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BHFF TEAM
Since its founding, the BHFF has been supported solely by the tireless efforts of its volunteers. BHFF is led by its Directors with support of film enthusiasts based in New York City.
Amir Husak
Artistic Director
Amir has been involved with BHFF since 2007 on various tasks as a jury member, film panelist, and curator. He rejoined the BHFF in 2016 as a festival programmer and stepped in as the new Artistic Director of the festival in 2022. He is a documentary media maker and scholar with a varied portfolio of articles, films, and interactive works. In 2016, Amir co-edited a volume on socially engaged art practices in Bosnia-Herzegovina titled Kriza, Umjetnost, Akcija (Crisis, Art, Action). He is an Assistant Professor of Media Studies at The New School in New York City.
Damir Pozderac
Development Director, Co-Founder
Damir was part of the BHFF founding team in 2003 and has since worked on nearly all aspects of the festival. He has been a Festival Director for more than 10 years and brings great strategic and creative guidance to the team. As a Development Director, he helps BHFF through grant writing, strategic collaborations, and partnerships with various organizations, foundations, state and city agencies.
Dijana Jelača
Programming Director
Dijana has been the festival's programmer since 2016. With her significant expertise in Bosnian-Herzegovinian and regional cinema, she brings invaluable contributions to the festival, specifically to the film selection and the festival's Q&A events with the filmmakers in attendance. Dijana is a widely published film scholar, including books Dislocated Screen Memory: Narrating Trauma in Post Yugoslav Cinema, and Film Feminisms: A Global Introduction. She teaches in the Film Department at Brooklyn College.
Ivona Boroje
Co-programmer
Ivona joined the BHFF team in 2017 and has worked on various aspects of the festival, such as communications, grant fundraising, video interviews with filmmakers, as well as supporting translation, operations, guest relations, and special events. She is originally from northeast Bosnia and Herzegovina and passionate about the arts and cultural exchange. This is her first year on the programming team.
Verushka GaNun
Events organizer, translator
Verushka is an information services professional specializing in intellectual property, and a film aficionado; born and raised in former Yugoslavia and passionate about film as a way to connect, educate and entertain people across diverse backgrounds. At BHFF she is helping with translations and event organizing.
Emir Bander
Fundraising
Emir leads all fundraising and staff recruitment efforts. He joined BHFF in 2015, after many years as a patron.
Nedim Begovac
Volunteer
Nedim is a Mechanical Engineer from Sarajevo, BiH, and currently lives in Queens, NY with his wife and son. He joined the BHFF team in 2016 to support the Special Events Team and assist with website management.
Sanida Luković
Public Relations, Event Management
Sanida joined BHFF in 2012 as a public relations coordinator and spokesperson. Sanida manages news and social media outreach and mailing list campaigns. She also contributes to festival programming and grants fundraising, and makes significant contributions to many strategic development decisions of the film festival.
Anne Eberhardt
Budget and Finance Director
Anne joined the festival in 2017 having been an avid fan for years. She is a forensic accountant with Gavin/Solmonese, which proudly supports her efforts on behalf of the BHFF.
Ezana Ćeman- Pervizaj
Public Relations Chair
Ezana has been involved with BHFF since 2016 and is currently managing Public Relations.
Aida Lihić
Web Content Manager, Graphic Designer
Aida joined the BHFF team in 2017 as a part of the Marketing team, working as a Web Content Manager. During the special film festival that we held in 2020, she was in charge of all graphic design not only on the web but also on social media channels and the Eventive page. From 2021 she is our in-house graphic designer.
Orfeas Skutelis
Technical Director
Orfeas Skutelis is a cinematographer born in Novi Sad (former Yugoslavia). He graduated from the Academy of Arts in Novi Sad with a degree in cinematography and received an MA in Media Studies from The New School in New York where he currently teaches. He's been with the BHFF since 2019.
Tara Jović
Assistant Coordinator
Originally from Zagreb, Croatia, Tara now studies film at Columbia and political science at Sciences Po Paris but spends her free time working at festivals. This is her first year with BHFF.
Keith McGraw
AV
Keith has a background in live music, sound art, and audiovisual exhibitions. Since 2018, he has worked at the Brooklyn Museum producing live events and installing time-based media works, with a particular interest in immersive sound pieces. He joined the BHFF team this year.
Amela Music
Volunteer
Amela lives and works in NYC, and was looking for a way to get more involved with the community and thought the Bosnian Film Festival was a great way to meet people while also contributing to something meaningful. She joined the BHFF team this year.
Programming Assistance
Ishara Jack
Samantha Ryzman
Event Videography
Adnan Šaćiragi
Special Events Team
Melanie Brkich
PR and Event Assistance
Olivia Jenkins
Guest Relations
Darija Buzaković
Social Media and Event Assistance
Ayra Kartal
Collaborators
BHFF has been fortunate to attract the interest of volunteering collaborators, experts in audio-visual documentation, whose work and contributions have been paramount to the success of the festival and in particular to bring the essence of this project closer to the public. BHFF Team would like to extend special thanks and salutes to:
Mario Marquez – Freelance Photographer
Ivo Bach - Videographer
Ricardo Sousa – Audiographer, RTV Portugal
BHFF Past Organizers
We also extend special thanks to all film festival organizers, co-founders, and volunteers that have participated in BHFF in the past. Their past and ongoing contributions to the BHFF will always be remembered and appreciated, and we hope to see them become part of the BHFF team again in the future:
Alma Subašić, Almir Lucević (co-founder), Amelisa Djulovic, Amra Djumišić, Amra Turalić, Anela Pašović, Bojan Simić, Demira Pašalić - Medunjanin, Denis Bešić, Dino Bešlić, Edita Zulić, Elyse Weingarten, Enes Dedović, Farrah Musakadić, Iskra Sagi, Ilhan Ramić (co-founder), Jelena Subotić, Leila Rachidi (co-founder), Milan Džaja, Mirza Medunjanin, Muamer Mrkanović, Nakeishia Crawford-Simić, Nebojša Šerić-Shoba, Sabina Cerić, Saška Trivudža, Oleh Dubno, Selma Avdičević (co-founder), Shannon O'Toole, Zlatko Filipović, and many others.