Slovenian film and the Sarajevo Film Festival in the past and today
The Slovenian Film Centre, which is celebrating the 20th anniversary of its activities this year, has certainly contributed to a better presentation of our films.
Throughout these years film festivals whose programmes focus on the films created in the area of the former common state as well as the Central and Southeastern Europe have certainly been of key importance for the promotion of Slovenian film.
This is why this year's celebration of the 20th anniversary of the first Film Centre in the former state began at the Trieste Film Festival and will continue in Sarajevo as well as in Austria, Germany and Croatia before the end of the year.
The history of the participation of Slovenian films at the Sarajevo Film Festival is not only extensive, but also diverse and full of surprises. Damjan Kozole is the film director who has been presented at this Festival most frequently. Here his films have had their world premieres as well as reruns after successful beginnings elsewhere. In 1997, when the Sarajevo Film Festival was only three years old, Kozole's third live‑action feature Stereotype premiered here, and in 2009 Slovenian Girl did as well. After the premiere in Berlin, Spare Parts were shown in 2003, and after the premiere in Locarno Labour Equals Freedom, for which Peter Musevski received the Sarajevo Award for Best Male Actor, was presented here in 2005. In 2005 the special screening of Boštjan Hladnik's Dance in the Rain also celebrated a hundred years of Slovenian film. In 2008 Kozole's film Forever was shown, while in 2012 Kozole also qualified for the competition programme of documentary films with his film The Long Vacation.
Sarajevo Film Festival was also the location of the world premieres of the following films: Short Circuits, the second feature by the director Janez Lapajne, in 2007; Blaž Kutin's debut We've Never Been to Venice in 2008; and A Trip, the debut by the director Nejc Gazvoda, in 2011.
Maja Weiss was the director who presented the most extensive variety of film formats in Sarajevo: in 1999 she presented herself with the short film Adrian, which received the special Critics' Jury Award; in 2002 her live‑action debut Guardian of the Frontier was presented after its premiere in Berlin; while in 2011 and 2012 her documentaries Where Has the Working Class Gone? and Boy, Intimate of Death 2 took part in the competition programme.
Slovenian short films have also been successful at this Festival.In 2006 Marko Šantić and his film Good Luck Nedim won in the short film competition section, and it also received the United International Pictures Award (and thus a direct nomination for the European Film Academy Award).
A year later Šantić received another award – this time a Special Acknowledgement for his short film Hole.
In 2008 a Special Short Film Award went to Jan Cvitkovič for his short entitled I Know.
Slovenian minority co‑productions have appeared at the Sarajevo Film Festival as well. The first official Slovenian co‑production after the declaration of independence was No Man's Land by the director Danis Tanović, who received the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 2002. In 2001 Tanović's film also received the main jury award and the audience award for the best film of the Sarajevo Film Festival.
This year two co‑productions will take part in the feature film competition programme: the world premiere of Our Everyday Life by the directress Ines Tanović (co‑produced by Studio Maj) on Tuesday, 19 August; and The High Sun by the director Dalibor Matanić (co‑produced by Gustav Film), which continues its successful tour of the festivals after its premiere in Cannes.
Wednesday will be the Slovenian day, as this is the day for another two world premieres: Home by the director Metod Pevec (produced by Vertigo), which will be presented in the documentary film competition programme at 20:30. The film focuses on the house where unemployed construction workers, young people without families and the evicted live. At 19:00 the youth film The Beat of Love by the director Boris Petković, starring the Croatian actress Judita Franković, perspective actor of the Ljubljana City Theatre Jernej Gašperin and rapper Zlatan Čordić – Zlatko, will be presented in the Teen Arena programme. The film is an entertaining love story between the rapper and violinist, which also criticises the state of the society and tries to find a way towards a brighter future for a whole generation. The film was produced by Gustav Film, RTV Slovenija, MB Grip, Studio Ritem and Pakt Media. At 16:00 the Slovenian day will begin with the In Focus programme, with the co‑production You Carry Me by the Croatian directress Ivona Juka (produced by Vertigo, featuring Sebastian Cavazza). The film premiered in Karlovy Vary.
All of the aforementioned films were co‑financed by the Slovenian Film Centre.
The evening will conclude with the Cinelink reception in the Aquarius Vils club. This year Slovenia will take a notable part in the reception, as the Slovenian Film Centre is an organisational partner and this is also an occasion for it to celebrate its twentieth anniversary. The rapper Zlatan Čordić – Zlatko will present himself to the audience by performing at this event. His concert will appear live on the YouTube channel / The Beat of Love Facebook page as well as on the MMC portal of RTV Slovenija.
Three young Slovenians will take part in the Festival as well: producer Barbara Daljavec, film critic Ana Šturm, and director of photography Lev Predan Kowarski, all of whom have been chosen for the Talent Campus 2015.
Five Slovenian films will be screened at the 21st edition of the Sarajevo Film Festival. According to the statistics this is a good though not a record‑setting year like 2008, when as many as eight films were shown!
Find more information about the programme at:
Live coverage of the concert:
