Ji.hlava FF Announces Awards and Emerging Producers 2026

PRESS RELEASE
Sarajevo, August 19, 2025

DOCU TALENT AWARDS 2025 WENT TO A SONG WITHOUT HOME, FLYING COWS, AND LAND OF FIRE EMERGING PRODUCERS 2026 AND RECIPIENTS OF JI.HLAVA /JB FILMS SUPPORT WERE ANNOUNCED

Seven outstanding documentaries from Central and Eastern Europe, planned for theatrical release during the upcoming 12 months – the Docu Talents from the East 2025 – were presented last night as part of CineLink Industry Days at the Sarajevo Film Festival.  Projects from Armenia, Azerbaijan, the Czech Republic, Croatia, Georgia, Poland, and Ukraine made it to the final selection of Docu Talents from the East 2025.  The Docu Talent Award was granted to the most promising project. The international jury decided to give the award to A Song Without Home by Georgian director Rati Tsiteladze, produced by Olga Slusareva. 

The 25,000 EUR in-kind Avanpost Post-production Award was awarded to Armenian-Swiss co-production Flying Cows by directors Vahagn Khachatryan and Aren Malakyan, produced by Vahagn Khachatryan and Irene Muñoz Martin.

The 3,000 EUR in-kind DAFilms.com Distribution Award was awarded to Land of Fire by Czech director Nikola Klinger, produced by Kristina Husová. The award covers international VOD release on DAFilms.com (including Americas, Europe, Asia) for two years. 

Since 2005, Docu Talents curated by the Ji.hlava International Documentary Film Festival, has been a launch pad for a number of documentaries by both renowned and emerging directors such as Laila Pakalniņa, Vladimir Mansky, Bartek Konopka, Piotr Stasik, Peter Kerekes, Dmitrii Kalashnikov and Helena Třeštíková.  Films presented at Docu Talents in the past had world and international premieres at major film festivals including in Cannes, Berlin, Locarno, Rotterdam and Sundance.

EMERGING PRODUCERS 2026 WERE ANNOUNCED During the event, the representatives of the Ji.hlava IDFF also revealed the names of the Emerging Producers 2026. This unique programme aims at promoting talented European documentary film producers and provides them with a range of networking, educational, and promotional support throughout the year: Dominic Spitaler / Austria Maarten D’Hollander / Belgium Pavla Klimešová / Czech republic Julie Meigniez / France Evi Stamou / Greece Anna Tóth / Hungary Angelo Rocco Troiano / Italy Ringailė Leščinskienė / Lithuania Yann Tonnar / Luxembourg Ivana Shekutkoska / North Macedonia Anita Vedå / Norway Maria Krauss / Poland Bernardo Lopes / Portugal Tomáš Gič / Slovakia Caroline Drab / Sweden Azra Djurdjevic / Switzerland Eugene Rachkovsky / Ukraine Nahusenay Dereje / Guest country Ethiopia RECIPIENTS OF JI.HLAVA /JB FILMS SUPPORT 2025

The Jihlava IDFF and Czech entrepreneur Jan Barta continue to support outstanding auteur filmmaking from Central and Eastern Europe through the Ji.hlava / JB Films support scheme. Three outstanding projects were selected for support in 2025, each with 18,000 EUR: PlaytopiaCountries: Czech Republic, RomaniaDirector: Bára Jíchová TysonProducers: Alice Tabery, Kristina HusováCo-producers: Radu Stancu, Cristina HanesGenre: hybrid documentary Valley of the Night Countries: Czech Republic, USADirector: Lynne SiefertProducers: Matej Sotník (Somatic Films), Lynne Siefert (Mousehaus)Genre: hybrid documentary World of WallsCountryies: Slovakia, Czech Republic, Belgium, France, South AfricaDirector: Lucia KašováProducer: Matej Sotník (guča films)Co-producers: CLAW Films, Harald House BV, FACTSTORY, ARTE GEIE, Czech Television, The Audio RoomGenre: hybrid documentary

“THE IZZAT CINEMA AWARD” WILL BE ESTABLISHED FOR FEMALE FILMMAKERS – Azerbaijan

Aforementioned award will be presented with the official partnership of the Azerbaijan Union of Filmmakers which will be supported by the Azad Mirzajanzadeh Development Program, the Young Filmmakers Association, and the Guild of Azerbaijani Film Critics and Scholars. The award was founded by Afag Yusifli, a filmmaker and the international relations and projects manager of the Azerbaijan Union of Filmmakers.

Named in the honor of Izzat Orujova, the first national film actress of Azerbaijan, the award aims to enhance the role and representation of women in Azerbaijani cinema. For the first time in the country, this award brings women’s issues to the professional film stage and introduces a new initiative by presenting a special award specifically for females in the film industry.

The project also carries symbolic significance by being dedicated to her — not only the first Azerbaijani film actress but also prominent chemist – thus highlighting her historical legacy. The presentation of this award offers a fresh perspective on strengthening the position of women in the film industry and encouraging their professional contributions.

As part of the project, a professional jury will evaluate the women’s segment of the Azerbaijani cinema from several perspectives to determine the winners. A specially designed award and cash prizes will be presented in front of an audience. Despite the fact that Azerbaijan granted women the right to vote in 1918 — a first in the East — and that Azerbaijani cinema has a 127-year history, female filmmakers in cinema still remain under-recognized and underrepresented.

This award highlights that issue and proposes solutions. By being named after Izzat Orujova, the award once again brings attention to women and women-centered topics in cinema. Accomplished authors are publicly recognized as winners.

It is worth noting that this project is one of the winners of the Azad Mirzajanzadeh Development Program, and in the upcoming weeks, further details — including the jury members, award categories, and the date of the ceremony — will be shared publicly.

Dalija Dozet: My Dad’s Lessons

Programmed for the Sarajevo FF in the documentary competition.

The film won main award in the regional competition of this year’s ZagrebDox, the photo shows the director with her Big Stamp as the festival calls its award.

No need for me to give a brief of the content as ZagrebDox has already done so:

“This film was made in memory of the author’s father, who devoted much of his life to recording the world around him. Discovering a multitude of unmarked, unedited, and unseen tapes belonging to her father, the author begins a personal and cinematic odyssey to unveil the real man behind the recordings. By viewing videos of the moments she didn’t witness, reflecting on her childhood and her family’s relationship with the camera — her father’s tool, diary method, and preferred means of expression — the author gains insight into his diverse roles across various times and corners of the world.”

Danijel “Danko” Dozet, the father, was with a camera in his hand al the time and left – passing away at the age of 55 – tapes that could fill a whole room, it seems; home videos shot by the father, very very often with the daughter – and other family members – objecting to be filmed. He left a mosaic of images that I wish to rearrange – and she does ending up, as the father, to be constantly filming herself, first with the camera that the father gave her when she left elementary school. He made her a filmmaker…

Dalija, the director, is watching and commenting on what she has chosen from the tapes – who was he, my father and how am I looking at my childhood and my youth, did I learn something from him, from his “video lessons”. Danko was, she says, a trouble-maker in the sense that he wanted something to happen in front of the camera, in the family, and there are some fine moments, where father and daughter are together, caught on camera.

When he was not so popular filming the household any longer, he started filming in the streets and abroad and you see that he has the curiosity of a documentarian – as she, Dalija, has, as well bringing in the playfulness to a film like this must have to convince an audience that it should be interested; the crossing from private to personal. On top of that there are in the beginning and at the end some beautiful letters conveyed on the screen. From father to daughter.

Personal… yes, the film made me think of my father, who died when he was 59, also a young man, an actor who did not leave loads of VHS-tapes… alas, there was so much I did not get to talk with him about.

Tarik Hodžić: Bosnian Knight

Producer Adnan Ćuhara. Shown, world premiere August 16 at Sarajevo Film Festival.

I quote Sarajevo Times (March 2 2025), where the film crew gives this congratulatory note the 1st of March, to the independence day of Bosnia and Herzegovina:

“The foundation of Bosnia and Herzegovina is a centuries-old culture, in that culture is the royal heritage, in the heritage is the script and the Bosnian language. Part of that culture are the remains of history. Ancient positions, victories and defeats, restless centuries recorded on paper with evidence kept in the museums of the world. We learn more about the roots of its existence every day. The basic duty of every person who calls Bosnia his own today is to know its past, and build the present from solid ideals. Several centuries later, history books, it will mark the time of today’s man. It remains our responsibility to make our time worthy of a royal country. Bosnia and Herzegovina is celebrating its independence today, the day when it became a sovereign and independent state of all its citizens.”

The text reflects what is the motivation behind and intention of the film that I saw – has to be mentioned – on my MacBook; I can imagine how it was for the viewers in Sarajevo to get picture and sound on a big screen! Impressive for sure in terms of camera work and sound design, the latter from the very beginning till the end with patriotic, passionate singing staged in the glorious landscapes, where the protagonist, our guide to Bosnian history, Sead Delic, takes the viewer on horseback or on foot meeting people, who are historians, who know about Bosnia and are able to convey the information to Sead and us the viewers.

There is a lot of information to take in in these documentary interviews, that take us to Vienna, Budapest, Venice, Rome… it is very interesting, I learned a lot having to confess that sometimes during the film I felt that there was too much… is the film too long, maybe for one who comes more or less “naked” information-wise.

Sead with his long hair has his own story. He comes from Glogova, where (wikipedia) a massacre took place in the early days of the Bosnian war in 1992. He was in the army JNA, escaped, survived the Srebrenica genocide and left the country for the USA. He returns to Bosnia in the film being the storyteller, he is good for the film, both as the lonely rider and as the curious Bosniak, who is searching for the soul – the identity of a country.

Production value? You dare say! For one who is used to a more classic documentary language, observational and/or hybrid, there is maybe an overkill of drone shots shifting to good scenes with Sead and the people he meets. Interested to hear what people in Sarajevo thought…

1 hour 47 minutes, Bosnia, Croatia

The photo taken from the mentioned article in Sarajevo Times. No name credit.

Documentary Focus at Sarajevo FF

Sarajevo Film Festival reinforces its commitment to powerful documentary storytelling with a revitalized concept for its documentary strand at CineLink Industry Days. Building on its longstanding support for filmmakers across Southeast Europe and beyond, the Festival introduces a dynamic platform for exchange, visibility, and industry momentum tailored to the evolving needs of contemporary documentary cinema. 

Taking place on August 17–18, the documentary focus will bring together decision-makers, filmmakers, and industry professionals for two days of curated sessions, presentations, and meetings. These activities are designed to foster collaboration, elevate emerging trends, and respond to the shifting landscape of production, distribution, and audience engagement in documentary filmmaking.

As part of its programme, CineLink Talks will feature a panel dedicated to the following topic: Decoding the Documentary Industry: What Decision Makers are Looking For? taking place on 18 August, 15:00. This panel aims to demystify the documentary industry by shedding light on the perspectives of decision-makers when selecting documentary films. Industry experts will share insights into the trends and considerations influencing their choices, offering valuable guidance to filmmakers seeking funding and distribution opportunities. Joining the conversation are Tereza Bona Keilova, Inka Achte, and Ania Trzebiatowska, with Martichka Bozhilova moderating the session. 

At the heart of this year’s activities are still our two key platforms:

Docu Rough Cut Boutique, co-organized with the Balkan Documentary Center, continues to be the leading regional programme dedicated to projects in the final stages of editing. Known for its intimate, tailor-made format, it supports five carefully selected films from Southeast Europe and the Caucasus that we already announced earlier this year. 

Docu Rough Cut Boutique Awards 
Avanpost Award | in kind post-production services worth €20,000 
HBO Award | €2,000 
The Institute of Documentary Film (IDF) – East Silver Caravan Award | €3,500 
DOK Leipzig Preview Award | invitation to present a project at DOK Leipzig 2025 
Movies that Matter Award | invitation to present a project at Movies that Matter

Docu Rough Cut Boutique Jury 
Eugen Kelemen | Avanpost 
Marcel Maiga | German Films / Dok Leipzig   
Margje de Koning | Movies that Matter   
Nora Sarak | Institute of Documentary Film   
Tereza Bona Keilova | Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD)

Docu Talents from the East, organized by Ji.hlava International Documentary Film Festival, presents seven compelling feature-length documentaries from Central and Eastern Europe in production or post-production. These projects are seeking festival launches and international partners to move toward completion. 

Docu Talents from the East Awards 
Docu Talents Award  | Award for the most promising project from the region of Central and Eastern Europe. 

Avanpost Post-production Award  | The 25,000 EUR in-kind award of post-production services (color grading, master file, and DCP, 8 days for grading in Baselight, etc.) 

DAFilms Distribution Award  | The 3,000 EUR in-kind DAFilms Distribution Award, covering international VOD release on DAFilms (including Americas, Europe, Asia) for two years.

Docu Talents from the East Jury 
Nina Numankadić | DAFilms 
Martichka Bozhilova | AGITPROP 
Jarmila Outtratova | Ji.hvala IDFF 
Ben Dalton | Screen International 
Steve Rickinson | Modern Times Review 

Docu Talents from the East Selection: 

A SONG WITHOUT HOME 
Director: Rati Tsiteladze 
Producer:  Olga Slusareva 
Production company: ArtWay Film 
Country: Georgia 

This immersive journey follows a young trans woman seeking freedom in Europe and her mother facing estrangement in Georgia, bound by love, longing, and the search for self-liberation across divided worlds. 

MONUMENT OF REVOLUTION 
Director: Mladen Ivanović 
Producer:  Tamara Puizina 
Production company: The Academy of Dramatic Art 
Country: Croatia

The Monument of the Uprising of the Peoples of Banija and Kordun is one of the most significant monuments ever built in this region. Filming both casual and intentional visitors throughout the seasons, this film shows its gradual decay, which, in a metaphorical sense, means more than just the disappearance of a single monument.

LAND OF FIRE 
Director: Nikola Klinger 
Producer: Kristina Husova 
Co-producer: Jan Wilde, Taghreed Saadeh 
Production company: Cinepoint 
Countries: Czech Republic, Germany, Canada

In the wilderness of British Columbia, a grieving father’s quest for justice for his murdered daughter interweaves with local rituals of healing and demolition derby races. 

STRANGE SEA 
Director: Lala Aliyeva 
Producer: Aysel Akhundova 
Production company: Yaman Film 
Countries: Azerbajian, Georgia

In the depths of the Caspian Sea the whispers of its dark past intertwine with the tales of ordinary life. Through a personal journey, ‘Strange Sea’ paints an impressionistic portrait of Azerbaijan. 

I AM ONE OF THEM 
Director: Nadim Suleiman 
Producer: Kasia Kuczynska 
Production companies: Pamlyra Films, Haka Films 
Countries: Poland, Saudi Arabia

A Syrian filmmaker and a Polish nationalist cross paths, beginning a complex journey of friendship, self-discovery, and the struggle to bridge their differences. 

FLYING COWS (PHOTO)
Director: Vahagn Khachatryan and Aren Malakyan 
Producer: Vahagn Khachatryan and Irene Munoz Martin 
Production companies: Oolik Production 
Countries: Armenia, Switzerland

In the chaos of war, a cow gives birth to a calf. As villagers pack their belongings and flee their homes, the calf is sold to cattle traders and begins a journey from Armenia to Iraqi Kurdistan. 

SHUT THE FUCK UP! 
Director: Taisiia Kutuzova 
Producer:  Alona Savchuk 
Production company: Crimean Waves 
Country: Ukraine

When a 16-year-old activist from a village near Kyiv exposes local corruption on Facebook, he triggers a storm of threats and violence. As he runs for office under pressure, he must also confront a deeper personal struggle — in a country at war and a community that seems not ready for change.

Docu Rough Cut Boutique Projects 

CORDON 
Director: Anton Mezulić 
Producer: Oliver Sertić 
Co-producer: Victor Ede 
Editor: Dora Slakoper 
Production company: RESTART 
Co-production company: CINEPHAGE PRODUCTIONS, HRT 
Countries: Croatia, France 
Length: 80’

In a small, nationally divided town, Nikola, a child of a mixed marriage, is approaching manhood while dealing with a chaotic past and an uncertain future, trying to realise his true identity. 

LOST AND FOUND: Romania’s Hidden Adoption Market 
Director: Laurentiu Garofeanu 
Producer: Laurentiu Garofeanu 
Editor: Iulian Ghervas 
Production company: Mekanism Media (RO) 
Country: Romania 
Length: 90 min

When a young Canadian woman who was sold as an infant in post-Ceaușescu Romania returns to reclaim her identity, she uncovers the machinery that trafficked the sister she never knew, one of 30,000 children “exported” for adoption. 

WE SHALL LIVE TOGETHER 
Director: Damir Markovina 
Producer: Tamara Babun Zovko 
Co-producer: Damir Markovina 
Editor: Marta Bregeš, Vladimir Gojun 
Production company: Wolfgang & Dolly LLC 
Co-production company: Osoba D 
Countries: Croatia 
Length: 75′

Thirty years after the war ended, two brothers urge their father to return to the place they were exiled from—their divided hometown, a city made up of hurt, trauma, and precious memories. 

ABOUT THE END OF THE WORLD 
Director: Jakob Krese 
Producers: Ivana Naceva, Annika Mayer 
Co-producers: Chiara Castiglioni, Vanja Jambrović, Marina Gumzi 
Editor: Annika Mayer 
Production companies: Pótem, Majmun Films 
Co-production company: Zero Stress Production, Restart, Nosorogi 
Countries: Slovenia, Germany, Italy, Croatia 
Length: 100’

A Yugoslav family reflects on over half a century of upheaval, hope, destruction, and new beginnings. A dialogue about missing gods, an end that is not, and the price that must be paid for never giving up.

THE GREAT RESET 
Director: Peter Akar and Ambrus Fater 
Producers: Rita balogh and Barbara Frank 
Editor: Marriana Rudas 
Production companies: Other Films 
Countries: Hungary 
Length: 80’

Ever-competitive, thirty-eight-year-old Anna seeks to outdo her mother and earn her own recognition—so when she inherits her two-star Michelin restaurant, she tears it down to the studs to build her own legacy.

Baltic Sea Docs Film Programme

It’s really a small film festival that accompanies the Industry based Baltic Sea Docs with project development and pitching. 12 films for the audience in Riga, screenings from the 2nd till the 7th of September primarily in the Splendid Palace cinema, which is actually a splendid place to show films.

Many of the films were at the Baltic Sea Docs as projects – now they hit the big screen:

The festival success, the briliant Georgian “9-Month Contract” by Ketevan Vashagashvili is there as is wonderful emotional “My Dear Theo” by Ukrainian Alisa Kovalenko, the warm and thematically surprising “Of Sacred and Profane” by Lithuanian Giedre Beinoriūté and “Divia” by Ukrainian Dmytro Hreshko… and 8 others that you can read about on the website of Baltic Sea Docs.

As much as time allows I will be in the Splendid Palace.

Dealing With the Past at Sarajevo FF

Dealing with the Past programme continues to create space for confronting traumas, untold stories, and forgotten perspectives that shape both collective and personal histories. The programme presents feature films, documentaries, and experimental works that delve into the aftermath of conflict and the politics of memory.

ALSO RESISTERS
United States, 2025, 13 min. 
Director: Christina Bartson 
CAST: Sonia Desai Rayka 

Adapted from a 1968 essay by the gay US socialist David E. McReynolds, the short archival film uses images and sounds of the American war in Vietnam to reflect on the feedback loop between militarism abroad and at home — and the people who resisted it.

AMBASSADOR OF REMEMBRANCE / BOTSCHAFTER DES ERINNERNS
Austria, 2024, 100 min.
Director: Magdalena Żelasko 

In September 1943, seventeen-year-old Stanisław Zalewski was arrested in Warsaw as a member of a Polish resistance group and taken to the Auschwitz-Birkenau extermination camp for labour service. From there, he was sent to Mauthausen and finally to the Gusen camp, where prisoners were forced to work for the German armaments industry under inhumane conditions.

FACING WAR 
Norway, Iceland, Denmark, Finland, Sweden, Belgium, 2025, 104 min.
Director: Tommy Gullliksen 

As Putin’s war in Ukraine rages on, US president Biden persuades Jens Stoltenberg to remain for one more year as Secretary General of NATO. On a trip to Kyiv, he promises Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskyy that the alliance will stand by Ukraine “for as long as it takes.” At this crucial time, support from the allied countries falters, leaving the prospect of peace in Ukraine and stability in Europe in question. Will Stoltenberg be able to keep his word to Zelenskyy? 

FIUME O MORTE! 
Croatia, Slovenia, Italy, 2025, 112 min. 
Director: Igor Bezinović 

Citizens of Rijeka, Croatia, which Italians call Fiume, retell, reconstruct and reinterpret the bizarre story about the sixteen-month occupation of their city in 1919 by the Italian poet, dandy, and preacher of war Gabriele D’Annunzio. 

JUNE TURMOIL / LIPANJSKA GIBANJA
Yugoslavia, 1969, 10 min. 
Režija: Želimir Žilnik 

JUNE TURMOIL documents student demonstrations that took place in Belgrade in June 1968. For the most part, the footage was shot in the courtyard of Kapetan Mišino Zdanje (the Faculty of Philosophy building), where students gathered and famous artists participated to show solidarity with the students. 

LEFT BEHIND 
Greece, 2025, 13 min. 
Director: Yannis Karpouzis 

Nefeli turns the camera on herself to say goodbye to a lost love. What begins as a personal farewell becomes a growing connection to collective resistance. 

NORTH SOUTH MAN WOMAN 
Norway, Latvia, Republic of Korea (South Korea), 2025, 93 min.
Director: Morten Traavik, Sun Kim

An old Korean proverb says the most beautiful women are in the North, and the most handsome men are in the South. What happens when you try to bring them together? Filmmakers Morten Traavik and Sun Kim journey across the Korean divide to follow Yujin Han, a sharp, charismatic entrepreneur who was born in North Korea and is the founder of LoveStory, a matchmaking agency with a radical mission: pairing North Korean refugee women with South Korean men. 

PUT YOUR SOUL ON YOUR HAND AND WALK 
France, Palestine, Iran, 2025, 112 min. 
Director: Sepideh Farsi 

PUT YOUR SOUL ON YOUR HAND AND WALK is a filmmaker’s response to the ongoing massacre of Palestinians. A miracle happened when director Sepideh Farsi met Fatima Hassona. Hassona became the filmmaker’s eyes in Gaza, where she resisted while documenting the war, as Farsi became a link between Hassona and the world. The death of Fatima, on 16 April 2025, as a result of an Israeli raid on her home, changes its meaning forever.

TESTIMONIES OF PAIN AND HOPE / EDOYUT SHEL KEEV VETIKVA 
Israel, Palestine, 2025, 15 min. 
Director: Ayelet Bargur 

TESTIMONIES OF PAIN AND HOPE is a powerful series of six short illustrated videos, each two or three minutes long, that share the deeply personal stories of bereaved Israelis and Palestinians who are members of the Parent Circle Families Forum who have lost loved ones in the war that began on 7 October 2023. 

THE DESERTER / DER DESERTEUR
Germany, 2024, 93 min. 
Director: Christoph Baumann 
Cast: Sebastian Fischer, Anna Kaminski, Sandro Kirtzel, Lana-Mae Lopičić, Nora C. Pichler, Tom Kress 

Tyrol, 1945: the last days of World War II. Anton, a severely wounded deserter from the SS, and Hannah, a Jewish woman, meet in a remote hut in the mountains. They are initially distrustful of each other, then feelings develop between them. A story about war and guilt, as well as compassion and humanity.

THE FINAL BATTLE 
Germany, Bosnia and Herzegovina, 2024, 66 min. 
Director: Mladen Miljanović 

Four delegated performances and castings feature participants who are directly or indirectly actors of war: veterans, civilian victims, disabled individuals, or those traumatised by conflict. The project, aptly titled THE FINAL BATTLE, unfolds both in actuality and in its eventual cinematic manifestation through a casting call for a trailer.

THE LOUDEST SILENCE / NAJGLASNIJA TIŠINA 
Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, 2025, 28 min. 
Director: Aleksandar Reljić 

Students in Serbia did not celebrate the New Year of 2025; instead, at midnight, they held a fifteen-minute tribute to the victims of the canopy collapse at the Novi Sad Railway Station on November 1, 2024. 

THE SREBRENICA TAPE – FROM DAD, FOR ALISA 
Germany, Austria, 2025, 88 min. 
Director: Chiara Sambuchi 

In July 1995, the Army of the Republika Srpska captured Srebrenica and massacred more then 8,000 Muslim men. The Bosnian Serb Army troops destroyed every trace of Srebrenica’s inhabitants: their diaries, photos, and letters. One VHS tape survived destruction. This unique document is shot for a single viewer: Alisa, the then nine-year-old daughter of Sejfo, an avid amateur filmmaker and resident of Srebrenica. Alisa returns to Srebrenica to trace the footsteps of her father.

The 31st Sarajevo Film Festival will take place from August 15 to 22, 2025. 

Verzió Documentary Film Critics Workshop

Aspiring critics and writers interested in documentary cinema are invited to apply for the 4th Verzió Documentary Film Critics Workshop, held as part of the 22nd Verzió International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival. The event will take place from 11–19 November 2025 in Budapest and in cities across Hungary.

Organized in collaboration with the Doc Around Europe festival network, the workshop is designed for early-career and aspiring film critics, journalists, filmmakers, and students from across Europe. Selected participants will engage in a week-long, writing-intensive program with peers and mentors, gaining hands-on experience in film criticism with a focus on human rights and socially engaged documentary cinema.

Participants will receive accreditation to the Verzió Festival, access to industry events, and the chance to network with international filmmakers, critics, and cultural professionals. Accommodation and intra-European travel costs will be reimbursed. The working language is English, and attendance on-site for all sessions is mandatory. Online participation is not available.

The workshop will be led by Steve Rickinson, a Bucharest-based film and media critic with an international background in independent publishing and cultural programming. Rickinson is the industry editor of Modern Times Review and has been active across Europe’s documentary film festival circuit.

Eligible applicants must be based in one of 21 European countries, including Romania, Hungary, Greece, Germany, France, and several Balkan states. There is no application fee; however, selected participants will be asked to pay a €75 enrollment fee to support operational costs.

To apply, candidates must submit a film review or essay in English (or translated to English) via the online application form. The deadline is 31 August 2025, with successful applicants notified by mid-September.

For more information, contact: info@verzio.org.

Joan Gonzalez Turns 70

He texted me yesterday, “watching?”, as he has done dozens of times, when “our” football club FCBarcelona plays. If I am not at the computer here in Denmark, he updates me on how the match goes. I am writing about Joan Gonzalez, the smiling man to the right who turns 70 the second of August. The selfie was taken, when we were together at the Camp Nou on one of many festive occasions on location.

Football is only one of our common passions, let me give you some history:

Joan is a visionary, some will say a dreamer, I will add that many of his dreams have and will come through. Step by Step as his slogan is. When I met him in Granada 25 years ago for the first EDN documentary workshop in Spain, he was one of the participants and made his first documentary pitch. Not very convincing. But he was thrilled about the format, and he took it all to Barcelona, and became the organiser of what is now a very well established international event, DocsBarcelona. At that time he was managing a local tv station and doing a lot of training, which is still very much on his agenda. 

He is definitely a talent scout, his office is full of talented carefully picked young people, who get the injection of documentary enthusiasm from their director.

Joan is a man with high ethical standards, who is not afraid to use the word ”trust”, when he describes, what he wants people to associate with his company. He has lost some battles with his idealistic attitude but he has always come back full of optimism and with new ideas. I sometimes have the impression that when he wakes up in the morning, he has a new project! The latest is “nextus” that aims at making documentaries part of the school curriculum. Not only in Catalunya and Spain.

DocsBarcelona is much more than a festival. I have always been crazy about the initiative “Documentary of the Month”. Overall I would say as it has been written by Joan himself, “the mission is to contribute to society’s cultural enrichment through the audiovisual medium”. As with the “Documentary of the Month” Joan has always thought of ways to reach the audience. I think it (also) comes with his background at the TV3, the local tv station.

My wife and have seen more of Joan and his wife Montse during the last years. They have visited Copenhagen in March for the CPH:DOX and have enjoyed our capital and surroundings, as we have done in Barcelona and in the apartment in Palamos at the coast. Our acquaintance goes back to before their kids were born, Marti and Berta. It has been great to see and hear about them growing up, most often through words conveyed by their proud father.

Looking fwd, to see you and the family again – and to sing Jacques Brel again in your car…

Congratulations!

Sarajevo FF Documentary Competition 2025

Rada Šešić, the programmer of the Competition Programme – Documentary Film, included 20 films in the competition programme; 12 feature-length and 8 short documentary films, four of which will have a world premiere, four international, 10 films will have a regional premiere and two films will have a Bosnian premiere. In addition, one film has been selected for the out-of-competition programme and will have an international premiere.

“Selection inevitably reflects a complex socio-political situation, but also shows the enviable resilience of documentary creativity with the continuous emergence of interesting new authors. More than half of the titles in this year’s programme reflect the need to reconceptualize human relationships as a particularly necessary value. It is interesting that in most films in these gloomy times, or precisely because of this, the authors celebrate the power of love as the strongest driver of life, whether they are family or war stories. What is especially valuable is that even through these seemingly only family stories, we learn a lot about the complex conditions of life in a particular environment,” Šešić said.

Awards:

HEART OF SARAJEVO FOR BEST DOCUMENTARY FILM 
Award in the amount of €4,000, sponsored by the Government of Switzerland

AN OSCAR® QUALIFYING FILM

HEART OF SARAJEVO FOR BEST SHORT DOCUMENTARY FILM 
Award in the amount of €2,000

SPECIAL JURY PRIZE 
Award in the amount of €2,500

1. BOSNIAN KNIGHT / BOSANSKI VITEZ, Tarik Hodžić (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, 2025, 79 min.) – World premiere
2. I SAW A ‘SUNO’ / SUNO DIKHLEM, KATALIN BARSONY(Hungary, Belgium, 2025, 92 min.) – World premiere
3. KITE / CHARTAETOS, Thanos Psichogios (Greece, 2025, 15 min.) – World premiere
4. STEEL HOTEL SONG, Bojan Stojčić (Bosnia and Herzegovina, 2025, 19 min.) – World premiere
5. LETTERS / PISMA, Aysel Küçüksu (Bulgaria, 2025, 11 min.) -International premiere
6. MY DAD’S LESSONS / LEKCIJE MOG TATE, Dalija Dozet (Croatia, 2025, 62 min.) – International premiere
7. RED SLIDE / CRVENI TOBOGAN, Nebojša Slijepčević (Croatia, 2025, 27 min.) –  International premiere 
8. THIRD WORLD / TREĆI SVIJET, Arsen Oremović (Croatia, 2025, 101 min.) – International premiere
9. CUBA & ALASKA, Yegor Troyanovsky (Ukraine, France, Belgium, 2025, 93 min.) – Regional premiere
10. DIVIA, Dmytro Hreshko (Ukraine, Poland, The Netherlands, USA, 2025, 79 min.) – Regional premiere
11. DREAMERS: PEOPLE OF THE LIGHT / XƏYALPƏRƏSTLƏR: İŞIĞIN UŞAQLARI, Imam Hasanov (Azerbaijan, 2025, 86 min.) – Regional premiere
12. EVERYTIME YOU LEAVE, YOU ARE BORN AGAIN / SVAKI PUT KAD ODEŠ, PONOVO SE RAĐAŠ, Mladen Bundalo (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Belgium, 2025, 24 min.) – Regional premiere
13. I BELIEVE THE PORTRAIT SAVED ME / MUA BESOJ MË SHPËTOJ PORTRETI, Alban Muja (Kosovo*, The Netherlands, 2025, 10 min.) – Regional premiere
14. IN HELL WITH IVO, Kristina Nikolova (Bulgaria, USA, 2025, 80 min.) – Regional premiere
15. MILITANTROPOS, Yelizaveta Smith, Alina Gorlova, Simon Mozgoviy (Ukraine, Austria, France, 2025, 111 min.) – Regional premiere
16. OUR TIME WILL COME / UNSERE ZEIT WIRD KOMMEN, Ivette Löcker (Austria, 2025, 105 min.) – Regional premiere
17. THE MEN’S LAND / KACEBIS MITSA, Mariam Bakacho Khatchvani (Georgia, Hungary, 2025, 15 min.) – Regional premiere
18. SLET 1988, Marta Popivoda (Serbia, Germany, France, 2025, 22 min.) – Regional premiere
19. 9-MONTH CONTRACT, Ketevan Vashagashvili (Georgia, Bulgaria, Germany, 2025, 77 min.) – B&H premiere
20. TATA, Lina Vdovîi, Radu Ciorniciuc (Romania, Germany, The Netherlands, 2025, 82 min.) – B&H premiere
21. OHO FILM, Damjan Kozole (Slovenia, Croatia, 2025, 93 min.) – International premiere, out of competition

The festival takes place August 15 – 22.