Czech Republic, Serbia, Croatia, 99 min.) – First regional regional
Ahmet, a 15 -year -old boy from an isolated village in Yuruk in the north of Macedonia, finds refuge in music while sailing on the expectations of his father, a conservative community and his first experience in love – with a girl who is already promised to someone else.
Fantasy, Kukla (Slovenia, Northern Macedonia, 98 min.) – First regional
The Tomboys Mihrije, Sina and Jasna are the best friends at the beginning of the twenties. They live in Slovenia and refuse to comply with the conservative system in which they live. Their world is upset when they meet fantasy, a transgender woman. Together, they embark on a journey that explores the complexities of the genre, desire and self -discovery.
God will not help, Hana Jušić (Croatia, Italy, Romania, Greece, France, Slovenia, 135 min.) – First regional regional
Teresa, a Chilean woman, arrives in a firmly structured mountainous community isolated from Croatian shepherds at the beginning of the 20th century, claiming to be the widow of their emigrant brother. His arrival has a significant impact on the dynamics among the members of the community and brings troubles as well as inspiration for other women.
CLORSE SISTER, Ivana Mladenović (Romania, Serbia, Italy, Spain, 103 min.) – First regional regional
If you want something fervently enough, will the whole universe work in your favor? Stela fell in love with a Balkan musician after seeing him on television. Determined to meet him, she accepts the help of Vera, a glamorous starlet who would be the mistress of the musician. Their worlds collide when Vera promises to save Stela from her life struck by poverty by taking her to Bucharest, where she heads a business of sexual products.
White Snail, Elsa Kremser, Levin Peter (Austria, Germany, 115 min.) – First regional
Dreaming of a career in China, a Belarusian model finds itself attracted by a mysterious lonely who works a quarter -night in a morgue. Their meeting disturbs his senses of the body, beauty and mortality. The fragile love story of two foreigners who turn backwards and discover that they are not alone.
Wind, talk to me, Stefan Djordjevic (Serbia, Slovenia, Croatia, 100 min.) – First regional
Stefan finds his family to celebrate his grandmother’s birthday for the first time since the death of his mother. This return home, motivated by Stefan’s desire to finish a film on his mother as well as an attempt to change by saving a wandering dog, will ignite an introspective journey. Inspired by the actual experiences of director Stefan đorđević, and featuring the members of his real family in a mission to finish a lake house and a film, “Wind, Talk Me” is an intimate cinematographic exploration of the timeless mother-son relationship.
Competition program – Documentary film
Bosnian Knight, Tarik Hodzic (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, 79 min.) – World Premiere
I saw a “Suno”, Katalin Barsony (Hungaary, Belgium, 92 min.) – World Premiere
Kite, Thanos Psychogios (Greece, 15 min) – World Premiere
Steel Hotel Song, Bojan Stojcic (Bosnia and Herzegovina, 19 min.) – First world first
Letters, Aysel Küçüksu (Bulgaria, 11 min.) – First international
My father’s lessons, Dalija Dozet (Croatia, 62 min.) – First international
Slide Rouge, Nebojsa Blindicevic (Croatia, 27 min.) – First international
Third parts of the world, Arsen Oremović (Croatia, 101 min.) – First international
Cuba and Alaska, Yegor Troyanovsky (Ukraine, France, Belgium, 93 min.) – First regional regional
Divia, Dmytro Hreshko (Ukraine, Poland, Netherlands, United States, 79 min.)-First regional
Dreamers: People of the Light, Imam Hasanov (Azerbaijan, 86 min.) – First regional
Each time you leave, you were born again, Mladen Bundalo (Bosnia and Herzegovine, Belgium, 24 min.) – First regional regional
I believe that the portrait saved me, Alban Muja (Kosovo, Netherlands, 10 min.) – First regional
In hell with Ivo, Kristina Nikolova (Bulgaria, United States, 80 min.) – First regional
Activistropos, Yelizaveta Smith, Alina Gorlova, Simon Mozgoviy (Ukraine, Austria, France, 111 min.) – First regional regional
Our time will come, Ivette Löcker (Austria, 105 min.) – First regional
The Men’s Land, Mariam Bakacho Khatchvani (Georgia, Hungary, 15 min.) – First regional
Slet 1988, Marta Popivoda (Serbia, Germany, France, 22 min.) – First regional
9 months contract, Ketevan Vashagashvili (Georgia, Bulgaria, Germany, 77 min.) – B&H Premiere
Tata, Lina Vdovîi, Radu Cioniciuc (Romania, Germany, Netherlands, 82 min.) – B & H Premiere
Film Oho, Damjan Kozole (Slovenia, Croatia, 93 min.) – First international, out of competition
Competition program – short film
The eyes of Bern, Ermal Gerdovci (Kosovo, North Macedonia, 17 min.) – World Premiere
Desert, she, Ioanna Digenaki (Greece, 14 min.) – World Premiere
Procedure, Rabia Özmen (Türkiye, 18 min.) – World first
Alișveriș, Vasile Todinca (Romania, 15 min.) – First regional
Eraserhead in a knitted provisions bag, Lili Koss (Bulgaria, 19 min.) – First regional
Hysterical adjustment of laughter, Matija Gluscevic, Dusan Zoric (Serbia, Croatia, 15 min.) – First regional
Index, Radu MUNTEAN (Romania, 28 min.) – First regional
The Spectacle, Bálint Bread (Hungary, France, 17 min.) – First regional
Sonn Sunrise, Stefan Ivancic (Serbia, Spain, Slovenia, Croatia, 15 min.) – First regional
Winter in March, Natalia Mirzoyan (Armenia, Estonia, France, Belgium, 16 min.) – First regional
Competition program – Student film
After lessons, Marius Papară (Romania, 18 min.) – World first
Found & Lost, Reza Rasou (Austria, 17 min.) – World Pemerere
Home, a space between us, Effi Rabsilber (Greece, 16 min.) – World Premiere
Lightly, Jozo Schmuch (Croatia, 19 min.) – World Premiere
Tarik, Adem Tutic (Serbia, 27 min) – World Premiere
Curfew, Yelyzaveta Toptyhina (Ukraine, 23 min.) – First international
Backstroke, Asia Günen (Türkiye, 14 min.) – First regional
Living Stones, Jakob Ladányi Jancsó (Hungary, 20 min.) – First regional
Milk and cookies, Andrei -Tache Codreanu (Romania, 21 min.) – First regional
Peninsula, David Gaso (Croatia, 19 min.) – First regional
Want you to be an ear, Mirjana Balogh (Hungary, 10 min.) – First regional
The 31st Sarajevo Film Festival will take place from August 15 to 22.