How culture prevails amid political chaos: Sarajevo Festival director

The celebration of new filmmakers and indie films, the Sarajevo Film Festival, is returning with its 31st edition, but this time it’s a prominent symbol of cultural persistence.

Sarajevo’s annual festival, which began during the Bosnian War in 1995, is a significant reminder of culture and art prevailing amidst political mayhem.

The festival has lived up to its manifesto of not just honouring Southeast European cinema but also revitalising a city that had been isolated from the rest of the world.

As the director of the Sarajevo Film Festival, Jovan Marjanović, noted, in the complicated world in which we are living right now, one needs to be careful while carrying out life.

However, at the same time, the director said, “On the other hand, you can’t keep doing what you want to do if you’re constantly turning your head around to see what’s coming.”

“We don’t shy away from hard times because our festival actually started in very hard times for this city and the region,” the director said, “and it’s important to us to offer up an engaging program that offers enough serious conversation starters.”

The director urged that in such times, we can start conversations and reflect more deeply.

Moreover, addressing the turmoil and chaos that hem in the culture right now, Marjanović advised being “fearless, fierce and safeguarding our independence on the one side.”

“On the other side, I think we need to understand as much as possible the kind of world we want to live in and try to send these kinds of messages out to the world. The only thing we can do that with is our program,” the director said.

The 31st edition of the Sarajevo Film Festival runs August 15–22, 2025.

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