This week sees Robert De Niro open the 22nd Sarajevo Film Festival. To mark the occasion, Seaniebee is honoured to welcome the Festival’s Chief Selector to the podcast. Elma graduated in Screenwriting and Cinema History at the Sarajevo Academy of Performing Arts; she has a Master of Science degree; a PhD in Film and Literature; and is both a professor of screenwriting at the Academy and the head of the Association of Bosnian Filmmakers. She is also a screenwriter and producer who has made four movies. Her first feature film – SNOW – won over 30 international awards including the Grand Prix at Cannes in 2008.
Elma shares her life story from her early years growing up in Iran, to her experiences during the war in Bosnia. She also watches and critiques over 700 movies every year and brings valuable advice to filmmakers on production, funding, storytelling and the criteria required to get a film selected into film festivals.
The Sarajevo film festival is here: www.sff.ba/en
Elma’s movie picks:
Walter Defends Sarajevo (1972) tinyurl.com/gresj38
No Man’s Land (2001) tinyurl.com/zamtdl2
Grbavica (2006) tinyurl.com/gu7yj28
Once Upon A Time in America (1984) tinyurl.com/chlmexq
Snow (2008) tinyurl.com/jmdwz47
Mustang (2015) tinyurl.com/grdznsm
Release date: August 10th 2016
Runtime: 42m
Recorded: Sarajevo
