28th Sarajevo Film Festival begins in Bosnia

BELGRADE, Serbia 

The 28th Sarajevo Film Festival (SFF) began Friday in the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina with Swedish director Ruben Ostlund's TRT co-production, "Triangle of Sadness," the Palme d'Or award-winning film.

The opening ceremony was held at the National Theater with a red carpet parade that saw the participation of top names from the world of cinema.

Thousands of moviegoers from across the world will attend the SFF, which will last until Aug. 19, and the viewers will have the opportunity to watch more than 200 films from 62 countries.

Ukrainian director, screenwriter, and producer Sergei Loznitsa and Swedish director Ruben Ostlund were awarded the "Heart of Sarajevo" Honorary Award during the opening ceremonies.

Festival director Jovan Marjanovic expressed his happiness that the festival is being held in its original form after two years due to coronavirus pandemic reasons.

The festival features six TRT films, including five TRT co-productions and one TRT award-winning film.

The festival will screen 235 films from 62 countries in 19 programs, 54 of which will have their world premiere. It is set to feature 51 films in four categories.

Fifty-one will compete for the Heart of Sarajevo awards.

The festival began 28 years ago to make the city again a destination of culture and art and help heal the memories of the bloody Bosnian War in the 1990s.

Past festival attendees include luminaries like Robert de Niro, Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt, Orlando Bloom, Daniel Craig, John Malkovich, Morgan Freeman, Gerard Depardieu, and Turkish director Nuri Bilge Ceylan.