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The Sarajevo Film Festival has revealed the lineup of its Open Air section, which screens films outdoors in the festival’s largest venue, the Coca-Cola Open Air Cinema.
The Open Air section includes films directed by
or starring this year’s Sarajevo honorees, like Paweł Pawlikowski’s “Fatherland,” Diego Luna’s “Ashes” and “Welcome to Sarajevo,” starring Woody Harrelson.
It also includes films from major festivals, like Cannes’ Grand Prix winner “Minotaur,” directed by Andrey Zvyagintsev, Cannes competition title “The Beloved,” directed by Rodrigo Sorogoyen, and Shahrbanoo Sadat’s “No Good Men,” which opened the Berlinale.
The festival also revealed the lineup of the Open Air Premiere section, which brings together new films from the countries of the former Yugoslavia.
The 32nd edition of the festival runs from Aug. 14 to 21.
Open Air section
“Fatherland” – Opening Film
Poland, Germany, Italy, France, 2026, 82 min.
Director: Paweł Pawlikowski
Cast: Hanns Zischler, Sandra Hüller, August Diehl, Devid Striesow, Anna Madeley
The film centers on the relationship between the Nobel Prize-winning writer Thomas Mann and his daughter Erika, an actor, writer and rally driver. In the summer of 1949, at the height of the Cold War, father and daughter embark on a challenging and emotional road trip in a black Buick that takes them across a Germany in ruins – from U.S.-dominated Frankfurt to Soviet-controlled Weimar. Returning home after 16 years of exile in the U.S., the author has to face not only a divided fatherland, but also a deep fracture within his own family.
“Ashes” (Ceniza En La Boca)
Mexico, Spain, 2026, 102 min.
Director: Diego Luna
Cast: Anna Diaz, Adriana Paz, Luisa Huertas, Guillermo Rios, Sergio Bautista, Benny Emmanuel, Teresa Lozano, Adriana Jacomé
Lucila and her younger brother leave Mexico and head to Madrid to reunite with their mother, who left a few years earlier to chase a better future. When the siblings finally arrive, the bitter, suffocating reality that awaits them proves far harsher than Lucila had imagined. Still, she is determined to make the most of this fragile new life.
“Minotaur”
France, Latvia, Germany, 2026, 140 min.
Director: Andrey Zvyagintsev
Cast: Dmitriy Mazurov, Iris Lebedeva, Boris Kudrin, Yuriy Zavalnyouk, Varvara Shmykova
Russia, 2022. When Gleb, a successful company director, finds himself under siege from mounting corporate pressures and an increasingly unstable world, the collapse of his carefully ordered life accelerates toward violence.
“No Good Men”
Germany, France, Norway, Denmark, Afghanistan, 2026, 103 min.
Director: Shahrbanoo Sadat
Cast: Shahrbanoo Sadat, Anwar Hashimi, Liam Hussaini, Yasin Negah, Torkan Omari, Fatima Hassani
Afghanistan, immediately before the return of the Taliban in 2021. Naru, the only camerawoman at Kabul’s main TV station, struggles to keep custody of her three-year-old son after leaving her husband, a serial cheater. Convinced no good men exist in her country, Naru is caught off guard when Qodrat, Kabul TV’s most respected journalist, gives her a career opportunity. As the two criss-cross the city reporting on its last days of freedom, sparks fly and Naru starts to doubt herself: Might there actually be a good man out there?
“Palestine ’36”
Palestine, United Kingdom, France, Denmark, Norway, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, United Arab Emirates, 2025, 119 min.
Director: Annemarie Jacir
Cast: Hiam Abbass, Kamel El Basha, Yasmine Al Massri, Jalal Altawil, Robert Aramayo
As villages across Palestine rise against British colonial rule in 1936, Yusuf drifts between his rural home and the restless energy of Jerusalem, longing for a future beyond the growing unrest. But history is relentless. With rising numbers of Jewish immigrants escaping antisemitism in Europe, and the Palestinian population uniting in the largest and longest uprising against Britain’s 30-year dominion, all sides spiral toward inevitable collision in a decisive moment for the British Empire and the future of the entire region.
“The Beloved” (El Ser Querido)
Spain, France, 2026, 135 min.
Director: Rodrigo Sorogoyen
Cast: Javier Bardem, Victoria Luengo, Melina Matthews, Marina Foïs, Malena Villa
Acclaimed film director Esteban Martínez is a legend, for his films as well as for a past marked by violence and excess. For his new project, he offers his daughter Emilia a role under the pretext of helping with her stalled acting career. Living together on set will foster a closeness father and daughter have not shared for years – but it will also reopen old wounds that have never healed.
“Welcome to Sarajevo”
United Kingdom, United States, 1997, 100 min.
Director: Michael Winterbottom
Cast: Stephen Dillane, Woody Harrelson, Marisa Tomei, Emira Nušević, Kerry Fox, Goran Višnjić
During the war in Bosnia, British foreign correspondent Michael Henderson is stationed in the besieged city of Sarajevo. After discovering an orphanage on the front line, where children live under constant artillery fire, he reports repeatedly on their plight, urging the international community to act. Frustrated by the world’s inaction and unable to remain a detached observer, Henderson decides to smuggle one of the children to safety in England.
“No Man’s Land” (Ničija Zemlja) – Closing Film
France, Belgium, Italy, United Kingdom, Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, 2001, 98 min.
Director: Danis Tanović
Cast: Branko Đurić, Rene Bitorajac, Filip Šovagović, Georges Siatidis, Serge-Henri Valcke
The story is set in 1993, during the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina, when, by a twist of fate, Čiki, a soldier in the army of Bosnia and Herzegovina, finds himself trapped in the same trench as Nino, a Bosnian Serb soldier. Although they are mortal enemies, they are forced to cooperate in order to survive and prevent the detonation of a landmine planted beneath the body of Čiki’s wounded comrade, Cera. Their predicament soon attracts the attention of the international media and the UN peacekeeping forces.
Open Air Premiere section
“3 Weeks After” (3 Nedelje Posle)
Serbia, Bulgaria, Italy, Croatia, Luxembourg, 2026, 95 min.
Director: Miroslav Terzić
Cast: Jovan Ginić, Branislav Trifunović, Tihana Lazović, Klara Hrvanović, Anđela Alavirević, Andrija Marković
It all begins as a typical school trip. A bus, school friends, professors, casual jokes, small excitements, and the sense of freedom children get when traveling. But gradually we start to feel that all is not well in that small community. Daily glances, teasing and silences hide something nobody wants to talk about. Zoza is burdened by the death of his best friend who committed suicide three week before the school trip. When he decides to talk about his school friends’ failure to speak up, their decision to turn their gaze away and about brutal mistreatment of his friend, all attention turns to him.
“Hidden People” (Skriti Ljudje)
Slovenia, Serbia, Iceland, 2026, 97 min.
Director: Miha Hočevar
Cast: Blaž Šef, Ólafur Darri Ólafsson, Luka Marčetić, Barbara Ribnikar, Ana Urbanc, Igor Samobor, Gregor Gruden, Janez Hočevar, Maja Boh, Oskar Perpar
Thirty-five-year-old Guti and 50-year-old Sig wake up beaten, hungover and handcuffed together on a riverbank near Ljubljana. Sig, obviously a tourist, suffers from memory loss and can’t remember where he is from or why he is – as he thinks – stuck in Slovakia. He and Guti embark on a journey to recover Sig’s passport and identity and, in the meantime, work on Guti’s dream project: a river raft that will hopefully rebuild Guti’s life, which has fallen victim to a bad divorce, failed bank loans, vicious bureaucracy and many, many bad neighbors.
“Home” (Hjem)
Denmark, 2026, 104 min.
Director: Marijana Janković
Cast: Tara Čubrilo, Dejan Čukić, Nada Šargin, Sergej Bulatović, Viktor Janković, Jesper Christensen, Dubravka Drakić, Zlatko Burić, Lene Maria Christensen, Claes Bang, Trine Dyrholm, Olga Odanović
In 1991, amidst the Balkan region’s dissolution and prompted by the unfolding events, 6-year-old Maja and her parents make the decision to journey from Yugoslavia to Denmark. However, their encounter with the promised land proves to be a challenging ordeal for the family, particularly for Maja. She observes in wonder as her parents desperately try to adapt to a new world with its peculiar rules and traditions. But soon they realize that their new home is far from the fairytale land they dreamed of. Maja witnessing her parents’ difficulties, quickly learns Danish and consequently shoulders the responsibility of an adult to support them.
“Honey Bunny” (Koke)
Croatia, Serbia, 2026, 97 min.
Director: Igor Jelinović
Cast: Snježana Sinovčić Šiškov, Aleksandra Janković, Šimun Šitum, Stojan Matavulj, Leon Lučev, Ana Marija Veselčić, Mare Rodin, Dara Vukić
Tonina, a caring and confident accountant, runs her company together with her husband and daughter, and holds all the strings of the family logistics. Along with all these obligations, Tonina is taking care of her bedridden mother, who is suffering from dementia. Her younger sister Tajana and her family have a much more easygoing and less ambitious approach to life. The sisters clash when Tonina secretly buys out a part of the family’s island house from a cousin, even though the sisters had agreed to buy it together.
“The Lost Son” (Izgubljeni Sin)
Slovenia, Greece, Croatia, Italy, North Macedonia, 2026, 100 min.
Director: Darko Štante
Cast: Jure Henigman, Nejc Cijan Garlatti, Lara Maria Vouk, Tamara Avguštin, Nika Rozman, Svit Šturbej, Liam Benjamin Štante, Igor Samobor, Goran Bogdan
Andrej, a seasoned criminal investigator, faces a shocking revelation when he encounters his estranged brother, Kristian, as a domestic violence perpetrator. As he grapples with guilt and tries to mend their relationship, parallels between Kristian’s behavior and that of their abusive father emerge. This personal turmoil and Andrej’s professional life intertwine, leading to substance abuse and strained relationships. A tragic turn of events pushes Andrej to confront his past trauma, which culminates in a heartbreaking confrontation with his father. As he seeks redemption and reconciliation, his life takes another devastating turn when Kristian commits a horrific act, forcing Andrej to confront the depths of familial turmoil and personal responsibility.
“The Virus of Pathological Kindness” (Virus Patološke Dobrote)
Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, 2026, 99 min.
Director: Predrag Ličina
Cast: Hristina Popović, Nikola Đuričko, Gordan Kičić, Tihana Lazović Trifunović, Goran Bogdan, Rade Šerbedžija
On a snowy Zagreb night in 1983, a stranger inexplicably turns up at Zorka Vasiljević’s flat claiming he has arrived from the future using a time machine. His stunning predictions of the events of that night and disturbing stories of what lies ahead force Zorka to decide if she believes him or not. Is the future of humankind really dependent on her decisions?
“The Widower” (Udovac)
Bosnia and Herzegovina, 2026, 102 min.
Director: Hari Šečić
Cast: Izudin Bajrović, Faketa Salihbegović – Avdagić, Lana Stanišić, Nermin Omić, Edin Koja Avdagić, Gordana Boban, Emina Muftić, Dino Bajrović, Emir Fejzić, Mediha Musliović, Alija Aljović, Damir Kustura, Emina Macić, Ata Bećiragić
Mirsad is a 62-year-old electrician who was raised and lives in a patriarchal society. His daily routine changes after the sudden death of his wife Enisa. Mirsad stays alone while his grown children live their own lives. As Mirsad tries to get used to a life without his wife, he realizes that he took her for granted and had not given her the love and care she deserved. Mirsad’s relationship with his estranged son worsens after he discovers that the son lives with a male friend.
