Thinking Allowed: Sarajevo film festival

We happened to arrive in Sarajaevo during the well known film festival. The festival started in the 90's when Sarajevo was still under siege as an act of defiance and noralacy. From there it grew in size and prestige. We don't go to many movies. In fact, I've only been to the movie theatre with my children a few times. But it seemed like a good chance to be a part of a cultural event and the festival has a few films meant specifically for children. So, we found ourselves heading to our first film hoping that Levana's attention would be captivated enough to sit still for an hour and a half. The experience of going to the youth theatre was an enjoyable activity. Sponsors had games set up and doled out prizes. Each viewer was given a juice. Half the theatre was made up of the youth jury which was interesting to observe. Actually the whole theatre had very few adults and gave us a glimpse into the lives of Sarajevan children. The king of all wanderers was a Dutch film about a girl whose father comes back after five years away. The girl's mother bans her from spending time with her father but is evasive on the reasons. It becomes obvious to the watcher and slowly to the child that her father, while an enthusiastic parent, is homeless and has schizophrenia. After the film the creator came in to answer questions of which the youth jury had many. We were all mesmerised by the way such heavy themes were discussed through a child's perspective. Levana sat through the whole film. Bolstered by the fun experience we decided to go all in.

I scoured the program for any films that would be appropriate to my entire family. Most of the films had very serious or dark themes making them inappropriate for children. The evening before Aurora flew back to Norway four of us (Sophia graciously stayed home with Levana) walked along the river to a bigger theatre to watch Bear with Me. The viewing included a short film about the gossip surrounding a bear sighting in a small Croatian town in asparagus season. It was a lighthearted short film that dealt with the negative effect of social media on small populations. The maker of the film came in for questions. Bear with Me was a documentary in Bulgarian about a former circus animal trainer, Maxy, who lives with a bear (Natasha) behind a zoo in the Netherlands after being forced to give her animals away due to changes in public opinions on animals in circuses. They are allowed to live in this way until Natasha's death (which turned out to be much longer than anyone expected). The creator did a great job of presenting the animal rights activists point of view, a history of Maxy's amazing life and the current reality for Maxy and Natasha. The team of creators as well as the good friends of Maxy came in to speak at the end of the film as it was the international premiere of the film. Tova is still talking about how Maxy's best friend was bawling as she walked in front of the audience.

Splish Splash Summer was another film from the children's program. By now the kids were into the whole film festival vibe and eagerly took their bag of plazma and juice into the line to enter. At less than four dollars a person (including snack and drinks) going to the film festival was honestly the most affordable activity we did in Sarajevo. The topic was lighthearted, involving a small town in Germany that is forced to close its swimming pool and a young girls quest to save the pool. Because it had lighter themes the theatre was packed full of children (mostly under the age of 10). They were an enthusiastic audience and the few responsible adults in the room were forced to walk around the whole time shushing everyone. There seemed to be a lot of running in the aisles during the film. Guess that is what happens when you give children juice and cookies and expect them to sit still. It was a fun film but the kids all felt it was a little on the dramatic side. Still, it did a good job of showing how kids can change a government decision.

Our final film was in the teen category. The film Girls don't Skateboard was a North Macedonian film about two poor teen Roma sisters who like to skateboard and are grappling with an impending arranged marriage. I kind of thought there would be lots of footage of skateboarding that the kids would enjoy, but, there was little skateboarding. It was a great film but definitely not meant for young children. Levana diligently ate her snack of juice and biscuits and then was eager to leave. Luckily she then just fell asleep. After the film the creator and main actress came up to answer questions. The cast were all Roma actors and we learned a lot about Roma challenges. Once we left the kids had lots of questions and I had to give them a crash course on the intricacies of teen marriage, virginity, and the use of blood on sheets to confirm a successful marriage. Definitely an unexpected learning moment.

We didn't come to Sarajevo for the film festival but we were all glad to get to take part. Four films, from four locations, four very different themes, over five days. The children learned about mental health issues, animal rights issues, local advocacy issues, and Roma and teen marriage issues.