Hungarian Film Talent on Display at the 31st Sarajevo Film Festival
zita kisgergely
The Sarajevo Film Festival 2025 is currently underway, showcasing the best of regional and world cinema, including several Hungarian films that are in competition.
The 31st Sarajevo Film Festival
Founded in 1995 during the siege of Sarajevo, the festival has grown into one of the largest film festivals in Southeast Europe and one of the most prestigious in Europe. Each year, it attracts more than 100,000 visitors and some of the biggest names in international cinema.
Bálint Kenyeres Competes with THE SPECTACLE
This year features Hungarian filmmakers with five films competing across categories, including a short film from Bálint Kenyeres, THE SPECTACLE. Flatpack Films’ very own Zita Kisgergely is one of the co-producers of the film.
A Hungarian-French co-production, the story follows a Roma boy with a unique talent who is suddenly thrust into the public eye after a television crew come to film him. Touching upon themes of identity and media influence, Kenyeres has been open about the origins of the short film and explained that the idea came to him in a dream. Upon waking, he felt compelled to turn it into a short film. You can read more about the film and its production here.
Hungarian writer & director, Bálint Kenyeres
Hungarian Films Across All Sections
Feature Competition: The world premiere of Renátó Olasz’s debut feature MINDEN CSILLAG (ALL THE STARS) tells the story of two siblings returning from Budapest to their hometown for Christmas, only to find that nothing is as they remember.
Documentary Competition: Katalin Bársony’s SUNO DIKHLEM, a Belgian-Hungarian co-production, portrays the struggle of a Kosovar Roma boy facing deportation from Germany.
Student Films: Two young Hungarian talents join the lineup. Mirjana Balogh’s WISH YOU WERE EAR, an animated short about how relationships shape identity, and Jakob Ladányi Jancsó’s LIVING STONES, set in an isolated rehabilitation facility. Both submissions add fresh voices to the festival.
The 31st Sarajevo Film Festival
The festival this year opened with the world premiere of THE PAVILION. The film is a Bosnian black comedy from Dino Mustafić, who, as well as being the former artistic director of drama at the National Theatre Sarajevo, has extensive experience directing theatre and documentaries. The feature, written by Viktor Ivančić, follows a group of poorly treated elderly residents of a retirement home who exact revenge on their abusers by staging an armed rebellion.
In other news from the festival, veteran Swedish actor Stellan Skarsgård has received the Honorary Heart of Sarajevo. It was presented to the actor by Mirsad Purivatra, founder of the Sarajevo Film Festival.
The festival runs from August 15th to August 22nd
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