The 7th INTERNATIONAL BOSNIA HERZEGOVINA LOOKS AROUND FILM FESTIVAL (BIHLAFF) 2024 will be showing films over three days - from 22 to 24 November - at the FILMFORUM of the VHS BOTTROP, as part of a main competition and a student competition, films from a wide variety of artistic positions will be shown that take a look at life and the current situation, but also at the past and possible future or previously prevented developments in Bosnia-Herzegovina and its neighbouring countries, using the artistic means of film to make them visible and tangible.
BiH looks around: No international film festival needs borders and territories. Except to overcome them. Our competitions therefore remain open to international film productions from all over the world with a thematic connection to BiH and the Balkans as part of Europe. Also from the Bosnian diaspora scattered around the world. Naturally, however, productions from Bosnia-Herzegovina and its neighbouring countries form the focus of the programme.
BIHLAFF is supported in the selection of films for the competition entries by the expertise of renowned team members of the Sarajevo Film Festival.
GOOD REASONS FOR A VISIT.
Every year since 2018, BIHLAFF has made Bottrop a place of diverse encounters, impressions, insights and, above all, new cinematic discoveries. It has become a meeting point for
• international filmmakers and jury members;
• Balkan film enthusiasts and experts;
• artists and survivor artists from BIH, the Balkans, Germany, Europe and worldwide;
• the Bosnian community and its networks of volunteers in the Emscher and Ruhr regions and beyond;
• the interested professional public (representatives of the film industry, culture and education, politics, media and science);
• cultural/educational institutions in Bottrop and the Ruhr Metropolis, in BIH and neighbouring countries, as well as filmmakers and film enthusiasts worldwide;
• People from the networks of the sponsoring association and cooperating aid organisations;
• Pupils from the Bottrop Vocational College and the Bottrop Youth Parliament (YOU.PA);
• a wide variety of people with biographical or personal connections and contacts to BiH and the Balkans;
• Film art lovers from Bottrop and the surrounding area – as well as from all over the world;
• Representatives of the Interkultur Ruhr Development Fund;
• Other partners, supporters and sponsors.
Over the past 7 festival years, a special “Bottrop mix” has emerged that makes the unexpected and special possible: for example, surprising oneself by suddenly considering the future-oriented changeability of viewpoints and perspectives – even one's own (!) – to be a little more "realistic than expected". And for that reason alone, to be there again next year.
