ABOUT 2ND ANNUAL BOSNIAN-HERZEGOVINIAN FILM FESTIVAL - 2005
On April 29, 2005 the Second Annual Bosnian Herzegovinian Film Festival was launched at the Anthology Film Archives Theatre in New York with an introductory speech by Džemal Šabić, director of the short film “The Corner of the Matter”. The opening was followed by screenings of three short films and one feature-length film. Among other festival guests was filmmaker Sabina Vajrača, director of “Back to Bosnia” and the artist Aida Šehović who screened their documentary films in the following days.
The final evening of the festival commemorated 10 years since the Srebrenica genocide, with a speech by Dr. Mirza Kušljugić, former Bosnian Ambassador to the United Nations, and screenings of two documentaries.
The Festival was visited by Mirsad Purivatra, director of the Sarajevo Film Festival, who expressed his wholehearted support for BHFF™ and its mission.
The Festival featured 10 films that were viewed by some 400 guests.
BHFF 2005 PROGRAM
DAYS AND HOURS
(Kod amidže Idriza)
2004 | Pjer Žalica | 96 min
Feature
Days and Hours is a minor masterpiece of restraint. The film centers around a visit by Fuke to fix his aunt and uncle's heater. Zalica painstakingly follows their small talk, as they discuss such issues as boiler parts, grandchildren and Fuke's faltering love life. Between the lines, though, the mundane conversation hints at scars the protagonists conceal. In the words of Zalica, it is a story of people "who had every reason not to be happy but who made a conscious decision to be happy."
PERFECT CIRCLE
(Savršeni krug)
1997 | Ademir Kenović | 108 min
Feature
Adis and Kerim, two boys aged 7 and 9, find refuge in the home of a poet whose wife and daughter have left Sarajevo. As time passes, a closeness develops between the poet and the children. When the poet locates the aunt and tries to prepare Adis and Kerim for the journey, they refuse to leave him. The first postwar Bosnian film, Perfect Circle won kudos from crowds for its authentic, very human portrayal of life under siege.
HOP, SKIP AND JUMP
(Troskok)
2000 | Srđan Vuletić | 16 min
Short Fiction
A couple part during the Olympic Games in Sarajevo in 1984. Nine years later, they find themselves in opposing camps. She is a sniper in the Serb Army. His only source of nourishment are the pigeons he manages to trap. She has him in her sights and starts toying with him. Every time a pigeon approaches his trap, she shoots it dead. This happens a few times, until finally he loses his patience. He goes over to the window and offers himself up as a perfect target.
DO YOU REMEMBER DOLLY BELL?
(Sjećaš li se Doli Bel?)
1981 | Emir Kusturica | 90 min
Feature
Do You Remember Dolly Bell? is set in the Sarajevo of the mid-1960s. When the government begins relaxing its hold on individual rights, many citizens don't quite know how to handle their sudden freedom. The film concentrates on the effect of an onslaught of Western culture has on a previously "sheltered" group of young Bosnians. Originally released in 1981, Do You Remember Dolly Bell? won the Golden Lion award for Best First Film at the Venice Film Festival. Never before publicly shown in the United States this film will have its premiere at the BHFF in New York more than 20 years after it was released.
BACK TO BOSNIA
(Na put kući, u tuđinu)
2015 | Sabina Vajrača | 65 min
Documentary
Shot in a style of cinema verité and interlaced with personal accounts, this unique documentary follows a family who returns to Banja Luka in post-war Bosnia in order to reclaim their stolen property. While there, the family is confronted with the dissolution of their city and forced to examine the community they left behind. They stumble upon an exhumation, visit the sites of war crimes, and seek out the remnants of a city they once called their own, only to discover that peace is not always what it seems.
COR(N)E(R) OF THE MATTER
(Kutak za sporni trenutak)
2004 | Džemal Šabić | 16 min
Documentary
Batan is the goalkeeper of the Zanatlije football club, competing in the lowest-level town league in BiH. Their opponent in the game is the local rival which holds the top position and has the ambition to move to the next league, which would be secured with a victory over Zanatlije. The atmosphere is blazing hot and any silly move on the field is received by the supporters as a life-or-death event. However, although he's been keeping the goal of his team for 10 years, Batan, the hero of this story, doesn't find the result of the game all that important.
A TRIP TO THE MOON
(Put na mjesec)
1998 | Srđan Vuletić | 14 min
Short Fiction
Aleksandar, a petty swindler from Sarajevo, gets the chance to be what he always dreamt of.
42 1/2
2003 | Slobodan Leman | 12 min
Short Fiction
Elvir and Bosko were friends before the war, but when the war came, they were on the different sides. During the war Elvir lost his left leg fighting in the Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina, while Bosko lost his right leg fighting in the Army of Republika Srpska. After the war, the two friends still see each other. Every year, in the post-war time, they buy shoes.
WHY ARE YOU NOT HERE?
(Što te nema?)
2004 | Aida Šehović and Gates Gooding | 5 min
Documentary
Why Are You Not Here? documents Šehović's and Gooding’s own 2004 art installation in Sarajevo commemorating the 1995 Srebrenica massacre in Bosnia and Herzegovina. They used the Bosnian ritual of gathering for coffee as a means of commemorating those killed. Nearly 1000 cups of coffee were set out for those who had been identified and re-buried to date, while 338 empty cups recognized those persons to be buried on that anniversary day.
CRIME AND PUNISHMENT
1998 | Maria F. Warsinski | 54 min
Documentary
Using clandestine video footage taken in Bosnian town Srebrenica. Powerful interviews are woven together with vivid descriptions of the impossible journeys faced by the few civilians who made it out alive.
