14/08/2014 - Amores Perros, Bridges of Sarajevo and Of Horses and Men will be screened on the opening night

The 20^th Sarajevo Film Festival will open on Friday at three of its now legendary venues: HT Eronet Open Air Cinema, National Theater and Meeting Point Cinema. With a gala screening of Alejandro Iñárritu's Amores Perros in the 3000-seat HT Eronet Open Air Cinema, the festival will honour the contemporary Mexican cinema and the film's star Gael García Bernal who will receive the Honorary Heart of Sarajevo. Bernal will also meet with young filmmakers from the countries of Southeast Europe a day later to mark the opening of the Sarajevo Talents. The SFF has established a partnership with Instituto Mexicano de Cinematografía (IMCINE) in order to bring Mexican films to the audiences of SFF.

"In celebrating 20 years of the Sarajevo Film Festival, it is time to reach out to new territories and find new partners outside of our region, who we can gain knowledge and experience from and who in turn can benefit from our unique perspective. In the last years Mexican cinema has shown not only to be a rich and vivid creative industry, but also a solid platform where diversity, identity and originality coexist to offer high quality audiovisual content," says Mirsad Purivatra, the director of SFF.

The Industry activities at the CineLink Co-Production Market will provide the opportunity to help develop strong connections between the two countries’ film industries. Mexican project Operación: Baby by José Luis Valle, which is currently in development, will be presented at CineLink as well.

Besides Bernal, the French designer and filmmaker Agnès B., a long-time friend of the festival who designed its logo and the physical award, will also receive the Honorary Heart of Sarajevo. The next day, Agnès B. will present her feature film My Name is Hmmm… [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] to the Sarajevo audiences.

Director Danis Tanović, the third laureate of the Honorary Heart of Sarajevo award this year, will receive his prize in the National Theater on the last night of the 20th Sarajevo Film Festival. 

The omnibus film Bridges Of Sarajevo [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] will open the festival's main competition venue at the National Theatre, with directors Cristi Puiu, Vladimir Perišić, Aida Begić, Marc Recha, Angela Shanelec, Isild Le Besco, animator Luis da Matta Almeida, and artistic director of the project Jean-Michel Frodon in attendance.

The Meeting Point Cinema will be at the center of attention of the art house film fans. Their favorite festival program Kinoscope opens on the first night of the festival with the screening of the Icelandic film Of Horses and Men [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Benedikt Erlingsson
film profile] by Benedikt Erlingsson.