There is an interesting tension at the Sarajevo Film Festival which, though this was my first time, I suspect exists as a matter of course. And this is a tension between the spirit of the people I meet here β ebullient, good-humoured and indefatigable they really know how to party β and the films themselves, which suggest a country and a region still reeling from the turmoil of its recent past.
The origins of the festival embody this tension. The film festival was a similar act of resistance, dressed as determined normality. In that first year, film buffs apparently gathered in a basement to watch Quentin Tarantino 's Pulp Fiction.
Since , though, the festival has grown to be the biggest in the Balkans, famous for its open-air screenings see main picture , in which 3,strong audiences watch movies surrounded by buildings which still bear the mortar gashes and bullet holes of the siege. Rather, it is a showcase for Balkan films, from Greece and Bulgaria as well as those countries that made up the former Yugoslavia; and to view these is to immerse oneself in the life, politics and culture of a very particular, not to say troubled part of the world.
This year, the competition programme was notable for the number of first-time directors, whose films suggest a younger generation who are disaffected, struggling with means and identity in countries that have similar problems. The boy, Kamen, is going to the funeral of a friend who has just committed suicide, and would rather be alone.
As the title suggests, A Trip is another road movie, this time from Slovenia, as three twentysomethings, old school friends, reunite for a nostalgic camping trip to the coast. While the confrontations are too calculated, what strikes one about the film is the dearth of opportunity for three intelligent young people.
