Success of the Italian Film Days in Bosnia

(ANSA) - SARAJEVO, 26 GIU - The annual appointment with the "Days of Italian Cinema in Bosnia Herzegovina", the traditional event organised by the Italian Embassy in Sarajevo with the aim of offering a cross-section of Italian society and language through film, has come to an end.
    After the extraordinary success of the film 'C'è ancora domani' - Paola Cortellesi's directorial debut, screened in Sarajevo on 20 June - the Cinema Days continued throughout the week in various locations around the country. The festival's two "travelling films" attracted considerable interest: "Comandante" by Edoardo De Angelis, starring Pierfrancesco Favino in the role of Royal Navy commander Salvatore Todaro (screened in Mostar and Tuzla - in the latter case, in the presence of the mayor, Zijad Lugavić); and "La guerra dei nonni" by Gianluca Ansanelli (screened in Sarajevo and Banja Luka).
    The Kino Meeting Point in Sarajevo - a point of reference in the Bosnian-Herzegovinian capital for film lovers - lastly hosted the eagerly awaited screening of the documentary "The Breath of Sarajevo", the result of an interview campaign conducted in 2022 and 2023 by director Fabiana Antonioli and Andrea D'Arrigo (head of the Archives of the Institute for the History of the Resistance in Turin - Istoreto). Starting from the presence in Piedmont of a Bosnian-Herzegovinian couple, Sanja and Zoran Bogičević, who fled from besieged Sarajevo, the documentary retraced the tragic events of the conflict in the 1990s and the many stories of 'ordinary solidarity' that saw the Italian people in the front line in supporting Bosnia Herzegovina and its citizens. The documentary enjoyed the support of numerous Italian institutional bodies (such as the Piedmont Region, the Metropolitan City of Turin, the Municipalities of Lanzo Torinese and Coassolo Torinese, as well as Istoreto itself and the Balkans and Caucasus Transeuropa Observatory) and will probably be shown in further film festivals in Bosnia Herzegovina.
    The 2024 edition of the Days reaffirmed the great interest with which Bosnia Herzegovina looks at our cinematography. "The Italian film festival in Bosnia Herzegovina,' Ambassador Di Ruzza commented in an interview with state television (BHT), 'is confirmed as one of the most popular and loved festivals of our cultural diplomacy in the country, as well as an ideal bridge to the prestigious Sarajevo Film Festival.