The High Sun
Our Everyday Life
100 Million Dollar House
The High Sun
BHFF 2017 PROGRAM
PRESENTATION 1
Game | Nika
PROGRAMMERS' NOTES:
The short film Game subtly probes the question of what it means to remember our childhood games, as well as return to the face-to-face interactions with others. Nika is a feature length lighthearted drama that nevertheless touches on important themes of youth rebellion, gender norms and social obstacles faced by adolescent girls.
Screening Time:
Thursday - May 26, 2016 6:30 PM
GAME
(Igra)
2015 | Jure Pavlović | 13 min
Narrative Short
"Picnic" focuses on one of the most important relationships in the life of every man: the father-son relationship. The nature of that relationship is slowly revealed to the audience: the father is only allowed to visit his son under supervision, during time-limited visits. What adds more to the story is that the father clearly did something horrible in the past, for which he deserves the treatment he is getting, and he is aware of it. But still, one should never underestimate the power of the father-son bond…
NO ONES CHILD
(Ničije dete)
2014 | Vuk Ršumović | 95 min
Narrative Feature
In the spring of 1988, a wild boy is found deep in the Bosnian mountains living amongst wolves. He is randomly given the name Haris and sent to an orphanage in Belgrade. He becomes inseparable with another boy, Žika, and slowly starts to show progress. In 1992, after he became a fairly socialized young man, local authorities force him to go back to war-torn Bosnia. "No One’s Child" is based on a true story.
PRESENTATION 2
Refugee 532 | My Aunt in Sarajevo
PROGRAMMERS' NOTES:
Refugee 532 is poignant short that tackles the theme of war trauma, displacement, loss, survival and compassion in delicate ways. My Aunt in Sarajevo is a touching family story about transgenerational memory and coming to terms with unspeakable loss.
Screening Time:
Thursday - April 14, 2017
8:30 PM
REFUGEE 532
(Jedan dan u Sarajevu)
2015 | Jasmila Žbanić| 60 min
Documentary Feature
"One Day in Sarajevo" is about Sarajevans marking the 100th anniversary of what’s become known as the Sarajevo Assassination: the killing of Austro-Hungarian presumptive heir Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife on June 28, 1914. The film explores different aspects of events that happened on that day using materials shot by citizens of Sarajevo, each of whom has their own personal interpretation of the event.
MY AUNT IN SARAJEVO
(Jedan dan u Sarajevu)
2015 | Jasmila Žbanić| 60 min
Documentary Feature
"One Day in Sarajevo" is about Sarajevans marking the 100th anniversary of what’s become known as the Sarajevo Assassination: the killing of Austro-Hungarian presumptive heir Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife on June 28, 1914. The film explores different aspects of events that happened on that day using materials shot by citizens of Sarajevo, each of whom has their own personal interpretation of the event.
Followed by Q&A:
director Goran Kapetanovic
producer China Ahlander
PRESENTATION 3
Cameraperson
PROGRAMMERS' NOTES:
One of the most critically lauded documentaries of 2016, Kirsten Johnson’s film is a delicate meditation on the ethical implications of filming the pain of others.
Screening Time:
Thursday - April 14, 2017
8:30 PM
CAMERAPERSON
(Jedan dan u Sarajevu)
2015 | Jasmila Žbanić| 60 min
Documentary Feature
Veteran documentarian Kirsten Johnson intricately pieces together clips from her 25-year-long career spanning countries across the world to examine the ethics of documentary filmmaking.
Followed by Q&A:
director Kirsten Johnson
PROGRAMMERS' NOTES: BLOCK 4
Requiem for Pinocchio | Our Everyday Life
The block features two emotionally poignant films: short animation "Requiem for Pinocchio" (Berin Tuzlić) and the narrative feature Our Everyday Life (Ines Tanović). Requiem explores a young child's perception of war, as well as the traumatic loss of childhood innocence that violent external circumstances bring about. In some ways, "Our Everyday Life" picks up the story of Requiem some two decades later, and examines the life of an ordinary Sarajevo family in contemporary society. Still burdened by the often invisible scars of war, the family faces material, emotional and medical challenges. Yet, despite many obstacles that Bosnia’s social reality puts in front of them, the family members still find a way to keep going. The film’s cautiously optimistic message is a much needed intervention into the dominant narratives that focus on the inevitability of tragedies.
SVA BLOCK 4
Screening Time:
Friday - May 27, 2016 9:00 PM
REQUIEM FOR PINOCCHIO
2016 | Berin Tuzlić | 11 min
Animated Short
Award-winning animator and cartoonist Berin Tuzlić uses vivid colors and subtle storytelling in this animated short in order to take us on an emotional journey.
The film focuses on the topic of indoctrination at an early age, as the world changes suddenly for a little boy living in Sarajevo at the start of the 1990s.
OUR EVERYDAY LIFE
(Naša svakodnevna priča)
2015 | Ines Tanović | 89 min
Narrative Feature
"Our Everyday Life" is a story about everyday problems of a typical Sarajevo family today. An entire generation of people who are now in their forties lost their youth in the war, yet the 2000s have offered neither freedom, successful jobs, nor progress; as if the life has been placed on hold.
The characters are ordinary people who wish for better life, comfort, and security. The static camera, the lighting, the warm colors of the costumes and the set design evokes emotion, humor, and human drama.
PROGRAMMERS' NOTES: BLOCK 5
I Can Speak | Damaged Goods | Whatever Will Be Will Be | Last Perspective
This eclectic collection of short films poignantly illustrates the breadth and diversity of the themes and aesthetic approaches utilized by Bosnia's emerging filmmakers. The shorts program includes four films. Short documentary "I Can Speak" (Mirza Skenderagić) focuses on people with speech impediments, and explores social stigma that disability brings about. Narrative short "Damaged Goods" (Nermin Hamzagić) continues the theme of social ostracization and invisibility, and follows the story of a lonely young man who eventually meets someone who might understand him. Narrative short "Whatever Will Be Will Be" (Esma Sarić) deploys a recognizable strain of Bosnian absurdist humor to deliver a poignant social critique, while "Last Perspective" (Mladen Đukić) achieves equally effective social commentary by playing with the conventions of the popular zombie genre to surprising ends.
SVA BLOCK 5
Screening Time:
Saturday - May 28, 2016 3:30 PM
I CAN SPEAK
(Ja mogu da govorim)
2015 | Mirza Skenderagić | 35 min
Documentary Short
Twenty-eight-year old Mirza, who has never tried to cure his stuttering, decides to visit a speech therapist and start therapy.
Meanwhile, he finds four people of different ages who also stutter, and with them he starts a journey into their past, to the moment when the stuttering began. While speaking about themselves and their problems, they find memories they have pushed away, and begin to repair them.
DAMAGED GOODS
(Kalo)
2015 | Nermin Hamzagić | 20 min
Narrative Short
"Damaged Goods" provokes a range of emotions as it paints a snapshot into the life of a young man named Tarik. Tarik’s life seems pretty normal and at times mundane. He spends it working as a stockman in a supermarket. On the surface, Tarik looks and seems happy, but in private he often gets very frustrated dealing with a personal problem that society often mocks. Things change when a young woman starts working nearby Tarik’s supermarket. Tarik takes interest in her, but struggles to communicate his affection.
WHATEVER WILL BE WILL BE
(Bit će šta bude)
2015 | Esma Sarić | 10 min
Narrative Short
The robbery of an old man turns into an adventure where the first-time robber learns a powerful lesson.
This short film features a veteran Bosnian actor, as well as brand new and up-and-coming faces of the Bosnian cinema.
LAST PERSPECTIVE
(Posljednji pogled)
2015 | Mladen Đukić | 13 min
Narrative Short
Three sisters disguise themselves as zombies in order to survive in a post-apocalyptic world full of infected, former humans.
When they see another uninfected guy, who just ran into a group of zombies, the sisters are in a dilemma: to help him and expose themselves, or let him die?
PROGRAMMERS' NOTES: BLOCK 6
The High Sun
The narrative feature, "The High Sun" (Dalibor Matanić) represents one of the critically most acclaimed films coming from the region in recent years. The film’s focus on three different stories from three different decades, in which interethnic love arises against all odds, poignantly highlights the futility, as well as tragedy, of persistent ethnic divisions that have dominated the region. The film offers a strong critique of regional ethno-nationalism no matter which group enacts it. Moreover, "The High Sun" emphatically suggests that love can be the most provocative and powerful political act of resistance against social stratification and violence. Its tentatively uplifting ending suggests the possibility of a more hopeful future for the region.
SVA BLOCK 6
Screening Time:
Saturday - May 28, 2016 5:30 PM
THE HIGH SUN
(Zvizdan)
2015 | Dalibor Matanić | 122 min
Narrative Feature
"The High Sun" shines a light on three love stories, set in three consecutive decades, in two neighboring Balkan villages with a long history of inter-ethnic hatred. It is a film about the fragility–and intensity–of forbidden love. Taking place from the early 1990s to the modern day, the film probes the intersection of conflict and romance, while affirming the power of love, and the healing effects of time.
PROGRAMMERS' NOTES: BLOCK 7
I Love SFK | Soul Train
The two films in this block show how the unwavering love of sports, music and arts can help social actors overcome many obstacles. Short documentary "I Love SFK" (Ada Sokolović) follows a multi-ethnic girls’ soccer team, and powerfully conveys how the girls’ love of the game made them challenge both gender norms and political divisions. Following in the footsteps of popular music documentaries shown at BHFF in previous years — "White Button", "Orchestra" and "Sevdah"— the block’s feature documentary "Soul Train" (Nermin Hamzagić) takes us on a literal and symbolic journey through Bosnian hip-hop and rap scenes and their creative encounters with other musical genres and local musicians from different towns. A refreshing take on Bosnia's music scene, the film focuses on youth culture and musical expression as one of the most vital and lively elements of Bosnian society today. The documentary features appearances by a number of notable musicians, including Frenkie, Edo Maajka and Božo Vrećo.
SVA BLOCK 7
Screening Time:
Saturday - May 28, 2016 8:15 PM
I LOVE SFK
(Volim SFK)
2015 | Ada Sokolović | 22 min
Documentary Short
The ethnically-mixed women’s soccer club ‘SFK 2000’ from Bosnia-Herzegovina is the subject of I Love SFK, which documents their losses and victories both on and off the pitch.
The film shows how sport can help unite Bosnians and help them overcome ethnic divisions.
SOUL TRAIN
2015 | Nermin Hamzagić | 78 min
Documentary Feature
This high-energy and highly entertaining (and at times humorous) film is the first-ever to tell stories about Bosnian hip-hop and rap music and the leading Bosnian artists and musicians behind the genre. It’s a rare, surprising, and refreshing look at the people who are keeping the arts alive in Bosnia-Herzegovina.
SPECIAL PRESENTATIONS
PROGRAMMERS' NOTES: SPECIAL PRESENTATION 1
No Excuses | 100 Million Dollar House
Both “No Excuses” and “100 Million Dollar House” deal with grave human rights violations. One is centered in the Balkans, the other in the Middle East, both of which are hotspots for ongoing conflict and ethnic and religious tensions and persecutions. “No Excuses” attempts to bring to the forefront a conversation that has not been widely discussed in the last two decades: the murders of Bosnian Serb civilians in Sarajevo during the 90s war. “100 Million Dollar House” offers a fresh perspective on the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict by focusing on the life of a simple family and giving us a closer look at the realities of life in this hotly contested part of the world.
AFA BLOCK 1
Screening Time:
Wednesday - May 25, 2016 6:30 PM
NO EXCUSES
(Nema ali)
2015 | Faruk Sokolović | 32 min
Documentary Short
No Excuses follows the story of a young history teacher, Haris Jusufović, a Bosniak from Sarajevo, as he tries to memorialize crimes that were committed against the Bosnian Serb civilians during the 1992-95 siege of the city.
100 MILLION DOLLAR HOUSE
2015 | Reshad Kulenović | 53 min
Documentary Feature
In 100 Million Dollar House, a documentary set in the West Bank, a family is offered 100 million dollars to sell their home and leave. The film also features a former Israeli soldier who shares his experiences and attempts to come to terms with the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. The film explores issues and themes of the meaning of home and the search for identity in a part of the world where tension and conflict continue year after year.
BH FILM FORUM
Bosnian Cinema - From National to Transnational Frameworks
We’re excited to be adding an extra day of screenings and events this year by hosting an event called BH Film Forum at Anthology Film Archives on Wednesday, May 25th. The event will kick off the 13th annual BHFF and will comprise of two short film screenings, followed by a panel presentation and discussion with Bosnian- Herzegovinian and international film professionals and cinema experts. BH Film Forum is a free event with and online purchase of a ticket for any block in the competition program or the festival pass, but you still MUST RSVP as seating is very limited. If you are not purchasing a competition block ticket or festival pass and want to attend the BH Film Forum, then you will need to purchase a ticket for BH Film Forum and RSVP
AFA BLOCK 2
Screening Time:
Wednesday - May 25, 2016 8:30 PM
BOSNIAN CINEMA - FROM NATIONAL TO
TRANSNATIONAL FRAMEWORKS
Curated by:
• Elma Tataragić, Sarajevo Film Festival selector, scriptwriter and producer;
• Ines Tanović, filmmaker; Board President of the Association of Filmmakers in Bosnia-Herzegovina and the Association of Filmmakers in Federation of Bosnia-Herzegovina;
• Dijana Jelača, scholar of cultural and cinema studies; • Amir Husak, filmmaker and multimedia artist,
and others guests