From 27 to 30 November 2025, the “Days of Italian Cinema” returned to Bosnia and Herzegovina, a well-established cultural event organized by the Embassy of Italy to promote contemporary Italian filmmaking. This year’s edition took place in four cities – Sarajevo, Banja Luka, Tuzla and Zenica – in partnership with Kino Meeting Point, Cineplexx Palas, CineStar Cinema and Restaurant Tapas.
The 2025 program presented audiences with a curated selection of films that highlight the richness and diversity of Italy’s modern cinematic scene. The festival opened on 27 November in Sarajevo with the screening of Gloria!, a powerful and original film that delicately explores themes of emancipation and artistic expression.
Palazzina Laf—a socially engaged narrative about work, told with both humor and depth—was shown on 28 November in Sarajevo, Banja Luka and Zenica, and on 30 November in Tuzla. Zenica also hosted the screening of Momenti di trascurabile felicità on 30 November, a light yet thoughtful film that reflects on the small joys that enrich everyday life.
Marking the 30th anniversary of the Srebrenica genocide, the festival placed special focus on I diari di mio padre, directed by Bosnian-Herzegovinian filmmaker Ado Hasanović, who lives in Rome. A former director of the Silver Frame Film Festival in Srebrenica and curator of the Euro Balkan Film Festival in Rome, Hasanović attended the screening on 29 November in Sarajevo, where she engaged with the audience following the film.
The Ambassador of Italy, Sarah Eti Castellani, underlined that last summer’s Sarajevo Film Festival—featuring director Paolo Sorrentino and a dedicated program—demonstrated once again the strong local interest in Italian cinema. This enthusiasm, he noted, reflects the genuine curiosity toward Italy, its landscapes, lifestyle, language and traditions, strengthened by the longstanding closeness between the two countries.
In this spirit, the “Days of Italian Cinema” offered a valuable platform for dialogue on shared themes, further reinforcing the historical cultural ties between Italy and Bosnia and Herzegovina through the universal language of film.
