Regional Competition

Balls

Gorana Jovanović
Screening time  
31.03. / Friday, 17:30 - 19:30 Theatre 3  
01.04. / Saturday, 19:00 - 21:00 Theatre 5  

Soccer stadiums have long been the designated places for the escalation of conflicts. It was no different in stadiums in the constituent republics of former Yugoslavia. Three years after the burning of a Yugoslavian flag at a match between Hajduk Split and Partizan Belgrade in 1990, the same sports fans fought each other in battles for national independence. Nowadays, soldiers from the armies of six republics of the former Yugoslavia regularly compete in a very different context: at an indoor soccer tournament in Sarajevo. The players enjoy the game at a place that was once used to shoot at the besieged city. They have been getting together every year for more than a decade, for a tournament in the name of peace, with almost complete media silenc

Gorana_jovanovic-headshot

Gorana Jovanović

Gorana Jovanović is a filmmaker from Belgrade. After graduating from the University of Westminster, she worked as a script consultant and writer on several feature and short film projects, before she started producing her own films. Her 2020 short film, Armadila, has been selected for competition programmes of Uppsala, Go Short - Nijmegen, Vienna Shorts (Oscar-qualifying Best Film award) and Motovun (Best Short Film award + EFA Short Film Candidate), among others. Her 2021 short film, Mir, has been selected for competition programmes of Uppsala, ZINEBI and Tampere, among others. Her latest short film, Balls (2022), had its world premiere in the Pardi di domani section of the 75th Locarno Film Festival, was included in IDFA's Best of Fest selection, as well as awarded the Oscar-qualifying Best Short Documentary Film at ZINEBI and will have its German premiere in competition at International Short Film Festival Oberhausen.

General sponsor

Lopte

Serbia, Slovenia
2022, 23'

Directed by:
Gorana Jovanović

Cinematography:
Lev Predan Kowarski

Edited by:
Gorana Jovanović

Producers:
Gorana Jovanović, Luka Barajević, Jure Teržan, Martina Lajtner

Produced by:
Bare, Korektif

Festivals & Awards:

IDFA (2022), ZINEBI: Best Documentary Short award (2022), Uppsala Short FF (2022), Vilnius Short FF (2023