20th Bosnian-Herzegovinian Film Festival Presents New & Classic Films

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Parent Category: Film Festivals

Category: Previews

Published on Monday, 22 April 2024 20:01

Written by Brad Balfour

Now in its 20th entry, the Bosnian-Herzegovinian Film Festival (BHFF) returns to NYC April 24th to the 27th. Held at the SVA Theatre (333 West 23rd Street) the festival features a total of fourteen films as part of the competition program. 

This year, the festival will also feature a retrospective screening of the newly restored Life of a Shock Force Worker (1972), directed by the legendary Bahrudin Bato Čengić. Shock Force Worker is about the life and times of shock force worker Alija Sirotanovic and his comrades that commemorates the coal miners’ dignity and sacrifice. The story begins in 1947 and follows the life of these workers from the moment they join the shock force movement until their retirement. The film is a collaboration between several notable names of New Yugoslav Film: the screenplay was co-written by Bato Čengić and Branko Vučićević, and the director of photography was Karpo Aćimović Godina.

In Bosnian Pot, Faruk Šego, a Bosnian writer living in Austria, is suddenly left without a residence permit due to stricter emigration rules and his own negligence. In order to not be deported, Faruk must prove to the authorities, that he's made a cultural contribution to Austrian society. His last chance is an off-theatre group that can stage a play he once wrote as a young man. The ensuing adventure brought on by Faruk's reluctant return to the theatre could transform his life and force him to realize what is truly important.

Cherry Juice, which takes the viewer from Hamburg to Sarajevo, tells the story of two people for whom cinema means everything. Selma, a Bosnian screenwriter from Sarajevo, has written a screenplay processing her experiences as a refugee in Germany from the Yugoslav War. But four weeks before the shoot is scheduled to begin, the project is canceled. While drowning her frustrations in alcohol, Selma fails to inform all of the crew members of the shoot’s cancellation, while an Hamburg-based actor named Niklas is preparing his role for the film—only learning upon his arrival in Sarajevo that the film is no more. Spontaneously, he decides to stay in Sarajevo, where he crosses paths with Selma, and their worlds collide: the pessimistic, reserved Bosnian and the optimistic, charming German, both connected by the same dream of making movies. They spend New Year's Eve together and experience an exciting and life-changing night.

This is a sampling of films that will be screen at the BHFF. Special guests to the festival include Una Gunjak, Mersiha Husagic, Amna Hadžić, Pavo Marinković, Ines Tanović, and Zulfikar Filandra.

To learn more, go to: https://www.bhffnyc.org/

Bosnian-Herzegovinian Film Festival
April 24 - 27, 2024

SVA Theatre
333 West 23rd Street
New York, NY 10011

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