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Mission

The Bosnian-Herzegovinian Film Festival (BHFF™) represents and celebrates contemporary Bosnian-Herzegovinian cinematography, and provides a platform for the international exposure of emerging and internationally-renowned Bosnian-Herzegovinian filmmakers. The festival also features films that have Bosnia and Herzegovina as their theme. The Bosnian-Herzegovinian Film Festival contributes to a greater understanding of Bosnian-Herzegovinian culture and heritage and raises awareness about the issues of regional post-conflict transitions.

History

The idea for organizing the Bosnian-Herzegovinian Film Festival was first conceived in 2002 among film enthusiasts from the Bosnian-Herzegovinian diaspora in San Francisco and New York City. Benjamin Filipović, the recently-deceased award-winning film director, professor at the Academy of Performing Arts in Sarajevo and President of the Association of Filmmakers of Bosnia and Herzegovina, provided the inspiration for the first film festival.

In 2003, Dr. Dzemaludin Harba from the Radio Voice of Bosnia and Herzegovina, a New Jersey based not-for-profit organization, invited representatives of the Bosnian-Herzegovinian community in New York to a brainstorming meeting regarding a potential festival of Bosnian and Herzegovinian film. Together with a group of volunteers, representatives of the community, the first annual Bosnian-Herzegovinian Film Festival (BHFF™) was produced in October 2003.

Following its debut, in 2005 the BHFF™ became a co-production between the Academy of Bosnia and Herzegovina, a not-for-profit organization located in New York that incorporated some of the initial organizers of the first annual BHFF™ and Radio Voice of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

For more information about past BHFF™ events, please visit: First annual Bosnian-Herzegovinian Film Festival™ 2003 Second annual Bosnian-Herzegovinian Film Festival™ 2005 Third annual Bosnian-Herzegovinian Film Festival™ 2006.