MATT'S EDITORIAL 26/8/2014 - The heart of the Sarajevo Film Festival

Apologies for not turning in an editorial last week. I was kept very busy at the Sarajevo Film Festival, and probably miscalculated how busy I would be at festivals covering them primarily for FRED Film Radio. Also, this one is published on a Tuesday, though I will try to do one on Wednesday again next week because I hope to make it a regular feature.

Nevertheless, I will try to make up for it with a juicy one this week. In fact, I want to talk about my experiences in Sarajevo. I was born in Italy, a country where at least half the population blames immigrants for its failures and brought up in Ireland, a country which, on the other hand, tends to be racist by nature. There are great things about either country, and I love them both in equal amounts of course, but these are facts that cannot be denied. Similarly, I have no doubt that such problems plague other countries as well. But these statements are based on personal experiences.

So, especially Italy, has this concept of people from the Eastern European region based on whatever they hear on the news, without taking into consideration that the news in Italy is especially politicised and furthermore, feeds off of hate - in this sense, scary racial and geographical hate. Again, these are strong generalised accusations but once again I re-iterate that sadly, these are facts that cannot be denied.

Well, here is a rhetorical shocking truth! Having crossed three countries in the South Eastern European region, I have to say that the people there are not just as lovely as the good people from everywhere else, but they are also building themselves a nice future.

So, I seem to have swayed away from the cinematic perspective, but I'll get back to it right away. Sarajevo, as most people know, was plagued by a war between geo-political factions for years in the nineties. A war so intense that its scars are still visible on the walls of the buildings, some of which are still burnt down. Despite neighbouring regions bombing the living daylights out of it, on this year 2014, I have witnessed it reaching out to them in a great sign of friendship using the mcguffin element of cinema. That's right, this is no poetic metaphor coming from a film buff. My coverage for FRED Film Radio on the Sarajevo Film Festival was completely for its industry programme (which sadly meant that I watched one film the whole time...and it was a screening I was just able to sneak into my busy schedule). That's how I know.

The whole time, people talked enthusiastically about co-productions with a strong emphasis on regionalm productions. Furthermore, the Talents Sarajevo that gives an opportunity for young people looking to significantly kickstart their career withing the film industry to attend a programme of workshops, panels and networking events much like the Berlinale Talents - except Talents Sarajevo (as it is called) focuses on the South Eastern European regions. This means people from countries like Bosnia and Serbia are brought together with the aim to change something and in the process not only change the film industry. I mean, could you ever have imagined this happening 20 years ago?

Can Israel and Palestine use cinema to solve their problems? Ok, maybe I am getting carried away a little. I am a romantic film buff, nevertheless, for someone like me who is a film buff first and a journalist second, it is amazing to see that films are a catalyst for something much greater than we could ever dare to imagine. The symbol of the festival is a heart. Yes, there ws a lot of love at the Sarajevo Film Festival, and a lot of wanting to create something new out of the ashes of a sorry, bloody, violent conflict. This resiliance is something Italy and Ireland could probably do with too.