This year’s 16th edition of the Telemach Youth Film Festival (OFF) in Sarajevo will open on July 19 with the Palestinian film “An Orange from Jaffa” directed by Mohhamed Almughanni. The film will be shown in parallel at the Youth Theater and at open-air cinemas on Trg Oslobođenja – Alija Izetbegović and Wilson’s Promenade as part of the Poli Open Air and Raiffeisen Vils Open Air cinemas.
The festival will show more than 65 films in four cinema locations. Tickets are available from July 12 through the festival portal www.films.omladinski.ba.
At the press conference held today, the organizers announced the best Festival so far and invited citizens and tourists to be part of the festival atmosphere, which this year lasts for eight days – from July 19 to 26. The press conference was addressed by the director of the Festival, Kenan Music, the president of the KS Tourist Board, Haris Fazlagić, the director of Telemach, the general sponsor of the Festival, Admir Drinić, and the director of the short film program, Ado Hasanović.
Kenan Music said that there are four days left until the start of the 16th Festival, the second largest and most important film festival in Bosnia and Herzegovina and one of the most important short and youth film festivals in Southeast Europe.
– We are proud of what Telemach OFF has achieved in the last 16 years and the pace at which it is developing and growing. Sarajevo became a regional European center for short films and that was our goal. In addition to the regular program, we also invested a lot of time and effort in the OFF Pro Film Market, which this year presents 12 projects. In addition, Telemach OFF is a strategically important event for the culture and tourism of Sarajevo and Bosnia and Herzegovina, which is confirmed by the statistics – said the director of the Festival.
In addition to supporting ongoing activities, the general sponsor of the Festival, the company Telemach BH, has been working continuously since the end of the last edition of OFF to promote the short film through distribution in the OFF+ catalog available on the EON platform. In this way, it contributes to the continuous growth of short film production and distribution. General Director of Telemach BH Admir Drinić stated that Telemach Youth Film Festival is an opportunity for young filmmakers from BiH to show their creativity, connect with the audience and professionals from this industry and assert themselves on the international stage.
Haris Fazlagić, president of the KS Tourist Board, said that OFF is important in the promotion of tourism in Sarajevo Canton.
– For us, OFF is very important not only for tourism, the Tourist Board, but also for the promotion of youth films – said Fazlagić.
Numerous guests are coming to the sixteenth edition of Telemach OFF. Thus, the young Ukrainian actor star of the Apple+ series “Little America” Zachary Shadrin, who became the first Ukrainian actor nominated for an Emmy Award, will visit Sarajevo. Zachary presents the film “Forever, Forever” in Sarajevo, in which he plays the main role.
Dasha Timbush, founder of CastingForm, who has achieved success in global talent management, is also coming to OFF. CastingForm’s clients include Universal, HBO, Netflix and Amazon, as well as actors from 124 countries. During his stay in Sarajevo, as part of the OFF Pro Film Market, Timbush will present the project and make a national selection of actors from Bosnia and Herzegovina who will be presented at the Cannes Film Festival in 2025. The guest of the Festival will be Mirela Balić, the Netflix teen sensation known for her role in the series “Elite”, who will receive the award for the best actress in the series at the Festival.
This year’s Telemach OFF will also be visited by European directors who will present their films: Emiliano Corapi, Jure Pavlović, Anthony Schatteman, Christian Avilés, Marius De Saeger, actors Lou Goossens, Lazar Dragojević and executive director of the Clermont Film Festival Laurent Crouzeix, it was announced from OFF- a.
Source: federalna.ba
