Universal Cinema Film & TV Journal’s editor, Amir Ganjavie’ recently interviewed Elma Tataragić, the head of the International Competition section for the Sarajevo Film Festival. What follows is some of that interview.
Amir Ganjavie, UniversalCinema Magazine (UM): Can you speak about the festival’s selection process? Who makes the final decisions?
Elma Tataragić (EM): Well, I’m the Head Programmer, and I’ve led the program since we started it in 2003. Before that, I was involved in another program which [served as] the basis for this. I have two other colleagues who watch films with me and we discuss the films we watched together. So it is teamwork.
Our competition covers a specific region, it doesn’t cover the whole world. That’s one of the staples of the Sarajevo Film Festival. We are focused on South Eastern Europe, plus the Caucus. So, we have 21 countries that are considered our region in the Competition. So, I try to see all the films that are made in these 21 countries.
We also have a Short Film Competition and a Documentary Competition.
Since we’re the strongest festival in this part of the world, and have been doing this for quite a long time, we are quite connected within the region. We already know most of the filmmakers, the producers, and we may have [even] been involved in the development of their projects.
So, it’s not very difficult to get in touch with all the filmmakers and the producers and have them show the films to us. It has become easier year [after] year. We do have a submission system, and we see all the films that are officially submitted to the festival as well always making a discovery.
(UM): Do you have films from outside of the 21 countries?
(EM): Not in the Competition, but it’s a big festival, we show about 250 films. Half of them are from the region (in Competition), but the other half are in the other sections.
We have 14 programs at the festival, and five of them are regional, but the other nine are the world sections. We have Open Air cinema, which is a World Section, which is for an audience of 3,000 people. We have Kinoscope, which is more like arthouse cinema. So, we do have a lot of other sections where we show world cinema.
(UM): Do you have any quotas for race or gender?
(EM): Not really. But we are very much aware of the things that are happening, and we are trying to be diverse. What’s interesting is that basically, the “50/50 by 2020” started in Sarajevo. It was something that was signed and kind of moved [forward] from Sarajevo. But what’s also interesting is that in terms of the competition program, we’re at 50/50 already – for years now. Since there’s been a lot of female filmmakers in the past [few] years really making good films. But it’s not only about female filmmakers, it’s about diversity in general, and we are very much aware of that.
(UM): What is your relationship with nearby festivals, like Karlovy Vary? I know that in the past it has had sections like East–
(EM): East of the West, they had that section. When you look at Europe from far away, it seems that Karlovy Vary is our neighboring festival, but it’s not actually and it also focuses on a different region. For example, in the Competition, we don’t show Czech films or Slovak films. They’re not part of our region. Our region basically starts from Austria to ex-Yugoslavia and then moves on through Greece, Turkey, and then Georgia, Armenia, and of course, Ukraine since last year. Our focus is a little bit different.
(UM): Do you focus on premieres for your Competition Sections?
(EM): Not really. We, of course, like to discover and show new talents and have World Premieres. We do ask for at least Regional Premiere, which [means] that the film cannot be [previously] shown in the 21 countries that we cover. That means the film can come to Berlin, and then come to Sarajevo for the Competition.
(UM): And how were these 21 countries selected?
(EM): Well, it’s geographical, but also [an] artistic affinity.
When we started the festival, the region in which we lived, was quite lost in terms of filmmaking. With the fall of the Berlin Wall, a lot of things changed. And the cinemas in the Eastern part of Europe were in crisis because the system totally changed.
Everybody had to find a new way of producing films. What happened in the Eastern part, especially in the Southeastern part, especially in Yugoslavia, the whole system collapsed and we were quite lost.
It was very difficult at the time when we started the festival for all of those filmmakers, from Slovenia to Turkey. It was very difficult to move. We had to have visas. It was difficult to travel. And we thought that it would be a good place to provide the filmmakers a place where they can come more easily. So, we can bring the people from Western Europe, and from the world to Sarajevo, but also on the other side, bring the regional filmmakers and bring them to the world in Sarajevo – to which they can travel easily. And it kind of worked.
(UM): How important are ticket sales to you? Is it important to have crowd-pleasers?
(EM): We are quite audience-oriented, and we have been from the beginning. Our festival started out [because] we wanted to bring cinema to the citizens of Sarajevo [during] a horrible time. That was our idea, our mission, and in the years that came, with the peace and everything, we started developing the festival. But we’ve always remained a festival, which very much relies on [the audience]. And our admission is [around] 100,000 tickets, out of which about 80% are sold and the other 20% are guests and industry who come to Sarajevo to watch films and do business.
So we do take care of our audience, but we are not showing crowd-pleasers if there is not a good reason to do that. And a good reason to do that is [if] the film is something exceptional, if there is a certain [subject] that can relate to our audience.
What is beautiful about Sarajevo is that we have a very strong audience, a local audience, and lots of regional neighboring tourists coming in for the festival. The city has become like a big party place during the festival. It’s not only that we have the festival, but every club, every bar, and every venue, has some kind of side event they’re organizing in order to offer some content to the tourists coming in. Sarajevo is transformed into a city of art, a city of fun, a city of happiness, and it’s great. And if we did not have this connection with the audience, that would not happen.
(UM): Now say, for example, I’m a filmmaker, and I’m making a film on a very controversial topic. For example, against abortion, is that something you’d be able to show?
(EM): Absolutely. Yeah, we don’t have any censorship. We are a festival that is not connected to the government. We are a festival that is established by an association NGO. It’s difficult because we have to find funds. We don’t have a regular state fund like other festivals that they can rely on every year. Every [Sarajevo] film festival will start from scratch and the governmental support that we receive is basically not even up to 20%. So, the rest of the money we have to find through sponsorships. Now it’s not so difficult, because it has become big and it’s a money generator for Sarajevo. You have tens of thousands of tourists coming in for the festival, not counting our guests. We are not a governmental institution, which gives us a lot of freedom in terms of censorship.
We are a festival that wants to talk about controversial issues and bring controversial views.
(UM): Okay, and what about the city? I know that the city is very different compared to other cities like Prague or Yugoslavia. It’s more Eastern?
(EM): It’s a mix, basically. It’s a blend of West and East. So, it’s quite a vibrant and beautiful city.
(UM): Some festivals use geographical features in the city to make their festivals stand out from other festivals.
(EM): Sarajevo is quite a symbolic place, and the fact that the festival started during the war in 1995 is already symbolic. And that the festival started as a sign of resilience and resistance. So that kind of gives a special edge to the festival.
(UM): Does this tradition and the fact the festival came about during the war have any impact on the film selection process?
(EM): We are very much aware of the fact that we live in Bosnia, and it’s still not the most peaceful place to live in. It’s still a shaking ground for a lot of different politics [and] political interests. Not only local but also global interests. We are also very much aware that we and the citizens of Sarajevo, went through a four-year siege. So, we have this very traumatic experience. You can feel that. You can see that everywhere, in every corner. We are trying to use this experience. That’s why we started the program called ‘Dealing with The Past’ a couple of years ago, where we show films not [only] about our conflict, but also about different [but similar and political kinds of issues in the world, and bring people to talk about [it]. So, we are using this horrible experience to try to look at a brighter future.
(UM): In terms of workshops, do you offer any kind of events during your festival?
(EM): We have a market. The market attracts about 1,000 professionals from all over the world. All the projects that we select are from the region. But not all the guests are from the region. So, if you are looking for projects from this part of the world, you would come to Sarajevo to see the works-in-progress, to see the feature films that are just being developed. It’s quite a strong industry section.
(UM): In what ways do you promote the films? Do you offer any kind of screenings or cash prizes?
(EM): We do have a cash prize. In the Main Competition, four prizes for the feature films, two for short films, and two for documentaries. They are quite prestigious as well. If you win the Heart of Sarajevo, you will probably be picked up for theatrical distribution in the region. We also facilitate between the producers and sales agents. [If] you get a film that does not have a sale, we try to get the sales companies that could be interested in the film.
Our films are reviewed by most important trade outlets. We don’t pick a lot of films in the Competition. For example, in the Feature Film Competition, we take from 8-10 films because we want to really deal with every film and provide them with what they need. We have red carpets for the regional filmmakers and it has become a really important part of the festival, and quite significant for regional filmmakers. We not only invite the director and the producer – we also invite the actors and the rest of the crew. Basically, we have big crews coming to present the film and have press junkets/press conferences.
The [filmmakers] appreciate the fact that they can easily be approached by the regular audience.
(UM): In terms of educational programs, do you offer opportunities for kids?
(EM): We have two children’s programs. One is for school children and the other is for teenagers. But we also have talents. Like the Berlinale Talents, we have Sarajevo Talents as a branch for the regional filmmakers, and every year we bring about 80-100 young film professionals to Sarajevo with a tailored-specific program for them.
(UM): My last question. Do you have any vision for the future that you hope to realize in the next ten years?
(EM): For us, it’s quite a very strange time because the television boom has just started in Bosnia which gives a lot of opportunities for young people, which was not the case ten years ago.
I think in a couple of years we will have a new generation of film professionals, and I think this will inject another vision of where cinema is going and where the audiovisual industry is going in general.
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