Sarajevo Film Festival looks at regional films

ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News

Mirsad Puritava, head of the festival organization, says the festival also give a large focus to Turkish movies. AA photo

Drawing regional film producers and screenwriters from all over the world together, the Sarajevo Film Festival provides the international movie community the chance to discover more about the possibilities Southeastern Europe has to offer them.

“Each year the festival grows and develops,” Mirsad Puritava, head of the festival organization, told Anatolia news agency. “Thanks to the festival Sarajevo has become a culture and arts capital.”
The festival aims to present important and innovative films of high artistic value made throughout the world.

The 18th Sarajevo Film Festival runs this year from July 6 to 14, presenting a wide program of competitive and non-competitive films with an overall focus on the region of Southeastern Europe. The festival will specifically focus on Albania, Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Greece, Hungary, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Malta, Monte Negro, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia, Turkey and UNMI Kosovo. Filmmakers from these nations will compete in feature film, short film and documentary film categories.

“We cannot consider a Sarajevo Film Festival without a Turkish movie,” Puritava said. Last year the festival hosted Semih Kaplanoğlu and Nuri Bilge Ceylan; Puritava said the Turkish cinema industry had developed a lot over the last five years.

Today the Sarajevo Film Festival represents the main meeting place for all regional producers and screenwriters. It is recognized by film professionals all over the world as the pinnacle point for networking within the region and for those looking to learn more about the possibilities this region has to offer the international film scene.

The Sarajevo Film Festival has been developing program platforms aimed toward providing support and promotion to the region’s still-developing film scene. The festival’s most recent project, the Sarajevo City of Film, represents a natural link between film educational work and a professional film industry.