August 29, 2020

Sarajevo Film Festival - online edition as a new normal

topic:	Arts
located:	Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Romania, Italy
editor:	Katarina Panić

They put the red carpet to remind of ordinary. Instead, it was rather a new normal. Sarajevo Film Festival's (SFF) first online edition took place from 14th to 21st August.

Ever since the COVID-19 pandemic has started in March, the organisers had been fighting for the traditional version, emphasising the festival was established during the war in Bosnia 26 years ago, in much more complicated circumstances. Still, they had to cancel live edition in the very last moment, due to a fresh outbreak of coronavirus in Bosnia and global travel restrictions.

"I don't know what the future brings. The recovery will take years", Mirsad Purivatra, SFF's director told local media.

One of the most famous film events in South-Eastern Europe brought 187 movies from 56 countries, and gathered 320 media representatives, 1,500 guests and over 130,000 viewers from 59 countries. For comparison, last year the festival had 750 accredited journalists, 3,000 registered guests and some 100,000 visitors to its screenings.

"The red carpet is here symbolically. It is a sign the festival lasts, to know that we are here and to be our orientation, once we return. We are going back to our audience physically in better times for everyone", Purivatra added.

In neighbouring Croatia, two significant film festivals previously were cancelled due to worsening of coronavirus infections. Now, both will be held in a changed format and under strict social distancing and preventive measures. The oldest Croatian film festival, happening in a Roman amphitheatre known as the Pula Arena, should have taken place at the end of July, but it was postponed. It starts tonight, and it lasts by 4th September. Another one is Motovun Film Festival. "Motovun travels" is the name of this year’s edition.

"If we can't invite people to Motovun, we can bring Motovun to them. With this idea, we decided to take the festival on a journey of about forty days […] with the aim that our films reach all the people who love our festival in this crazy year", the organisers stated. The journey all over Croatia began on 30th July, and it ends on 6th September.

In Romania, the 19th edition of the Transilvania International Film Festival took place between 31st July and 9th August, being postponed by restrictive antipandemic measures. The Venice Film Festival will go ahead too from 2nd to 12th September, in a more restrained format. A red carpet will survive.

Image by ATUL BANSAL

Call to Action

Support your community during the COVID-19 crisis!

Support now