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Focusing on new ideas and people


Sarajevo Youth Film Festival is the largest and most important short professional film festival in Southeastern Europe. Putting young amateur and professional filmmakers in the foreground, and creating a platform where the main goal is the networking and development of young filmmakers, OFF has positioned itself as a unique and unavoidable cultural, tourist and film event in the whole of Europe. In its program, OFF shows an average of 70 films every year, organises a series of musical content, a co-production market and educational master class workshops, as well as a series of conferences and receptions where the Festival brings together new, young and older experienced professionals, sponsors, distributors, representatives of the cultural and public life and all representatives from society and industry who can help the development of film art and cultural tourism.

OFF is held at five locations throughout the City of Sarajevo, and with around 15,000 visitors and more than 1,000 overnight stays in 5 days, it represents one of the most significant cultural and tourist projects in the City of Sarajevo. With famous guests, young actors from Netflix, Amazon Prime and HBO Max, OFF is the second largest and most important film festival in Bosnia and Herzegovina, where precisely this type of content generates a large number of domestic and foreign guests and audiences, and is a unique way of approaching new generations with with the aim of educating and promoting the viewing of short films, but generally of festival film titles. OFF focuses on new ideas and people and does not shy away from inviting and emphasizing topics that are often left aside on behalf of young people.

On average, the Festival is represented by 200 accredited guests (per Festival) and dozens of press teams, of which 5 are international eminent media that follow the festival's events, program and activities. Youth Film Festival Sarajevo puts the main emphasis on regional and European short student and short professional films. The goal is to promote young filmmakers from Southeast Europe and create a platform and environment within which they can present their professional and amateur films and gain new contacts and connections for further activities.

The Festival is also known for its unique outdoor cinemas and the general openness of the Festival and the simplicity of communication between the audience, authors and special guests. So far, the festival has been visited by a number of teen acting stars, famous directors, producers and authors from all over the world. In its program, the festival presents films in three competitive selections (OFF Shorts, OFF Generation Short and OFF Generation Features) and through the exhibition sections OFF Screen and OFF Retrospective.