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Sarajevo Film Festival Unveils Lineup Exploring Life and Survival in “Unstable Social Frameworks”

by admin | Jul 23, 2025 | Articles, Hollywood Reporter Articles

The Sarajevo Film Festival in Bosnia and Herzegovina unveiled the lineup for its 31st edition on Wednesday. The festival’s four competition sections – for feature, documentary, short and student films – will feature 15 world, six international, 28 regional and two national premieres. A total of 50 films will compete for the Heart of Sarajevo awards.

This year, the Sarajevo festival programmers team, led by creative director Izeta Građević, watched 1,036 films, including 195 feature fiction films, 291 documentaries, and 550 shorts and student titles.

“The competition programs of the 31st Sarajevo Film Festival bring together filmmakers who, each from their own perspective and in various film formats and genres, explore how we live and how we survive within complex and unstable social frameworks,” said Građević. “The backbone of this year’s competition programs are films that, transcending national boundaries, remain true to the universal stories that shape our lives. In this range – from topics that deal with today to those that question the past – this selection opens up space to remember, through film stories, what we all have in common: the need for meaning, for closeness, for understanding – ourselves and others.”

Elma Tataragić, the programmer of the competition program – feature film, said that the section’s nine films include three world premieres and six regional premieres, making for “an impressive and diverse panorama of contemporary regional cinema.” Touting “a dynamic mix of bold narration, visual innovation and fresh perspectives that reflect the richness of the region’s cultural tapestry,” she highlighted that the competition includes six debut films that “bring original voices and bold creative approaches to the big screen.”

Italian auteur Paolo Sorrentino will receive this year’s Honorary Heart of Sarajevo award. The Sarajevo fest runs Aug. 15-22.

Check out the full Sarajevo lineup below.

COMPETITION PROGRAM – FEATURE FILM

OTTER (VIDRA), Srđan Vuletić (Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Italy, Croatia, Kosovo, 2025, 88 min.) – World premiere
STARS OF LITTLE IMPORTANCE (MINDEN CSILLAG), Renátó Olasz (Hungary, 2025, 83 min.) – World premiere
YUGO FLORIDA, Vladimir Tagić (Serbia, Bulgaria, France, Croatia, Montenegro, 2025, 112 min.) – World premiere
DJ AHMET, Georgi M. Unkovski (North Macedonia, Czech Republic, Serbia, Croatia, 2025, 99 min.) – Regional premiere
FANTASY, Kukla (Slovenia, North Macedonia, 2025, 98 min.) – Regional premiere
GOD WILL NOT HELP (BOG NEĆE POMOĆI), Hana Jušić (Croatia, Italy, Romania, Greece, France, Slovenia, 2025, 135 min.) – Regional premiere
SORELLA DI CLAUSURA, Ivana Mladenović (Romania, Serbia, Italy, Spain, 2025, 103 min.) – Regional premiere
WHITE SNAIL, Elsa Kremser, Levin Peter (Austria, Germany, 2025, 115 min.) – Regional premiere
WIND, TALK TO ME (VETRE, PRIČAJ SA MNOM), Stefan Đorđević (Serbia, Slovenia, Croatia, 2025, 100 min.) – Regional premiere

COMPETITION PROGRAM – DOCUMENTARY FILM

BOSNIAN KNIGHT (BOSANSKI VITEZ), Tarik Hodžić (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, 2025, 79 min.) – World premiere
I SAW A ‘SUNO’ (SUNO DIKHLEM), Katalin Barsony (Hungary, Belgium, 2025, 92 min.) – World premiere
KITE (CHARTAETOS), Thanos Psichogios (Greece, 2025, 15 min.) – World premiere
STEEL HOTEL SONG, Bojan Stojčić (Bosnia and Herzegovina, 2025, 19 min.) – World premiere
LETTERS (PISMA), Aysel Küçüksu (Bulgaria, 2025, 11 min.) – International premiere
MY DAD’S LESSONS (LEKCIJE MOG TATE), Dalija Dozet (Croatia, 2025, 62 min.) – International premiere
RED SLIDE (CRVENI TOBOGAN), Nebojša Slijepčević (Croatia, 2025, 27 min.) – International premiere
THIRD WORLD (TREĆI SVIJET), Arsen Oremović (Croatia, 2025, 101 min.) – International premiere
CUBA & ALASKA, Yegor Troyanovsky (Ukraine, France, Belgium, 2025, 93 min.) – Regional premiere
DIVIA, Dmytro Hreshko (Ukraine, Poland, The Netherlands, USA, 2025, 79 min.) – Regional premiere
DREAMERS: PEOPLE OF THE LIGHT (XƏYALPƏRƏSTLƏR: İŞIĞIN UŞAQLARI), Imam Hasanov (Azerbaijan, 2025, 86 min.) – Regional premiere
EVERYTIME YOU LEAVE, YOU ARE BORN AGAIN (SVAKI PUT KAD ODEŠ, PONOVO SE RAĐAŠ), Mladen Bundalo (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Belgium, 2025, 24 min.) – Regional premiere
I BELIEVE THE PORTRAIT SAVED ME (MUA BESOJ MË SHPËTOJ PORTRETI), Alban Muja (Kosovo, The Netherlands, 2025, 10 min.) – Regional premiere
IN HELL WITH IVO, Kristina Nikolova (Bulgaria, USA, 2025, 80 min.) – Regional premiere
MILITANTROPOS, Yelizaveta Smith, Alina Gorlova, Simon Mozgoviy (Ukraine, Austria, France, 2025, 111 min.) – Regional premiere
OUR TIME WILL COME (UNSERE ZEIT WIRD KOMMEN), Ivette Löcker (Austria, 2025, 105 min.) – Regional premiere
THE MEN’S LAND (KACEBIS MITSA), Mariam Bakacho Khatchvani (Georgia, Hungary, 2025, 15 min.) – Regional premiere
SLET 1988, Marta Popivoda (Serbia, Germany, France, 2025, 22 min.) – Regional premiere
19-MONTH CONTRACT, Ketevan Vashagashvili (Georgia, Bulgaria, Germany, 2025, 77 min.) – B&H premiere
TATA, Lina Vdovîi, Radu Ciorniciuc (Romania, Germany, The Netherlands, 2025, 82 min.) – B&H premiere

OUT OF COMPETITION FILM

OHO FILM, Damjan Kozole (Slovenia, Croatia, 2025, 93 min.) – International premiere, out of competition

COMPETITION PROGRAM – SHORT FILM

BERNA’S EYES (SYTË E BERNËS), Ermal Gërdovci (Kosovo*, North Macedonia, 2025, 17 min.) – World premiere
DESERT, SHE (IERIMOS), Ioanna Digenaki (Greece, 2025, 14 min.) – World premiere
PROCEDURE (PROSEDÜR), Rabia Özmen (Türkiye, 2025, 18 min.) – World premiere
ALIȘVERIȘ, Vasile Todinca (Romania, 2025, 15 min.) – Regional premiere
ERASERHEAD IN A KNITTED SHOPPING BAG, Lili Koss (Bulgaria, 2025, 19 min.) – Regional premiere
HYSTERICAL FIT OF LAUGHTER (HISTERIČNI NAPAD SMEHA), Matija Gluščević, Dušan Zorić (Serbia, Croatia, 2025, 15 min.) – Regional premiere
INDEX, Radu Muntean (Romania, 2025, 28 min.) – Regional premiere
THE SPECTACLE, Bálint Kenyeres (Hungary, France, 2025, 17 min.) – Regional premiere
UPON SUNRISE (KAD SVANE), Stefan Ivančić (Serbia, Spain, Slovenia, Croatia, 2025, 15 min.) – Regional premiere
WINTER IN MARCH (LUMI SAADAB MEID), Natalia Mirzoyan (Armenia, Estonia, France, Belgium, 2025, 16 min.) – Regional premiere

COMPETITION PROGRAM – STUDENT FILM

AFTER CLASS (DUPĂ ORE), Marius Papară (Romania, 2025, 18 min.) – World premiere
FOUND & LOST, Reza Rasouli (Austria, 2025, 17 min.) – World premiere
HOME, A SPACE BETWEEN US, Effi Rabsilber (Greece, 2025, 16 min.) – World premiere
RAHLO, Jozo Schmuch (Croatia, 2025, 19 min.) – World premiere
TARIK, Adem Tutić (Serbia, 2025, 27 min.) – World premiere
CURFEW (KOMENDANTSKA HODYNA), Yelyzaveta Toptyhina (Ukraine, 2025, 23 min.) – International premiere
BACKSTROKE (SIRTÜSTÜ), Asya Günen (Türkiye, 2025, 14 min.) – Regional premiere
LIVING STONES (ÉLŐ KÖVEK), Jakob Ladányi Jancsó (Hungary, 2025, 20 min.) – Regional premiere
MILK AND COOKIES (FURSECURI ȘI LAPTE), Andrei-Tache Codreanu (Romania, 2025, 21 min.) – Regional premiere
PENINSULA (POLUOTOK), David Gašo (Croatia, 2025, 19 min.) – Regional premiere
WISH YOU WERE EAR, Mirjana Balogh (Hungary, 2025, 10 min.) – Regional premiere

Celia Imrie, Penelope Wilton, Catherine Hardwicke, Jake Lacy Join HollyShorts Film Fest Jury (Exclusive)

by admin | Jul 23, 2025 | Articles, Hollywood Reporter Articles

Celia Imrie, Penelope Wilton, Catherine Hardwicke and Jake Lacy are among the star-studded jury lineup for the 21st HollyShorts Film Festival in Los Angeles.

Running Aug. 7-17, the summer festival spotlights the best of shortform cinema, with winners of HollyShorts awards in four key categories earning automatic Oscar qualification: best short film grand prize, best animated short, best live action short, and best documentary short.

Imrie (Bridget Jones’s Diary, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel) will adjudicate this year’s selection alongside Wilton (Downton Abbey), Anthony Head (Buffy the Vampire Slayer), Jennifer Ehle (Pride and Prejudice), The White Lotus star Lacy, Essie Davis (The Babadook), Lewis Tan (Cobra Kai), Mena Suvari (American Beauty) and Twilight (2008) director Hardwicke.

Adam Graves, director of the Oscar-nominated short Anuja, will also sit on the jury, as will journalists Ward Bond, Matthew Carey and Ramin Zahed, among others. See the full jury lineup, exclusively given to The Hollywood Reporter, below.

Founded in 2005, HollyShorts has grown into one of the world’s leading platforms for short-story telling. This year’s edition has over 400 films set to make their mark from a record-breaking 7,000 submissions.

The hybrid celebration of short films will take place in person, with screenings at the TCL Chinese Theatre in Hollywood and virtually through the official festival streaming platform, Bitpix TV. The festival will culminate in the awards gala on Aug. 17, where winners will be announced.

“I’m honored to join the HollyShorts jury this year,” said Wilton. “This festival is a celebration of bold creativity and the power of storytelling in its most distilled and impactful form.” Ehle added: “I’m thrilled to join the jury at HollyShorts, a festival that champions emerging voices, and storytelling at its most inventive.”

Below is the full list of jurors in alphabetical order:

Andrea Bang
Ward Bond
Matthew Carey
Catherine Curtin
Essie Davis
Cecilia Delgado
Jennifer Ehle
Adam Graves
Sonia Gumuchian
Catherine Hardwicke
Anthony Head
Celia Imrie
Bradley James
Aimee La Joie
Jake Lacy
Abi Leiff
Kris Mercado
Caroline Monnet
Sandro Monetti
Joey Moser
Krushan Naik
Lean N.H. Philpott
Colby Schinto
Weiman Seid
Yeardley Smith
Sarah Stunt
Mena Suvari
Lewis Tan
Amelia Tyler
Penelope Wilton
Ramin Zahed

Rumors Have Swirled Orlando Bloom Is Dating Jessica Alba. How She Allegedly Feels

by admin | Jul 22, 2025 | Articles, Cinemablend Articles

This year, some high-profile Hollywood relationships have come to an end. Jessica Alba and film producer Cash Warren are divorcing, and Orlando Brown and Katy Perry broke up as well. A source alleges how Alba feels about the rumors circulating of the two single stars dating.

Meeting her future husband on the set of 2005’s Fantastic Four, Alba and Warren were together for 16 years and share three kids. Five months after their split was announced, the actress was reported to be on vacation in Cancun with Top Gun: Maverick’s Danny Ramirez.

Daily Mail, the Trigger Warning actress allegedly isn’t looking for anything serious. In fact, Jessica Alba may reportedly be hitting it off with her The Mark co-star, Orlando Bloom:

Instagram, the Valentine’s Day star spoke about being on a journey of “self realization and transformation for years” and how it was time “to embark on a new chapter of growth and evolution as individuals.”

Cash Warren has previously spoken about jealousy having played a role in their four-year break. Jessica Alba said on Katherine Schwarzenegger’s 2004 Before, During And After Baby podcast episode about the struggle of juggling her responsibilities and making sure her husband “feels tended to.”

Orlando Bloom has become newly single as well, as he and Katy Perry broke off their engagement in June. An insider claimed their daughter factored into their decision to separate to avoid her “feeling the tension and animosity.” As for whether the British actor has now set his sights on Jessica Alba, Daily Mail’s source gets honest on where the two reportedly stand:

This wouldn’t be the first time that Orlando Bloom had been the subject of dating rumors since his split with Katy Perry. Rumors swirled about him and Sydney Sweeney, who were spotted together at Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez’s wedding. A source said the “Firework” singer has allegedly felt “disappointed and sad” about her ex rubbing shoulders with Sweeney and other female celebrities. It would appear that Jessica Alba and Bloom are both just looking for fun among friends, compared to any serious relationships.

According to a source’s claims, sparks are reportedly not flying between Orlando Bloom and Jessica Alba as they’re just co-stars. Now, I’m curious what the chemistry between the two will be like as they share the screen in The Mark. Check out our 2025 movie releases in case their spy thriller shows up there.

TV & Beyond on 2025-07-22 17:45:00

by admin | Jul 22, 2025 | TV & Beyond Articles

legendary B-movie producer and director Roger Corman cannot be overstated. The original “King of Cult” was a shrewd and thrifty operator who identified a gap in the market during the 1950s, namely among a young demographic of movie-goers who wanted cheap thrills when they went to their local fleapit or drive-in theater. And he gave them what they wanted in abundance, producing over 300 pictures and directing around 50 himself, often low-budget flicks full of sex, violence, rocket ships, monsters, hot rods, and plenty of rebellious attitude. The other side of Corman was a mogul of good taste, who distributed three Best Foreign Language Oscar-winners (“Amarcord,” “Dersu Uzala,” and “The Tin Drum”) and brought the likes of Akira Kurosawa, Federico Fellini, and Ingmar Bergman to wider U.S. audiences. Not only that, his films served as a launchpad for many future directors and actors such as Martin Scorsese, Francis Ford Coppola, Jonathan Demme, Robert De Niro, Sylvester Stallone, and Sandra Bullock.

But despite all that and making some pretty good films along the way, Corman will always be remembered most for his schlock. in that regard, he is probably best enjoyed from a distance unless you’re really into bad movies because he did make an awful lot of crud — flicks like “Teenage Cave Man” and “Attack of the Crab Monsters” are only just about survivable with a riff track from the “Mystery Science Theater 3000” guys. But say what you want about the quality, Corman’s low-budget films were clearly intended to offer fun and a few kicks without offending anyone too much. While there are some controversial titles in his filmography (such as “Humanoids from the Deep”), by and large, Corman wasn’t in the business of scandalizing viewers unlike the grandfather of splatter, Herschell Gordon Lewis (“Two Thousand Maniacs!”), Russ Meyer (“Vixen!”), or the Pope of Trash, John Waters (“Pink Flamingos”). Yet one horror film he co-produced in the ’80s fell foul of censors in the United Kingdom and remained on the naughty list until the year he passed away in 2024. That movie was Deborah Brock’s “Slumber Party Massacre II” (1987), but what did it do to remain banned for so long?

What happens in Slumber Party Massacre II?

Girl friends during a dance sequence in Slumber Party Massacre II

New Concorde

Emerging from the deluge of ’80s slasher movies that appeared in the shadow of Michael, Jason, and Freddy (of the hugely successful “Halloween,” “Friday the 13th,” and “A Nightmare on Elm Street” franchises), “Slumber Party Massacre II” follows on from the events of 1982’s “The Slumber Party Massacre.” Courtney Bates (Crystal Bernard), a survivor from the previous bloodbath, is now a high school senior troubled by nightmares about the maniac who terrorized her and her pals in the first film. Inexplicably, he has turned into a leather-clad rockabilly dude wielding an electric guitar/power drill combo played by Atanas Ilitch, heir to the Little Caesars Pizza empire.

Despite her traumatic previous experience, Courtney still heads out to an isolated house with her girlfriends to celebrate her birthday, where they are inevitably joined by a few horny teenage guys. As you might well expect, this scenario provides the set-up for a gory third act when the killer manifests himself and impales his victims one by one with his very phallic power tool.

The theatrical cut of “Slumber Party Massacre II” clocks in at just 75 minutes, and we don’t get our first real kill until over 50 minutes into the movie. The bulk of that build-up is just the girls hanging out, playing in their garage band, dancing, and having a tipsy pillow fight. This might frustrate hardcore slasher addicts, but it does at least build up believable camaraderie between the girls before their dates and the supernatural murderer shows up.

Unfortunately, the kills aren’t really worth the wait. It’s pretty mild and repetitive compared to many other slashers of the period, as the Driller Killer pops up, drills someone to death, and occasionally breaks into a song before the next skewering. Clearly influenced by Freddy Krueger (albeit less scary and much better looking), he is still the highlight of the film and gets one truly show-stopping dance number in which he mimes, breakdances, pirouettes, and boogies his way towards his next victim. It’s all very light-hearted and a little bit too jokey for its own good, and the weapon of choice is one of those audacious “only in the ’80s” things. There was some serious thought behind the killer’s guitar, however. According to writer-director Deborah Brock, it “[visualized] the violent sexuality of male rock ‘n’ roll and slasher films.”

Why was Slumber Party Massacre II banned for so long?

A victim about to be murdered with a power drill in Slumber Party Massacre II

New Concorde

“Slumber Party Massacre II” is a horror-comedy musical with a little gore, a flash of gratuitous nudity, and no real scares of any note. Yet it was withheld for certification by the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) until 2024 while more extreme material like “Cannibal Holocaust,” “The Driller Killer,” “The House by the Cemetery,” “The Last House on the Left,” and “SS Experiment Camp” were passed far earlier (albeit some with significant cuts).

All these lurid titles, and many more besides, contributed to the “Video Nasty” furore that erupted in Britain during the 1980s. The BBFC was first established as far back as 1912, but it faced its most challenging period in the early part of the ’80s due to the influx of unregulated video releases clogging up home rental stores. Many of them hadn’t received a theatrical release and therefore weren’t certified, which meant the public had unfettered access to some of the cheapest, gnarliest, bloodiest, and most exploitative trash existing on the market. Under pressure from the media and ever-vigilant moral crusaders like Mary Whitehouse, the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) drew up its first list of problematic titles (dubbed “video nasties”) in 1983, followed by the Video Recordings Act in the following year.

With legislation in place, it was the responsibility of the BBFC to exclude the most offensive movies from cinema and home video release. Supplying unclassified tapes became a criminal offense, but the big problem was that censors didn’t differentiate much between the really nasty stuff and movies with genuine merit as art and/or entertainment. As a result, films like “The Exorcist,” “The Evil Dead,” and Andrej Zulawski’s “Possession” got caught in the crossfire. In some notorious cases, films as completely innocuous as “I Miss You, Hugs and Kisses” ended up on the list simply because someone filed a complaint.

As for “Slumber Party Massacre II,” it is far less shocking than dozens of other ’80s slashers, but it was still deemed unsuitable for classification by the BBFC in 1988 and withheld from release after the film’s distributor refused to make cuts. The movie was belatedly passed with a 15 certificate (suitable for persons aged 15 or older) in 2024, which means that Brits who are still in high school can now revel in the leather-clad Driller Killer’s dance moves.

TV & Beyond on 2025-07-22 17:30:00

by admin | Jul 22, 2025 | TV & Beyond Articles

parish priest Father Bobby (Robert De Niro) and local gangster King Benny (Vittorio Gassman). While the kids often run small errands for King Benny from time to time, one unfortunate accident during the summer of 1967 completely alters the trajectory of their lives.

After stealing a hot-dog cart, the kids play around with it, and it accidentally rolls down a set of stairs and crushes a man. The four kids are sentenced to serve time at a juvenile detention center, where they’re subjected to unimaginable horrors, including repeated instances of sexual abuse and torture by a sadistic guard (Kevin Bacon). Fast-forward to the near future, two of the kids (now all grown up) shoot the remorseless guard in question, while the other two use their legit positions as a journalist and assistant D.A. to help their friends outsmart the law. Just when you think this is a straightforward story about justified revenge, “Sleepers” introduces the themes of complex morality and redemption, which define the lives of thousands affected by similar social circumstances in America.

The story of Lorenzo (Jason Patric), Michael (Brad Pitt), John (Ron Eldard), and Tommy (Billy Crudup) in “Sleepers” is based on Lorenzo Carcaterra’s eponymous nonfiction book that details these real-life events in startling depth. However, Carcaterra’s claim that he is among the boys who experienced these harrowing events has been challenged ever since the book’s publication, casting a dubious light on the veracity of the memoir. This begs the question: Is Carcaterra’s “Sleepers” really a true story? Here’s what we know.

TV & Beyond on 2025-07-22 17:20:00

by admin | Jul 22, 2025 | TV & Beyond Articles

the “Big Bang Theory” spin-off “Young Sheldon” is a surprisingly different animal than its parent show. The prequel nature of “Young Sheldon” meant that certain characters arrived with certain expectations, and among the biggest questions was how the show would treat Sheldon Cooper’s (Iain Armitage) father, who came pre-characterized as a pretty awful person. Indeed, Lance Barber was worried about playing George Cooper Sr. for this very reason, but the show ultimately addressed the concerns by turning George Sr. into such a likable character that co-creator Chuck Lorre came to regret killing him off on “The Big Bang Theory.”

Barber ended up having quite a bit of fun with the role, too. However, his favorite moments was quite different from what you might think. In a 2019 interview with Mashable India, he named the comparatively obscure season 2 episode “Albert Einstein and the Story of Another Mary” as his favorite one just from an acting standpoint:

“If we’re talking about the fun, actor-y stuff that I got to do, it’ll be this episode in season 2 in which Mary was pregnant. There were moments in this episode that were heavy lifting for us as actors. When I watched it, I thought it turned out pretty great.”

Zoe Perry (who plays Sheldon’s mother, Mary Cooper) concurred with the sentiment, noting that Barber’s performance, in particular, was a sight to behold:

“There is definitely a treat we get when we get together, cast and crew, on set and watch an episode together. With that one in particular, I was so moved by Lance in a particular scene, because I wasn’t exactly looking at him during the scene.

Sarajevo Film Festival Unveils Lineup Exploring Life and Survival in “Unstable Social Frameworks”

Celia Imrie, Penelope Wilton, Catherine Hardwicke, Jake Lacy Join HollyShorts Film Fest Jury (Exclusive)

Rumors Have Swirled Orlando Bloom Is Dating Jessica Alba. How She Allegedly Feels

TV & Beyond on 2025-07-22 17:45:00

What happens in Slumber Party Massacre II?

Why was Slumber Party Massacre II banned for so long?

TV & Beyond on 2025-07-22 17:30:00

Sleepers’ real-life memoir has been under scrutiny for the longest time

The credibility of Sleepers as a memoir doesn’t affect the legacy of Levinson’s crime drama

TV & Beyond on 2025-07-22 17:20:00

Albert Einstein and the Story of Another Mary is a hard-hitting Young Sheldon episode

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