Organisers of the 6th Al Jazeera Balkans International Documentary Film Festival (AJB DOC, 8-12 September, Sarajevo) unveiled August 28 this year’s 24-film official selection. Thirteen films play in Competition programme, including the highly lauded My Name is Happy by Nick Read and Ayse Toprak, and When Spring Came to Bucha by Mila Teshaieva and Marcus Lenz. The overall selection presents six world, one international, 12 regional and five Bosnian and Herzegovinian premieres.
From nearly 300 submitted films, programmers chose 24 from 19 countries that will be screened across four programme selections, Competition Programme, AJB Screening, Last Minute Cinema and SmartDoc. Furthermore, there will be two special screenings. See selections below.
“Frequent violations and deprivation of fundamental freedoms and rights of individuals and groups all over the world, that should be guaranteed to every human being but are not, made the theme of the sixth AJB DOC Film Festival – RIGHT(S) unavoidable. For this reason, all the screened films will share this guiding theme,” write organisers underline.
Points out Edhem Fočo, AJB DOC Film Festival director, of his festival’s positioning in the marketplace: “We found our time-frame and niche in the world of documentary films, and that is documentary films intended for television broadcast. We have excellent co-operation with regional and European festivals with much longer tradition, but with the help of Al Jazeera Media Institute we managed to become an important player in this industry, building our position securely. When it comes to this year’s programme, we have inspiring films coming from every corner of the world and powerful stories that will not leave our viewers indifferent. Perhaps the audiences will find films with the themes from our region the most interesting. Nevertheless, I hope the cinema seats will be filled not only for those, but also for other screenings because it is really hard to say which film is better.”
Selector Lejla Dedić points out of this year’s programme: “When selecting films, we were guided by Al Jazeera standards, focusing on the quality of production, strength of the themes and filmmaker’s unique approach to storytelling that the viewers could connect to. We as programmers, as well as the Festival, find the filmmakers and the audience the most important.”
The decision on the best film in the AJB DOC Competition Programme will be reached by the award-winning jury: director Vitaliy Manskiy, director Bernadett Tuza-Ritter, producer Vanja Jambrović, director Nermin Hamzagić and producer Mohamed Elmongy.
All films from the Competition Programme also compete for the AJB Program Award, awarded by the Al Jazeera Balkans Programme Department Jury. Additionally, all films screened at the AJB DOC festival will also compete for the Audience Award.
Additionally, in cooperation with Al Jazeera Media Institute and in partnership with Samsung and UNFPA, a three-day training “Smartphone Documentary Film Production” will be held, intended for young authors from the region, and led by Faris Bajrović.
The AJD Industry days @AJB DOC will be, for the second year, run in parallel with the festival. This platform, intended for professionals from the documentary industry, “enables networking of filmmakers and decision makers in the Balkans but also globally, facilitates funding and production of documentary films from South-East Europe, South Caucasus, Middle East and North Africa, and provides help in broadcasting, distribution and sales to media companies and broadcasters all over the world,” write organisers.
The Festival’s opening ceremony at the Bosnian Cultural Center (BKC) will also include exhibition of black and white photographs titled “Rights” inspired by the theme of the Festival and created by Đorđe Kostić, Al Jazeera’s digital newsroom producer and Belgrade correspondent. The author dedicated it to Sarajevo, where his first black and white photographs were made, and to Al Jazeera Balkans, which he calls “his second home”.
A panel titles “Role of film and art in remembrance culture: Rwandan, Uyghur and Bosnian perspectives” will also be held in cooperation with the Oyoun cultural center Oyoun from Berlin. Participating panellists are: Suli Kurban, journalist and filmmaker; Esther Mujawayo, sociologist, activist and founder of the Association of Widows of the Rwandan Genocide, and Nihad Kreševljaković, director of the Memory Module (MESS) programme.
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
