Sarajevo Film Festival
August 12 - 20, 2009
Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Programmer: Rada Šešić
International Jury: Alice Klara Arnold - filmmaker, film lecturer (Switzerland), Zijah Gafić, photographer (Bosnia and Herzegovina), Chris McDonald, Hot Docs executive director (Canada)
HEART OF SARAJEVO FOR BEST DOCUMENTARY FILM
Award in the amount of 3,000 € is granted by The Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs
The Caviar Connection
Serbia 2008, 58', color, video
D: Dragan Nikolić
The Caviar Connection is a wonderful mixture of observational documentary and creative authorship. It shows the inevitable disappearing world of traditional fishing through the colorful, character driven story of one family. The film pulls us so fully into this world, that we can’t help but have warmth for these flawed characters, find humor in their ordinary situations, and feel compassion for their struggles.
SPECIAL MENTION
Constantin and Elena
Romania 2008, 103 min
D: Andrei Dascalescu
A bittersweet love story. Where "sweet" is the love (after 55 years of marriage), "bitter" is the lack of time left for the "sweet" (the old age), and "story" is the everyday life. A film about the ancestral, pure way of living and loving. A cinematic, observational, sometimes voyeuristic look at a way of life and a life itself, both almost extinct.
AUDIENCE AWARD
Sevdah
Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina 2009, 66 min
D: Marina Andree
An intimate journey through Bosnian "blues" dedicated to the prematurely deceased Farah, a passionate fan of sevdah. Trying to confront their own loss and grief, the autors create a film about sevdah as an emotional, musical, lyrical and visual journey through the soul of Bosnia.
Official website: www.sevdahfilm.com
Sevdah on YouTube: Teaser1 / Teaser2 / Teaser3
The film was developed within the 2007 Ex Oriente Film workshop.
AUDIENCE VOTE - 3RD PLACE
Cash & Marry
Austria, Macedonia, Croatia, USA, 2009, 76 min
D: Atanas Georgiev
In Vienna, two immigrants from Eastern Europe go to any length to find an Austrian woman consenting to a marriage of convenience. The bureaucratic and psychological barriers that these hapless heroes face only highlights how modern day Europe is struggling to be redefined by its burgeoning immigrant underclass.
In 2006, Atanas Georgiev and Sinisha Juricic developed Cash & Marry within the Ex Oriente Film international workshop of creative documentary film.
Contact:
Sarajevo Film Festival
Zelenih beretki 12
71000 Sarajevo
Bosnia and Herzegovina
info-sff@sff.ba
www.sff.ba
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