Banja Luka Dispatch.

Banja Luka (pronounced Banya Looka) in the Republic of Srpska (pronounced Srepska) in Bosnia and Herzegovina. And there is no doubt that the BLIFF (Banja Luka International Film Festival) can be pronounced a success. The name of Banja Luka is probably associated for many with the tragic period of the 2003 war in the former Yugoslavia but it is to be hoped that in future it will be synonymous with the film festival instead.

Irena Taskovski, the director of the festival, explained that she wishes BLIFF (already a familiar acronym) to become two things: "a permanent source of inspiration for the people of our city and a driving force in the development of our local film industry, connecting Banja Luka to the creative industries in Europe and beyond. A film festival can transform the cultural life of a city and turn the city itself into an exciting destination for international tourism." On the evidence of the first edition, this will happen, though it could take a few years to build a specific profile and a following among the public. In addition, the criteria for the selection of films in the fiction feature competition needs to be established.

I was on the fiction feature film jury with the Czech director Ivan Fila and the Bosnian actress Jasna Zalica. Most of the eight films we had to judge had already won prizes at other festivals, but we had no hesitation in awarding the Golden Dandelion (apparently the flower proliferates in this area), worth 3000 Euro, to Israel's The Band's Visit, the much-acclaimed first feature by Eran Kolirin.

However, from the perspective of a blasé festival-goer like me, it is always more interesting to dip into the documentary section - aptly labelled here "Reality Bites" - the section which generally offers rarer delights than fiction feature competitions at festivals.

Souvenirs, co-directed by Sahar Cohen and Halil Efrat, follows a trip that Cohen takes with his 82-year-old father from Israel to Holland to track down a possible sibling, the souvenir of the title, that the older Cohen might have left as a soldier on service in the Jewish Brigade during World War II. The initial awkward relationship between father and son grows into a closer understanding of each other on the trip, with the old man, an impish character, given to sour and humorous remarks, showing his sentimental side.

Also a remarkable personality-driven documentary is Donkey in Lahore, which meticulously records the huge obstacles that a young Australian man has to overcome in order to marry a Pakistani girl. Shooting over five years, the director Faramarz K-Rahber, an Iranian-born Australian, takes us on a fascinating journey of discovery.

Among the programs of short films by film students from around the world, several very promising directors emerged. Most notable was the British David Lale with The End For Beginners, a documentary set in a retirement home in France during a visit by nursery school children, which has scenes worthy of Jacques Tati, and never forces the contrast between old age and childhood. Another outstanding documentary short was The Sun Rises Every Day, skillfully shot in a music school for blind children by local boy Goran Dujakovic.

Two of the guests at the festival were Andy Serkis, best known for his CGI performance as Gollum in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, who gave an animated master class, and the delightfully natural Kierston Wareing, who is in every scene of Ken Loach's It's A Free World..., and superb throughout.

The festival ended appropriately with Belle Epoque by the veteran Serbian director Nikola Stojanovic, set in Bosnia during the four years leading to the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in 1914. Intriguingly, the film was shot in 1990, but remained uncut throughout the conflict in former Yugoslavia. This "dramatic comedy" was only recently edited and shown for the first time, and was well worth the waiting. Unlike many worthy period dramas, it has an erotic, burlesque streak running through the beautifully evoked romantic atmosphere of the time. It contributed greatly to justifying the continued existence of BLIFF.

- Ronald Bergan

Posted by dwhudson at May 12, 2008 5:09 AM