Focusing on art and culture as the highest forms of global communication, the British Council, with the support of the European Union, presented four projects under the umbrella name “Connecting Creatively” at the 20th Sarajevo Film Festival.

Connecting Film is a part of the Connecting Creatively project. It provides a boost to the strongest cultural asset of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the cinema.

It is also one of the activities of the Foundation Sarajevo Heart of Europe and the programme Sarajevo 2014, financed by the EU as part of the commemoration of the centenary of the beginning of WWI, aiming to send a message to the world of peace, reconciliation and solidarity from Sarajevo.

Connecting Films welcomed a delegation of two dozen film professionals from the UK to the 20th Sarajevo Film Festival. The focus was on further collaboration with film professionals of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the region. To mark the milestone and new prospects during the festival, an exclusively curated collection of newsreels from the British Film Institute’s archives dating from the early 1900s was presented.

Discussions on cultural cooperation and ways to strengthen creative collaboration took place. The foundation of cultural diversity of Sarajevo and means of strengthening its role as a meeting place for European cultural collaboration were among the topics. The festival also afforded the opportunity to share professional experiences and best practices in filmmaking in the context of historically significant events. Combinations of workshops, panel discussions, professional presentations and round-tables promoted the creation of dialogue around a common European heritage and common future visions.