Sarajevo FF doc programmer Rada Šešić announced July 23 the 20 feature-length and short documentary films selected for this year’s Documentary Competition (15-22 August).
The selection comprises 12 feature-length and 8 short documentary films, four of which will have a world premiere and four that will have their international premieres. Ten films will have a regional premiere and two films will have a Bosnian premiere.
In addition, one film has been selected for the out-of-competition programme and will have an international premiere.
“Selection inevitably reflects a complex socio-political situation, but also shows the enviable resilience of documentary creativity with the continuous emergence of interesting new authors,” says Šešić.
“More than half of the titles in this year’s programme reflect the need to reconceptualize human relationships as a particularly necessary value. It is interesting that in most films in these gloomy times, or precisely because of this, the authors celebrate the power of love as the strongest driver of life, whether they are family or war stories. What is especially valuable is that even through these seemingly only family stories, we learn a lot about the complex conditions of life in a particular environment.”
AWARDS
- Heart of Sarajevo for Best Documentary Film: €4,000, sponsored by the Government of Switzerland
- The Oscar® qualifying Heart of Sarajevo for Best Short Documentary Film: €2,000
- Special Jury Prize: €2,500
DOCUMENTARY COMPETITION
- BOSNIAN KNIGHT / BOSANSKI VITEZ by Tarik Hodžić (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, 2025, 79 mins) World premiere
- I SAW A ‘SUNO’ / SUNO DIKHLEM by Katalin Barsony (Hungary, Belgium, 2025, 92 mins) World premiere
- KITE / CHARTAETOS by Thanos Psichogios (Greece, 2025, 15 mins) World premiere
- STEEL HOTEL SONG by Bojan Stojčić (Bosnia and Herzegovina, 2025, 19 mins) World premiere
- LETTERS / PISMA by Aysel Küçüksu (Bulgaria, 2025, 11 mins) International premiere
- MY DAD’S LESSONS / LEKCIJE MOG TATE by Dalija Dozet (Croatia, 2025, 62 mins) International premiere
- RED SLIDE / CRVENI TOBOGAN by Nebojša Slijepčević (Croatia, 2025, 27 mins) International premiere
- THIRD WORLD / TREĆI SVIJET by Arsen Oremović (Croatia, 2025, 101 mins) International premiere
- CUBA & ALASKA by Yegor Troyanovsky (Ukraine, France, Belgium, 2025, 93 mins) Regional premiere
- DIVIA by Dmytro Hreshko (Ukraine, Poland, The Netherlands, USA, 2025, 79 mins) Regional premiere
- DREAMERS: PEOPLE OF THE LIGHT / XƏYALPƏRƏSTLƏR: İŞIĞIN UŞAQLARI by Imam Hasanov (Azerbaijan, 2025, 86 mins) Regional premiere
- EVERYTIME YOU LEAVE, YOU ARE BORN AGAIN / SVAKI PUT KAD ODEŠ, PONOVO SE RAĐAŠ by Mladen Bundalo (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Belgium, 2025, 24 mins) Regional premiere
- I BELIEVE THE PORTRAIT SAVED ME / MUA BESOJ MË SHPËTOJ PORTRETI by Alban Muja (Kosovo*, The Netherlands, 2025, 10 mins) Regional premiere
- IN HELL WITH IVO by Kristina Nikolova (Bulgaria, USA, 2025, 80 mins) Regional premiere
- MILITANTROPOS by Yelizaveta Smith, Alina Gorlova, Simon Mozgoviy (Ukraine, Austria, France, 2025, 111 mins) Regional premiere
- OUR TIME WILL COME / UNSERE ZEIT WIRD KOMMEN by Ivette Löcker (Austria, 2025, 105 mins) Regional premiere
- THE MEN’S LAND / KACEBIS MITSA by Mariam Bakacho Khatchvani (Georgia, Hungary, 2025, 15 mins) Regional premiere
- SLET 1988 by Marta Popivoda (Serbia, Germany, France, 2025, 22 mins) Regional premiere
- 9-MONTH CONTRACT by Ketevan Vashagashvili (Georgia, Bulgaria, Germany, 2025, 77 mins) B&H premiere
- TATA by Lina Vdovîi, Radu Ciorniciuc (Romania, Germany, The Netherlands, 2025, 82 mins) B&H premiere
OUT OF COMPETITION
- OHO FILM BY Damjan Kozole (Slovenia, Croatia, 2025, 93 mins) International premiere
