16th Sarajevo Film Festival Kicks Off

The 16th annual Sarajevo Film Festival celebrated its official opening on July 23 at the National Theatre in Bosnia's capital with a red carpet reception and gala ceremony attended by numrous filmmakers and stars.

The gala ceremony was hosted by Ermin Bravo, a renowned actor from Bosnia and Herzegovina.

In his introductory speech, Bravo explained that this year's festival had already been felt in other parts of the world through the success of films helped by the coproduction market Cine Link of the SFF. These movies include Honey by Semih Kaplanoglu, which won the Golden Bear at the 60th Berlinale Film Festival, and If I Want To Whistle, I Whistle by Florin Serban, which won the Silver Bear at the same festival.

In addition, the films Tuesday, After Christmas by Radu Muntean, and Adrien Pal by Agnes Kocsis were chosen for the Un Certain Regard selection of the Cannes Film Festival. All of these films will be shown in Sarajevo this year, and some of them are competing for prestigious awards.

At Friday's opening gala ceremony, a special award- the Honorary Heart of Sarajevo, was delivered to Dieter Kosslick, the director of the International Film Festival in Berlin, by the director of SFF Mirsad Purivatra.

This year's programme will feature 201 films from 52 countries, which will be screened during the nine days of the festival, another indication of the scope of the event.

Special attention will be reserved for films from Southeast Europe, as in previous years, and the selector of the Competition Programme Elma Tataragic said that 2010 was an exceptional year for regional filmmakers and their works.

The official opening ceremony ended with the world premiere of Danis Tanovic's new film Circus Columbia, his fourth film, which was filmed and produced in Bosnia and Herzegovina. A number of eminent actors can be seen in Tanovic's new film, among them acting legends Miki Manojlovic and Mira Furlan, but also young Bosnian actor Boris Ler, along with Jelena Stupljanin, Mario Knezovic, Ermin Bravo, Jasna Ornela Berry, Miralem Zupcevic, and Mirza Tanovic.

The screening of the film, which is based on the book Cirkus Columbia by writer Ivica Dikic, was held both in the National Theatre and in the Open Air Cinema, where the cast and crew of the film greeted the audience after the projection.