Sarajevo Film Festival

For a city that went through complete hell only a decade and a half ago, Sarajevo boasts a fantastic event, despite the aftermath of war, and a resource pool that is much smaller than many of its Western counterparts. For a first-time visitor, the city, the capital of Bosnia & Herzegovina, is surprisingly beautiful with its old town intact and surrounded by beautiful hills (which were the city’s curse when the Serbian army used their vantages for sniper fire and bombings over nearly four years - the longest siege in modern history). While its citizenry tend to be conservative (a gay festival that opened there faced riots, forcing it to go underground), the festival still manages to show an impressive array of work from around the world and from emerging filmmakers, particularly in its Panorama section, which has been programmed for a number of years by American film journalist, Howard Feinstein.