Sarajevo Film Festival Expects 100,000 Visitors

Construction of the main stage has started in front of Sarajevo's National Theatre, which will be the main venue for the red-carpet introductions and presentations at the 21st Sarajevo Film Festival which starts in less than three weeks in the Bosnian capital.  

"Preparations of the locations for the 21st SFF are in full swing. Work to prepare the most attractive and logistically most demanding festival location [an open air cinema] is in the final phase," the festival's public relations officer Altijana Maric told BIRN.

Maric said that there has been an increase in the number of visitors each year and this year around 100,000 visitors and participants are expected.

The organisers have announced that this year actor Benicio del Toro will attend and be given the Heart of Sarajevo festival award, which in the past has been given to stars such as Angelina Jolie, Gael Garcia Bernal, Steve Buscemi, Bela Tarr and others. 

A film featuring del Toro and Tim Robbins, 'A Perfect Day', directed by the Spanish film-maker Fernando Leon de Aranoa, will be screened as part of the open-air cinema programme, which is the most popular part of the festival.  

The open-air cinema programme will offer several other interesting films such as 'These Are the Rules' by Croatian director Ognjen Svilicic, 'Irrational Man' by Woody Allen, 'Chronic' by the Mexican director Michel Franco, and the Indian-French-British film 'Tigers' directed by the Oscar-winning Bosnian film-maker Danis Tanovic. 

The competition selection will include films from other countries such as Turkey, Romania, Greece, Serbia, Hungary, Austria, Croatia and Slovenia. 

Sarajevo Film Festival has grown in recent years into one of the biggest such events in Europe...

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