[ Fokus: Bosnien - Focus: Bosnia ]

Slavs of New York and East Ethnia allude to the third annual Bosnian-Herzegovinian Film Festival (BHFF), that will take place on May 19 - 21, 2006 in New York City at the prominent film institution Anthology Film Archives.
 

BHFF represents and celebrates prolific and award-winning Bosnian-Herzegovinian cinematography. The program of the BHFF includes features, shorts, documentaries and animated films. The detailed program page is to be found here, further informations are also available for download as a brochure in [.pdf] format.

Some short facts about Bosnian Cinematography:

 

Bosnia, one of the most prolific—yet less known—centers of film production in the former Yugoslavia, has a strong tradition of award-winning film-making. Indeed, its filmmakers stand as Bosnia’s best-known representatives, more so than other public figures. This Festival showcases the best of the Bosnian cinematography, concentrating on the emerging directors as well as choosing several retrospective productions each time.

Cinematography in Bosnia dates back to the 1960s, as part of the suppressed Yugoslav "lack Wave" (Bato Cengic's The Role Of My Family in the World Revolution, for example). The emergence of a whole genre of "partisan films" in the 1970s depicted the popular resistance against the Nazis during the Second World War, and was replete with western-style conventions and packed with action (Hajrudin Krvavac's classic Walter Defends Sarajevo).

After the death of Tito in 1980, less overtly political cinema emerged which achieved worldwide acclaim and won numerous awards (Emir Kusturica’s Do You Remember Dolly Bell? and When Father Was Away On Business). Once called their own, Bosnians now have an uneasy relationship with Kusturica, whose Underground was perceived to be propaganda for the regime of Slobodan Miloševic. High-ranking members of the Miloševic government were invited to and attended the Yugoslav premiere. Kusturica is now considered by some persona non grata in Sarajevo.

The war and siege of Sarajevo between 1992-1995 curbed feature film production in newly-independent Bosnia, but inspired countless shorts and documentaries drawing mostly on video footage, among them by members of the Sarajevo Group of Authors (SaGA), that gave impressive testimony to the lives, suffering and human spirit of ordinary people. Indeed, Bosnian cinematography is now most famous for films about this war. The first such feature was Perfect Circle by Ademir Kenovic, a multi-award winner. No Man's Land by Danis Tanovic consolidated the resurgence of cinema from Bosnia when it was given an Oscar for Best Foreign Language film in 2002.

The Bosnian-Herzegovinian Film Festival in New York showcases the best of the resurgent production in Bosnia, bringing the simplicity, soulfulness and the perennial dark humor of the Bosnian film to the American audiences.

Source: BHFF Website