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The process of selecting and screening films Sarajevo Film Festival (SFF) was a very personal experience for programmer Rada Šešić.
“I’ll let you in on a secret,” Šešić reveals. “After I’ve introduced the film and the filmmaker, I stay in the cinema and listen to how the audience ‘breathes’, how they react; every time someone slams a door or leaves in the middle of a film, I get chills, and it makes me sad to see restless audiences.”
This year’s documentary section features 21 films (including 19 in competition), and Šešić holds his breath every time he screens them, selected from a pool of 275 entries.
“Every screening feels like a student taking an exam, and I, not just the director, also feel that the screening in Sarajevo is a special occasion, solemn in a way,” she said. International Every year, new films premiere, and the moment when the film meets the audience is usually very touching.”
Šešić described this year’s selection as “very mature, engaging and convincing films” and the jury will be composed of Mandy Zhang （Founder and Creative Director of documentary brand Undeniable）, Marek Hovorka（Founder and Director of Ji.hlava International Documentary Film Festival in Czech Republic） and famous Chinese documentary producer Wang Xiaoshuai（Beijing Bicycle).
The competition will open with the world premiere of Hungarian filmmaker Anna Rubi’s latest work Life without meIt tells the story of how a group of elderly mothers work to ensure that the support systems they have built for their disabled adult children continue after they die.
There will be a powerful Ukraine’s presence This year – after Russia’s 2022 invasion, Sarajevo opened up space for Ukrainian directors – projects include world premieres Daddy’s Lullabyis the first feature film by Lesia Diak, a renowned Ukrainian short film director, about the lives of traumatized soldiers as they return home to reunite with their families. Maria Stoianova Ice Shards Tracing the director’s family history is like a mirror to her country’s history; Olga Chernykh’s Photos to Remember, This is a portrait of three generations of Ukrainian women from the Soviet era to the present day.
“Besides the cinematic quality, our selections are very powerful portrayals of the reality around us; the films are very bold, explicit, and very well made,” Šešić said. “I was surprised by the intimacy achieved with the stories of so many individual authors.”
Two Croatian productions were among this year’s documentary highlights. The BBC has chosen GorDavis Hall 6takes a humorous look at the COVID vaccination issue, while Sylvester Sausage’ Our children He also found it interesting that he looked back over thirty years of his family’s history and questioned “parenting, marriage and harmony in life.”
Sethik Point to Bosnian-born Maja Novakovic Who’s knocking at the door? As “an ode to the human spirit and the almost sacred connection between man and nature.”
“Documentaries are very important in our region,” Šešić says. “They are a barometer of society, measuring the political and social ‘temperature’; they indicate what is boiling beneath the surface. They often serve as a tool for social and political discussion, engaging us in meaningful dialogue.”
She added: “Sometimes taboo issues don’t enter mainstream society for a long time. They are often ignored, overlooked, and ‘covered up’, but they must be seen and talked about. Gender issues, post-war trauma, domestic violence and the silence around it. Well made Documentary has the power to spark these debates.”
Documentary films are also part of the Singapore Film Festival’s DNA, she said, dating back to the three-day screening programme 20 years ago, which has since expanded to include platforms such as the Processing the Past programme, the True Stories Market and the Documentary Rough Cuts Boutique, which have “played an important role in helping many regional documentary projects reach international audiences”.
“These non-competitive but extremely important programs bring relevant stories to be heard and discussed,” Šešić said. “I get excited every year about the screenings of the selected films because the festival is all about the encounter between films and audiences, and filmmakers discussing their work.”
She concluded: “The Sarajevo Film Festival has a loyal and sophisticated audience that is interested in documentary films. This audience responds to stories that are relevant and engaging, while also knowing how to respect the author’s artistic expression. The documentaries we entered offer the audience something to think about, and in the long run, these films may lead to positive change.”
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