Preview by Brad Balfour
Bosnian-Herzegovinian Film Festival
April 24 – 27, 2024
SVA Theatre
333 West 23rd Stree
tNew York, NY 10011
Now in its 20th year, the Bosnian-Herzegovinian Film Festival (BHFF) returns to NYC April 24th to the 27th, 2024. Held at the SVA Theatre (333 West 23rd Street) the festival features a total of 14 films as part of the competition program.
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-theater 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.
One film, “Cherry Juice” — directed by Mersiha Husagić in feature debut — takes the viewer from Hamburg to Sarajevo. It 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. A Hamburg-based actor named Niklas prepares his role for the film — only to learn 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 connect through the same dream of making movies. They spend New Year’s Eve together and experience an exciting and life-changing night.
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. The film 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. 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.
Special guests attending the festival include Una Gunjak, Mersiha Husagić, Amna Hadžić, Pavo Marinković, Ines Tanović, and Zulfikar Filandra.
To learn more, go to: https://www.bhffnyc.org/