The sixth Al Jazeera Balkans International Documentary Film Festival and its accompanying Industry Days (second edition) are set to run September 8-12 in Sarajevo. With a theme of Rights[s], 24 films will screen of which six are world premieres. At the same time, 22 new doc projects will be presented Sept 9-11 to the great and the good of the international sales, distribution, finance and festival sectors.
“We found our time-frame and niche in the world of documentary films, and that is documentary films intended for television broadcast,” says festival director Edhem Fočo. “As a news broadcaster and the biggest buyer/producer of documentary films in the region, we have always been interested in good documentaries that have a TV-ready cut version for sale.”
“When we started the festival and made it a condition for our Main Competition selection, many distributors and producers supported the idea and encouraged their authors to prepare the TV versions,” Fočo underlines. “I guess it paid off for them, as it later became apparent that TV cuts are much easier to sell, and we became the festival to go to when it comes to TV versions of high-end documentaries. As for what is more fitting for a documentary film, let us be realistic. Documentaries rarely make it big in cinemas. But TV screen is becoming increasingly interesting, especially with all the major streaming platforms investing in and broadcasting a larger number of documentaries.”
Thirteen films play in Competition programme, including the highly lauded My Name is Happy by Nick Read and Ayse Toprak, and 3§11 by Mila Teshaieva and Marcus Lenz. Four are selected for AJB Screening, three for Last Minute Cinema and two for SmartDoc. The event also includes Special Screenings of The Builders of the Alhambra by Isabel Fernández and Seventh Republic by Nebojša Grabež.
The programme is evidently compact (totalling 24 films) and therefore must have been difficult to arrive at, I suggest to Fočo. “Firstly, we aim to screen only the best films and to ensure that each one receives the attention it deserves. Secondly, we want the audience to pack the cinema, as this is the essence of the festival – to have the films seen. Also, it instils a sense of pride in the authors who take pride in having packed audiences and highly inspiring Q&A sessions. We do not schedule morning screenings, nor we have overlapping schedules. Many people attend 4 to 5 screenings a day, moving from one film to another. That is a very interesting aspect of our festival.”
Fočo further stresses subject matter and cinematic value as leading criteria although scalability to television format is less relevant, “as we believe that most of the stories that interest us are shot in a way that naturally suits the small screen.” Impact is another strong criterion, he adds, “and we are pleased that every year we feature films that initiate a call to action, as was the case with last year’s Sarajevo Safari by Miran Zupanič.”
Focus on ‘rights’ is a given every year, the festival director adds, but the topic is placed even more squarely in the frame in 2023. “When the selectors were reviewing the films that applied for this year’s edition, those with a strong message and a desire for impact were addressing basic human rights: the right to life, the right to freedom, the right to free speech, and then various topics such as migrants, wars, femicide, etc. All of these are very important subjects and critical reminders presented in documentary films.”
The decision of Best Film in the AJB DOC Competition Programme will be reached by the award-winning jury of director Vitaliy Manskiy, director Bernadett Tuza-Ritter, producer Vanja Jambrović, director Nermin Hamzagić and producer Mohamed Elmongy.
All films from the Competition Programme further compete for the AJB Program Award, awarded by the Al Jazeera Balkans Programme Department Jury. All films screened at the AJB DOC festival will compete for the Audience Award.
Fočo flags up two films at the festival that deal with topics “very close to home” and for which he expects large audiences; The Deepest Summit by Midhat Mujkić and Tomislav Cvitanušić about a Bosnian climber who conquered Mount Everest, and The Musemić Brothers by Edin Isanović and Nihad Ušanovic, a personal tale about two legendary Bosnian footballers. He also underlines the Industry panel titled “The role of film and art in genocide remembrance: Rwandan, Uyghur, and Bosnian perspectives,” which will be held in cooperation with the cultural centre Oyoun from Berlin.
In terms of ideal takeaways when doors close on September 12, Fočo’s wishes are satisfyingly simple. “A satisfied and happy audience and very contented film authors. We exist for them and because of them. Also, Industry Days decision-makers who would say, ‘make sure I am invited again next year,’” he signs off.
COMPETITION
- The Mind Game by Sajid Khan Nasiri, Eefje Blankevoort, Els van Driel
- Mrs. Iran’s Husband by Marjan Khosravi
- Pure Unknown by Valentina Cicogna, Mattia Colombo
- Return to Raqqa by Albert Solé; Raúl Cuevas
- My Name is Happy by Nick Read and Ayse Toprak
- Tomorrow’s Freedom by Sophia Scott, Georgia Scott
- Flotation by Alesandra Tatić, Eluned Zoi Ajano
- Las Abogadas by Victoria Bruce
- Laughing in Afghanistan by Anneta Papathanassiou
- When Spring Came to Bucha by Mila Teshaieva and Marcus Lenz
- Dear Memories by Nahuel Lopez
- Make People Better by Cody Sheehy
- Spring in Mariupol by Matteo Ferrarini
LAST MINUTE CINEMA
- Subject by Jennifer Tiexiera, Camilla Hall
- Blix Not Bombs by Greta Stocklassa
- Strong Female Lead by Tosca Looby
AJB SCREENING
- The Deepest Summit by Midhat Mujkić, Tomislav Cvitanušić
- The Dayton Legacy: Bosnia – A Fragile Peace by Pierre-Olivier François
- The Musemić Brothers by Edin Isanović, Nihad Ušanovic
- The Investigator by Viktor Portel
SMART DOC
- The Village is Mine by Jasmin Brutus
- The Gambler Never Loses by Marija Stanojević
SPECIAL SCREENING
- The Builders of the Alhambra by Isabel Fernández
- Seventh Republic by Nebojša Grabež
