SARAJEVO: Danis Tanović’s Not So Friendly Neighbourhood Affair / Deset u pola (Obala Art Centre, 2021) scored 35,341 admissions in 2021, following the success of Jasmila Žbanić’s Quo Vadis, Aida?, which reached the 4th place in admissions top list in 2020 with 11,340 admissions, a significant number for a pandemic year.

SARAJEVO: Mirsad Purivatra, the founder of the Sarajevo Film Festival, is leaving the SFF Director’s position after 27 years to take on the role of President of the Obala Art Centar Association, the umbrella organisation behind the Festival.

SARAJEVO: The latest comedy directed by Oscar winner Danis Tanović, Not So Friendly Neighbourhood Affair, which premiered at the opening of the Sarajevo Film Festival, followed by a week of preview screenings, opened in 15 cinemas in Bosnia and Herzegovina on 2 December 2021, gaining 20,707 EUR / 40,500 KM and attracting 6,083 admissions in its first weekend.

SARAJEVO: South Wind 2 – Speed Up / Južni vetar 2 – Ubrzanje directed by Miloš Avramović topped the 11 – 14 November 2021 weekend chart in Bosnia and Herzegovina, just a week after its success in Serbian film theatres in its opening week. The film, released by BLITZ Film & Video, racked up 38,805 admissions, grossing 133, 235 EUR / 260,585 KM.

SARAJEVO: FNE spoke to Amra Bakšić Čamo, the Head of CineLink, the industry section of the Sarajevo Film Festival, about the 2021 edition after the pandemic forced the last minute cancellation of the physical festival in 2020 and Cinelink went online. She talks about the lessons learned in 2020 and how the 2021 event was organised as a hybrid event.

SARAJEVO: The biopic Toma directed by famous Serbian actor/director/producer Dragan Bjelogrlić broke the 2021 record in Bosnia and Herzegovina with 40,877 admissions and 112,900 EUR / 220,815 BAM gross in its first week. The film was released by Oskar film from Banja Luka in 41 cinemas throughout the country on 23 September 2021.

SARAJEVO: FNE spoke to Jovan Marjanović, Co-director of Sarajevo Film Festival, about the festival’s return to its on site operations after being forced to cancel the 2020 on site edition in the last minute. He tells us about the importance of a physical event for audience and the lessons learned during the pandemic that are taking the festival forward.

SARAJEVO: Teona Strugar Mitevska is finishing the shoot for her sixth film The Happiest Man in The World with two shooting days in Sarajevo, after four weeks of shooting in North Macedonia. The film is a coproduction between North Macedonia, Slovenia, Croatia, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Denmark.

SARAJEVO: The acclaimed Bosnian director Pjer Žalica has started shooting his fourth feature film May Labour Day, a coproduction between Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, North Macedonia, Serbia and Montenegro.

SARAJEVO: The Austrian/German coproduction Great Freedom / Grosse Freiheit by Sebastian Meise has received the Heart of Sarajevo for Best Feature Film at the 27th edition of the Sarajevo Film Festival. The closing ceremony was held on 19 August 2021, but the festival that opened on 13 August will wrap on 20 August 2021.