The penultimate day of the BH Film programme is also the day on which we conclude screenings of the competition selection of our student films. This is the fifteenth year in which we have presented films from the student selection, and the seventeenth year since the establishment of the BH Film programme. Thirteen competition films come to us from Sarajevo and Banja Luka, representing three film academies: the Academy of Performing Arts in Sarajevo, the International Burch University in Sarajevo, and the Academy of Arts of the University of Banja Luka.
The Academy of Performing Arts in Sarajevo is represented by five films: two short fiction films and three short documentaries. Nađa Isović’s short fiction film -22°C explores how all our lives, regardless of wealth or social status, ultimately end in the same place. In his short film THE GO-BETWEEN, Emir Solaković introduces us to a nine-year-old boy whose seemingly harmless request draws him into a world of unspoken violence. Three documentary films by third-year students address different, yet equally important, subjects. In SPRINGS FROM THE EARTH AND FALLS FROM THE SKY by Din Gušmirović, we meet a man whose house lies beneath a landslide and who waits for the mountain to fall on his head. In TAPE 2025: I LOVE YOU, DAD, director Zoja Perović uses hundreds of hours of family archive footage recorded by her father to explore intimate relationships, memories, and the role of the camera in shaping identity. In PEACE IS THE PATH, director Haris Habibija follows young physiotherapist Josip Jelinić, who carries an eight-kilogram Cross of Reconciliation on a 1,000-kilometre walk across Bosnia and Herzegovina during forty-five days of Catholic fasting, visiting sites of suffering associated with all our peoples, ethnicities, and religions.
The Academy of Arts of the University of Banja Luka presents one documentary and three short fiction films. Stribor Letić’s documentary ONCE UPON A TIME IN TRUBAR reveals the abandoned village of Trubar and the everyday life of Stevo, a post-war returnee who lives alone, relying on hard work, faith, and nature. CHARNA KOS by Vuk Popović is a fiction film about a well-known TV presenter who does everything she can to save her damaged reputation following a family scandal. AS IF I’M NOT THERE by Milica Vujasin takes us into the world of a taxi driver who, during his final ride of the evening and while taking a passenger to her destination, begins to question his own path in life. In DRENCHED HAIR, Veljko Matković explores growing up through the perspective of a teenager spending the last summer of his life with his aunt by the riverbank, completely uncertain about his future.
Burch University is represented by four short documentary films. THE FRANCOPHONIE, directed by Ema Hamulić, follows the band Jall Aux Yeux from Bihać, which has spent more than a decade developing its own artistic expression outside the dominant musical currents. HOME by Azra Topić tells the story of a brother and sister who come to Sarajevo after fleeing their hometown of Kherson, carrying hidden trauma with them. In NOT SHARING TOO MUCH, director Mirha Bećirović follows, through fragmented moments of everyday life, a day in the life of a young man who reveals through humour everything that remains unspoken. THE ONES WHO CREATE, directed by Nejira Borovac, explores the personal stories, motivations, and creative journeys of young artists and designers, documenting moments of exploration, uncertainty, and discovery that shape both the act of creation and the people behind it.
The thirteen best Bosnian and Herzegovinian student short films are competing for three awards: the Award for Best BH Student Film, the Special Jury Award, and the Special Jury Mention. This year’s jury consists of actor Kemal Rizvanović, producer Dženita Čamo, and film theorist Dijana Jelača. The winners of the selection will be announced tomorrow at the Sarajevo Film Festival’s Partner Awards Ceremony, at 2 p.m. at the Festival Square.
We wish the best of luck to all the directors of the selected films!
Bojana Vidosavljević
