Al Jazeera Balkans Documentary Film Festival hosts projects with beautiful stories

SARAJEVO, Bosnia and Herzegovina (AA) – The five-day Al Jazeera Balkans Documentary Film Festival hosts projects with a beautiful story, said Adel Ksiksi, the director of the Industry Days platform.

The festival began in the Bosnian capital, Sarajevo, last Friday.

Ksiksi told Anadolu that there are very high-quality documentaries in this year's festival.

"The program is going as planned. We have very useful conversations and discussions. I particularly like this," Ksiksi said.

"We see very talented producers presenting their projects. Some of them are here for the first time and some producers are doing great work. We have projects from the regions we follow from the Middle East, Southeast Europe, and the Caucasus that cover different topics such as culture, sports, human stories, and social issues."

Industry Days platform organized in collaboration with the Al Jazeera Documentary channel from Saturday to Monday.

The platform will allow documentary film writers and producers from the region and worldwide to meet and exchange views.

- 'The Balkans always hosts talented filmmakers'

Ksiksi said that Industry Days was organized to spread documentary filmmaking around the world and to bring together talented filmmakers from many parts of the world.

"The Balkans always host talented filmmakers. The projects in the Balkans are in great competition on the platform," said Ksiksi.

Krisksi said that the viewers want to hear human stories directly and that documentaries are a window into what is going on in society.

The platform offers participants the opportunity to win a co-production prize worth $70,000.

According to Ksiksi, there is also a Work in Progress category on the Industry Days platform.

"Some projects have very good stories, while others are under construction. I hope that a certain amount of cash will be provided for all projects, and as a reward, the Al Jazeera Documentary Channel and will be broadcast on other Al Jazeera channels," said Ksiksi.

- 24 documentaries will be screened

Among the festival's jury members are Russian director Vitali Manski, Hungarian director Bernadett Tuza-Ritter, Bosnian director Nermin Hamzagic, Croatian producer Vanja Jambrovic, and producer Mohamed Elmongy.

The five-day festival, which started today in Bosnia and Herzegovina, will present 24 documentaries from different parts of the world and regional countries to cinema enthusiasts.

The competition section of the festival has three awards: the Main Award, the Program Award, and the Audience Award.

The festival aims to promote writers and documentaries dealing with social issues by focusing on universal human values.