[wzslider]By Medina Malagić
On the premises of Sarajevo School of Science and Technology, the Director of Academic Activities Emina Ganić and Director of the Film Factory Program Bela Tarr presented the activities of the Doctor of Liberal Arts (DLA) Program that began in 2013. They also took used this occasion to discuss with the public the activities that are currently being planned for the upcoming academic year.
Director of Academic Activities Emina Ganić elucidated on what makes this program engaging. ”The program is interesting because people do not come as guests. They do not come here to spend one or two days in order to hold one or two lectures. We expect a lot from the people who come here, at least two weeks of intensive work and results”.
She announced that the program for next year will be published soon, and when it is published all the lecturers for the first semester for the upcoming academic year will be known.
Next week, Carlos Reygadas, Jonathan Rosenbaum and Manuel Grosso will arrive at the Film Factory, while actress Tilda Swinton will hold the final lecture this semester.
Other lecturers that have been announced so far are Kirill Razlogov, Jytte Jense, Jim Jarmusch, Atom Egoyan and Apichatpong Weerasethakul, announced the Press Office of the Sarajevo Film Festival.
According to Ganić, in this type of art program it is difficult to apply the same standards of qualifications as to other programs on offer at the University. The previous works of the applicants are taken into account, so students are chosen based on their porfolio. ”They are selected primarily on the merit of what Bela Tarr has seen in their work”, said Ganić.
Bela Tarr briefly elaborated on the significance that this program holds and what it would offer to aspiring young filmmakers.
”After three months of this program and years spent in developing these ideas, this vision is to gather young filmmakers from all parts of the world and to allow them to explor their talent with absolute freedom, and with the possibility to work together with some of the most successful and exciting filmmakers, theorists and artists, all of this becomes more real”, said Tarr.
Keeping in line with the collaborative nature of this film program with renowned independent film directors as either staff or visiting professors, director and screenwriter Gus Vant Sant, who is widely known for his films ‘Good Will Hunting’ and ‘Milk’, was present at the press conference today held at the Sarajevo School of Science and Technology together with Emina Ganić and Bela Tarr.
When asked about his impressions of Sarajevo, he said, ”I know Sarajevo from the news, and it has come a long way from what I know. I heard many stories from different visitors that had come to Sarajevo during the Sarajevo Film Festival, one of whom was famous philantropist Susan Sontag, who recalled her experiences here. It is very pretty here. I have travelled outside of Sarajevo in the hills. It is amazing to be here. It reminds me of where I come from, Portland, Oregon. It is about the same size as Sarajevo, and there are also a lot of hills”.
Gus Van Sant is here as a lecturer and to work in close collaboration with the first generation of doctoral students of the Sarajevo Film Factory Program in a two-week workshop.
Sarajevo Film Academy is a collaborative and ambitious program that was launched in 2010 under the auspicious of the Sarajevo School of Science and Technology. So far, it enjoys the reputation of being the first private school in BiH, and in the region of South East Europe it is the only filmmaking school whose curriculum is entirely in English.
Within the Sarajevo Film Academy, which offers undergraduate and graduate programs, prominent and renowned Director from Hungary Bela Tarr developed Sarajevo Film Factory. Film Factory offers a three-year doctoral level program that endeavors to combine the theoretical framework of filmmaking with practical work. The committed involvement of prominent artists for this study program under the auspice of Bela Tarr is testament to their persistent efforts to motivate a new generation of young and talented filmmakers to continue to develop innovative concepts in filmmaking infused with the spirit of humanism.
