On the 13th August the Honorary Heart of Sarajevo Award was presented to the German film maker, playwright, author and photographer Wim Wenders for his exceptional contribution to the art of film. Oscar winning Bosnian Director Danis Tanovic's film 'NOT SO FRIENDLY NEIGHBOURHOOD AFFAIR' and the omnibus film 'LETTERS FROM THE ENDS OF THE WORLD' by the film collective Bistrik7, an international group of first-generation directors at the Sarajevo film.factory of the iconic Director Bela Tarr opened this year's edition of the Sarajevo Film Festival.
This year, the Sarajevo Film Festival has selected twenty-one feature films in the competition programme, which will run in-person from 13th through until 20th August. The Competition Programme for feature films offers The Heart of Sarajevo Award for the Best Feature Film, The Heart of Sarajevo Award for the Best Director, The Heart of Sarajevo Award for Best Actor and The Heart of Sarajevo Award for Best Actress. Then there is also the Heart of Sarajevo Award for Best Documentary, the Human Rights Award and the Special Jury Award. In addition there are a further twenty-six films in competition making for a total of forty-seven films across its four competitive sections. The event will feature eighteen World Premieres and three International Premiere screenings. The other two competitive sections are for Short Films and Student Films.In the Feature Film Competition category, ten films have been chosen for this section of the programme for fiction titles, including two world premieres, those films are :-
* 'Bebia, A Mon Seul Desir' from Georgia and the UK and Directed, Written and Co-Produced by Juja Dobrachkous.
* 'Celts' from Serbia and Directed and Co-Written by Milica Tomovic.
* 'The Elegy Of Laurel' from Montenegro and Serbia and Directed and Written by Dusan Kasalica. World Premiere screening.
* 'Great Freedom' from Austria and Germany and Directed and Co-Written by Sebastian Meise.
* 'Great Freedom' from Austria and Germany and Directed and Co-Written by Sebastian Meise.
* 'The Hill Where Lionesses Roar' from Kosovo and France and Directed and Written by Luana Bajrami.
* 'Looking For Venera' from Albania and Directed, Written, Co-Produced and Co-Edited by Norika Sefa.
* 'Moon, 66 Questions' from Greece and France and Directed and Written by Jaqueline Lentzou.
* 'Murina' from Croatia, Brazil, US and Slovenia and Directed and Co-Written by Antoneta Alamat Kusijanovic.
* 'Looking For Venera' from Albania and Directed, Written, Co-Produced and Co-Edited by Norika Sefa.
* 'Moon, 66 Questions' from Greece and France and Directed and Written by Jaqueline Lentzou.
* 'Things Worth Weeping For' from Hungary and Directed and Co-Written by Cristina Grosan. World Premiere screening.
* 'Women Do Cry' from France and Albania and Directed, Co-Written and Co-Produced by Mina Mileva and Vesela Kazakova.
The Documentary section of the competition programme is comprised of sixteen titles, of which eleven are features and eight are World Premieres, with those features being :-
* 'Disturbed Earth' from Bosnia, Spain and North Macedonia and Directed and Produced by Kumjana Novakova and Guillermo Carreras-Candi. World Premiere screening.
* 'Divas' from Hungary and Directed, Co-Written and lensed by Mate Korosi. World Premiere screening.
* 'Factory To The Workers' from Croatia and Written, Directed, Co-Edited and lensed by Srdan Kovacevic.
* 'Divas' from Hungary and Directed, Co-Written and lensed by Mate Korosi. World Premiere screening.
* 'Factory To The Workers' from Croatia and Written, Directed, Co-Edited and lensed by Srdan Kovacevic.
* 'Landscapes Of Resistance' from Serbia, France and Germany and Directed and Co-Written by Marta Popivoda.
* 'Les Enfants Terribles' from Turkey, France and Germany and Written, Directed and and lensed by Ahmet Necdet Cupur.
* 'Looking For Horses' from Bosnia, Netherlands and France and Written, Directed, Co-Edited and lensed by Stefan Pavlovic.
* 'Recipe For Hate' from Serbia and Directed, Written and Co-Produced by Filip Colovic.
* 'Reconciliation' from Slovenia, Serbia and Montenegro and Directed and Written by Marija Zidar.
* 'Soldat Ahmet' from Austria and Written, Directed and Co-Edited by Jannis Lenz.
* 'Sunny' from Georgia and Co-Written and Directed by Keti Machavariani.
* 'ZZZ (Journal About Zelimir Zilnik)' from Serbia and Written and Directed by Janko Baljak. World Premiere screening.
For all the latest news, views and updates from the 27th Sarajevo Film Festival, you can go to the official website at : https://www.sff.ba
'REMINISCENCE' (Rated M) - this American Sci-Fi thriller film is Written, Co-Produced and Directed by Lisa Joy in her feature film making debut, and only her second directorial outing after helming a single episode of 'Westworld' although she is also the co-creator of that multi-award winning and nominated television series. Originally slated for a mid-April release this year, it was then moved to early September before being moved to this week in the US and Australia. The film will stream simultaneously on the HBO Max service in the United States for a period of one month. It cost US$68M to produce. 
Nick Bannister (Hugh Jackman), is a private investigator of the mind, who navigates the darkly alluring world of the past by helping his clients access lost memories. Living on the fringes of the sunken Miami coast, his life is forever changed when he takes on a new client, Mae (Rebecca Ferguson). A simple matter of lost and found becomes a dangerous obsession, as Bannister fights to find the truth about Mae who has subsequently disappeared, uncovering a violent conspiracy, and must ultimately answer the question of how far would you go to hold on to the ones you love? Also starring Cliff Curtis and Thandiwe Newton.
'RESPECT' (Rated M) - is an American biographical drama film based on the life of famed American singer Aretha Franklin, and is Directed and Executive Produced by Liesl Tommy in her feature film making debut. Originally slated for a mid-August 2020 release, it was then pushed back to early October and then a limited release on 25th December 2020, followed by an expansion in early January of this year before going wide the following week. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it was switched to a sole wide release for mid-January before being delayed again to this week in the US, Australia and other territories. Costing US$55M to produce, the film has garnered generally positive Reviews so far. And so here, Aretha Franklin (Jennifer Hudson, with Syke Dakota Turner playing the young Aretha) sings in her father's - The Reverend C.L. Franklin (Forest Whittaker) church choir as a child and grows up to become an international musical superstar and the Queen of Soul, while simultaneously enduring an abusive marriage and actively involved in the civil rights movement. Also starring Marlon Wayans, Audra McDonald as mother Barbara Siggers Franklin, Saycon Sengbloh as older sister Erma Franklin, Hailey Kilgore as the younger sister Carolyn Franklin and Mary J. Blige. Aretha Franklin herself was involved with the development of this film up until her death on August 16, 2018.
'THE NIGHT HOUSE' (Rated M) - this American psychological horror film is Directed and Executive Produced by David Bruckner whose previous film making credits take in his debut 'The Signal' in 2007 and then segments of 'V/H/S' and 'Southbound' before 'The Ritual' and the reboot of the 1987 horror classic 'Hellraiser' currently filming. This film saw its World Premier screening back at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2020 and now gets a release in Australia one week before the US, having generated mostly favourable Reviews. Reeling from the unexpected death of her husband, Beth (Rebecca Hall) is left alone in the lakeside home he built for her. She tries as best she can to keep it together, but then the nightmares begin. Disturbing visions of a presence in the house calling to her, beckoning her with a ghostly allure. Against the advice of her friends, she begins digging into her husband's belongings, yearning for answers. What she finds are secrets both strange and disturbing taking her on a journey she's determined to unravel. Also starring Sarah Goldberg, Stacy Martin and Evan Jonigkeit.
'THE CAVE' (Rated M) - this Thai action drama film is about the 2018 Tham Luang cave rescue in Chiang Rai Province, Thailand, and is Written, Directed and Co-Produced by Tom Waller. The film premiered at the Busan International Film Festival in early October 2019, was released in Thailand in late November 2019 and only now does it get a limited showing in Australia. The story is written from the points of view of several individuals involved in the rescue operation, including water pump manufacturer Nopadol Niyomka, retired Thai Navy SEAL Saman Kunan, and especially, Ireland-based cave diver Jim Warny, Australian doctor Ross Clarkson and others as themselves.
'RAGING FIRE' (Rated MA15+) - is a Hong Kong Chinese action film Co-Written, Co-Produced and Directed by Benny Chan in his final film making release before his death on 23rd August 2020. The film was released in China at the end of July and goes on release in Hong Kong and here is Australia this week, having so far grossed US$90M. Cheung Sung-pong (Donnie Yen) is an officer of the Regional Crime Unit who worked on the front line for many years and cracked many major cases. However, he is seen as an outcast due to his extremely righteous character which affected his career, but his protege, Yau Kong-ngo (Nicholas Tse), respects him as a good officer although Yau does not completely agree with Cheung's overly hard-boiled style and believes in taking shortcuts. Yau is able to gain promotion up to Cheung's level, however, fate unexpectedly brings them to different paths and pits them against one another when Yau goes rogue and swears revenge on Cheung when he testified against him, leading him to be imprisoned in the past for beating a criminal suspect to death. Benny Chan had twenty-six Director credits to his name, ten as Writer and twenty-five as Producer and his feature film making credits since his debut in 1990 with 'A Moment of Romance' also including 'Who Am I?', 'New Police Story', 'Rob-B-Hood' and 'Shaolin' all with Jackie Chan, as well as 'Fist of Fury', 'Gen-X Cops', 'Gen-Y Cops', 'Divergence', 'Invisible Target' and 'The White Storm'.
With Greater Sydney, where I live, still in COVID lockdown for another two weeks ending (at this stage) on Friday 27th August, this means all of our cinema's are closed until this date, which further means that the release of the movies as given below, slated for release this week, will be delayed somewhat across certain parts of Australia at least. That said, these movies will either have been released or are set for an imminent release somewhere in the world, and as Odeon Online has an international audience, I thought it best to carry on regardless.
Turning attention to this weeks latest release new movies coming to an Odeon near you, we have Sci-Fi mystery romance that has a scientist discovering a way to relive your past and uses the technology to search for his long lost love. Following on is a biopic charting the career of the Queen of Soul from a child singing in her father's church choir to her international superstardom, comes this remarkable true story of this music icon's journey to find her voice. Next up is a psychological horror film of a widow who begins to uncover her recently deceased husband's disturbing secrets within the house he built for her. Next up is a dramatisation of real events that unfolded when a Thai youth football team becomes trapped in a cave while rescue workers scramble to save them; before closing out the week with a Hong Kong actioner about a highly respected cop with a long history of success on dangerous cases, however, his past soon comes back to haunt him when his former protege seeks revenge against all those who have wronged him.
Whatever your taste in big screen film entertainment is this week - be it any of the five latest release new movies as Previewed below, or those doing the rounds currently on general release or as Reviewed and Previewed in previous Blog Posts here at Odeon Online, you are most welcome to share your movie going thoughts, opinions and observations by leaving your relevant, succinct and appropriate views in the Comments section below this or any other Post. We'd love to hear from you, and in the meantime, enjoy your big screen Odeon outing during the week ahead.
With five new release films this week to tempt you out to your local Odeon, remember to share your movie going thoughts with your other like minded cinephile friends afterwards here at Odeon Online. In the meantime, I'll see you sometime somewhere in the coming week, at your local Odeon, or perhaps not!
-Steve, at Odeon Online-
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