When people think of Sarajevo and film, they usually think of the Sarajevo Film Festival. Every summer, the city welcomes filmmakers and visitors from around the world. But Sarajevo’s love affair with cinema began long before the first red carpet. For more than seventy years, this city has been creating films that won the world’s biggest awards, challenged conventions, and reached audiences far beyond Bosnia and Herzegovina.
A Film Tradition Older Than Most People Realize
One of the greatest examples is Walter Defends Sarajevo. Released in 1972, the film became a global cultural phenomenon. Its greatest success came in China, where it was watched by nearly one billion people, making it one of the most watched European films of all time. Even today, the famous line “Das ist Walter!” remains part of popular culture.
Sarajevo was also home to some of the boldest films of its time. In 1971, The Role of My Family in the World Revolution featured the unforgettable scene of characters eating a marzipan sculpture of Stalin’s head. The film was banned shortly after its premiere, and its director, Bahrudin Bata Čengić, was unable to make another feature film for years. At the same time, Sarajevo was collecting the world’s most prestigious film awards. Do You Remember Dolly Bell? won the Golden Lion in Venice, while When Father Was Away on Business won the Palme d’Or in Cannes and received an Academy Award nomination.
The city’s influence reached far beyond feature films. The Sarajevo School of Documentary Film earned international recognition, winning awards in Venice, Oberhausen, Kraków and Leipzig. The documentary Hop-Jan became the first film from the region to enter the permanent collection of New York’s Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), confirming Sarajevo’s place on the world cinema map.
In 1954, the city hosted the First Yugoslav Festival of Documentary and Short Films, and over the decades it produced more than seventy feature films and over six hundred documentaries. Today, that remarkable story continues through the Sarajevo Film Festival and places like Planet Sarajevo, where visitors can discover the hidden stories behind the city’s greatest films, legendary directors, and unforgettable moments in cinema. If you’re looking for unique things to do in Sarajevo, Planet Sarajevo offers a journey through one of Europe’s most fascinating and little-known film histories.