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Directors of the film "In Bloom" Nana Ekvtimishvili and Simon Gross with young actresses Mariam Bokeria and Lika Babluani
“Above all, this year we had difficulties in finding sponsors. Therefore, we were unable to invite many stars. Last year we had Angelina Jolie, Jeremy Irons, Morgan Freeman and Juliette Binoche. This year we had fewer stars, but more films. There were 700 applications sent to our administration, and it was hard to select just 200 from these. The festival space has grown, a favourable working environment has been created. A festival is not just a competition or a screening. Professional meetings on the terrace are also very important. In this regard this Festival is special, as it embraces regional forums, involving private companies and funds in project financing, media forums, art-house films from all over the world, and so on. Thus, the festival is a very busy one. It is very important to support the development of regional cinema. With this aim and with the support
of private companies, 100 small cinemas have been built and restored throughout the country. The South Caucasus will be present at our festival for the first time this year. I am happy that Georgia is taking part in the main competition. We once worked very hard to attract the attention of the world to our films. Now you are in the same situation. It is important to find your own place in the European film family. We will be happy if our Festival helps you achieve this.” There are three main competitions within the Sarajevo Film Festival: a full-length feature film competition, with 9 participants this year; a short film competition with 10 films and a documentary film competition with 22 participants. Apart from the main competition, Sarajevo Film Festival embraces other programs: New Wave, the Children’s
Program, Special Project Youth Cinema, South Caucasian Cinema, Winners of Berlinale and Cannes Festival, retrospective of films from a representative of the new wave of Romanian cinema – Cristi Puiu. The Festival opened with a film of Oscar-winning Bosnian director Danis Tanovic “An Episode in the Life of an Iron Picker”. This year the film was awarded the Silver Bear in Berlin. Special mention should be made of the open air screenings hosting 2500 spectators. These screenings included a meeting with the crew of the Arabian film “Omar”, the premiere Woody Allen’s new film by “Blue Jasmine”, plus screenings of Spanish, Russian and British films. The Summer Theater in the center of the city was overcrowded during these screenings. They started at 9 pm and lasted until late at night. People living in the adjacent houses opened their windows and