Ninth Annual Bosnian-Herzegovinian Film Festival – a great success;

help a young Bosnian-American filmmaker raise funds for feature "All That Remains"

Thank you to all of those who came to the ninth annual Bosnian-Herzegovinian Film Festival, which took place in New York City, May 3-5. Hope you had a great time!

Packed house, exceptional films, filmmaker Q&A, and a great closing party featuring the phenomenal performance of Burek The – what more can we wish for? Everyone put so much heart into it!

We are particularly amazed by the young filmmakers who came all the way from Bosnia, Canada and Slovenia just for BHFF: Naida Begović, set designer of "Jasmina" who also appears in the "Cell Phone Movie"; Davor Mamuzić, director of "Framed" and Samir Bajrić, director of "Searching for the Devil," pictured below.

Other guests who came to this year's film festival included BHFF 2012 Jury members -- award-winning filmmakers Refik Hodžić and Steve Nemsick, as well as an accomplished Bosnian-American fiction writer, Aleksandar Hemon. Kasia Grabowski (Australian actress from the "Gold Diggers"), Pamela Hogan (director of "I came to testify") and Indira Kajošević Škorić, PhD (co-director and co-founder of RACCOON, Inc. - Reconciliation and Culture Cooperative Network) were also present.

For those of you who were not at the closing party, we are pleased to announce the following awards:
• "Circus Columbia," feature film by Oscar-winner Danis Tanović -- BHFF 2012 Jury Award for the Best Feature Film
• "The Cell Phone Movie," documentary film by Nedžad Begović -- BHFF 2012 Jury Award for the Best Documentary Film;
• "Short for Varnesa B," short film by Jons Vukorep -- BHFF 2012 Jury Award for Best Short Film;
• "The Fuse: or How I Burned Simon Bolivar," documentary by Igor Drljača -- Special Mention of the BHFF 2012 Jury


These films were selected by the official BHFF 2012 Jury.

Additionally, "Circus Columbia" won the BHFF™ 2012 Audience Award for Best Picture.
Congrats to all the winners!

We caught up with Naida Begović, daughter of Nedžad Begovića who is the director of "Jasmina" and "Cell Phone Movie." This is what she had to say: "I am extremely excited about the award. I am so happy to be here! I met so many great people in New York City. I would like to thank BHFF organizers for this great event. One thing that made me so happy about BHFF is that it gives an opportunity to up-and-coming young filmmakers who produce independent films to win over new audiences."

Blogger Joe Bendel noted the following in his article about BHFF: "The annual Bosnian-Herzegovinian Film Festival is that it is one of the friendliest and most welcoming festivals in New York, screening some of the deepest, most elegiac films. A now well-established tradition coming hard on the heels of Tribeca, the BHFF is once again highly recommended, featuring many excellent short films making their American debuts."

To read his articles, visit jbSpins. You can see the photos we took at Facebook page. Check the pages often as we will be adding more photos in the coming days. And don't forget to "like" our page

We still have T-shirts commemorating the Bosnian-Herzegovinian Film Festival. Send us a donation of $25 and a T-shirt is yours!

Many thanks to all those who made this festival a success: our tireless volunteers, individual donors, media partners, jury members, filmmakers, distributers, Burek The, EuroChannel, Graphic Executions, Harriman Institute, Mehanata, Stone Creek, Storks and Forks, Tribeca Cinemas and Waffles and Wolf. Without them – and all of you -- the festival would not be possible! Thank you!

We are like a little engine that could and hearing encouraging words from everyone keeps us going year after year! It's a lot of work but in the end, it is all worth it and we all keep on coming back for more. And we keep on making new friends - absolutely amazing!

Last but not the least, we need your help supporting a talented young Bosnian-American filmmaker who is raising funds to complete his first feature film "All That Remains", which deals with the lives of Bosnians living in America. His name is Marko Slavnić, he is originally from Sarajevo and works as a film and video director in Los Angeles. His film is 70% complete and he is currently running a Kickstarter campaign in hopes of raising the remaining money needed to complete the project. The campaign has only a few days left and is already over 80% funded with more than 350 people backing the project. However, if Marko does not raise $24,500 by Thursday May 10, 12:59am EDT, he will have to return the money. Please help -- every little counts! Please donate.

That's it – for now! Stay in touch – we will be adding more content to our website and also organizing fundraising parties in the coming months.

Sincerely,

BHFF Executive Team