In Youth Eyes 2021: Dealing with Past through Movies – Sarajevo Film Festival

BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA – The Sarajevo Film Festival (SFF) and the Regional Youth Cooperation Office (RYCO), in cooperation with the Civil Peace Service Forum (ZFD) and USAID project PRO-Future, have successfully implemented the special edition of the project ”In Youth Eyes: WESTERN BALKANS YOUTH TEAM” which gathered youth from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo*, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia.

Due to limitations and restrictions deployed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the project was implemented in an online format, where panel discussions and conversations between the authors of the movies and the participants were held through Zoom meetings and Facebook live events.

From 24 to 30 April 2021, the participants had the opportunity to watch movies, attend and participate in conversations with the authors of the movies as well as actively participate in the panel discussions.

The Sarajevo Film Festival’s “Dealing with the Past” program was launched in 2016 to initiate a sincere dialogue on the topics of dealing with the past in the region. This special edition held from 24 to 30 April presented films that marked previous editions of the “Dealing with the Past” program, films that have been awarded at numerous international festivals, such as the Oscar-nominated “Quo Vadis, Aida?” by Jasmila Žbanić, and addressed issues of conflict in the region.

“Before participating in this program I did not use to watch war and conflict-related films at all because I felt anxious about what had happened in the past. But now after watching these movies, I see how important they are because of the awareness they raise and teach us that we should not make the same mistakes, but we can learn from them,” said one of the participants in the program.

The joint project is a synergy of important and valuable partners in Bosnia and Herzegovina which aim to make opportunities for young people from the Western Balkans more mobile, creative, and inclusive, serving as innovative engines for a better region and intercultural community.

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*This designation is without prejudice to positions on status and is in line with UNSCR 1244 and the ICJ Opinion on the Kosovo Declaration of Independence.

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