By: Nevena Šarenac
The guests of the program “Coffee with …” at the festival square in front of the National Theater in Sarajevo were the jury members of the Competition Films Program of the 19th Sarajevo Film Festival (SFF), who spoke about the current events in their accomplishments, and the challenges they face in their work.
In this year’s Jury of the Competition Films Program are the B&H director Danis Tanović, who is the president of the jury and the Serbian actor Uliks Fehmiu, the director of photography from Germany Christine Maier, the Romanian actress Mirela Oprisor and the artistic director of the Critics Week in France Charles Tesson.
Charles Tesson for the first time at the SFF in the context of the program “Coffee with ….” spoke about his experience as a member of the jury stating that the level of youth cinema worldwide is rather high, and that SFF is an opportunity to learn more about it.
“I am very happy to be here, because this is an opportunity to see how things are in the world when it comes to cinema, and to analyze the ways in which movies are filmed in the last period”, he said.
About the experience of working in two films directed by Jasmila Žbanić – “Za one koji ne mogu govoriti” (For those who can not speak) and “Otok ljubavi” (The Island of Love) spoke Christine Maier, who pointed out that it is about completely different approaches.
She said that Jasmila Žbanić truly wanted to do the film “Za one koji ne mogu govoriti” (For those who can not speak), although in the process of doing the film went without money.
“We did not know where the film is taking us but it was very interesting for all of us. The film “Otok ljubavi” (The island of love) is totally different – it is a comedy. The filming of this movie is one of the best experiences that I have ever had”, she stated precisely.
The Director Danis Tanović recalled that the filming of the movie “Epizoda u životu berača željeza” (Episode in the Life of an iron picker) was achieved with little money, stressing that they did not even have the appropriate camera.
“But somehow I was confident because I was filming documentaries during the war. Nevertheless, the lack of money for the film gives you a certain freedom than when it comes to big production”, explained Tanović.
Uliks Fehmiu talked about his return to Serbia after many years living in New York, stating that he feels like the entire region is his, no matter where he works, he always feels like he is home.
“For an actor it is very important to work continually work. On the other hand, it is good that the actor sometimes has a break to have a little distance from it all. For an actor is reading, discussing, dreaming about the project almost same important as working in front of cameras”, he said.
