The Sarajevo Film Festival kicks off tomorrow, and the Institute of Documentary Film will be right in the heart of it. Our East Doc Coordinator, Nora Särak, will attend the festival from August 16–19, 2025, presenting the prestigious East Silver Caravan Award and supporting the strong presence of our alumni and their films across the festival programme.
If you’d like to arrange a meeting with Nora during the festival, you can reach her at sarak@dokweb.net.
The East Silver Caravan Award
The East Silver Caravan Award offers the winning project one year of dedicated festival distribution support through the East Silver Caravan. This includes submissions to international film festivals and strategic guidance from IDF to maximize its global exposure and impact on the documentary scene. Last year’s winner, In Hell With Ivo, not only received the East Silver Caravan Award at Sarajevo FF, but also took home the HBO Award and Avantpost Award as part of the Docu Rough Cut Boutique section. The film will now have its regional premiere at this year’s festival, with a screening on August 20 at 7 PM at Cineplexx Hall 1, followed by a Q&A with Kristina Nikolova and Ivo Dimchev, and a second screening on August 21 at 12:30 PM at the same venue.
IDF alumni in this year's programme
This year’s Docu Rough Cut Boutique selection includes our alumni film Lost and Found, which participated in the Ex Oriente Film workshop 2019, pitched at East Doc Forum 2020, and later joined East Doc Market 2022. Another alumni title, A Song Without Home, featured in the East Silver Market 2025 at this year’s East Doc Platform, has been selected for Docu Talents from the East. These projects will be presented to industry decision-makers during Cinelink Industry Days on August 17, 2025, 16:30–18:00 at the UNITIC building (Fra Anđela Zvizdovića 1, Sarajevo). The Award Ceremony will be held on Monday, August 18, 18:00–20:00 at the Festival Garden.
Congratulations to Irina Gelashvili
We also congratulate Irina Gelashvili, who was selected for the CineLink Producers’ Lab. Irina has produced three remarkable films connected to IDF’s activities: What Does the Mud Whisper? (East Silver Caravan 2025; Short Pitch at Millennium Docs Against Gravity 2023), Operation Champion (Ex Oriente Features 2024; East Doc Forum 2025), and Bitter Sugar (East Doc Market 2023).
The Sarajevo Film Festival is the leading and largest film festival in Southeast Europe, and one of the most important film festivals in Europe overall. For more information, visit the festival’s official website.