Telemach Youth Film Festival Sarajevo Officially Presents Full Lineup of OFF Generation Features – Feature Film Competition Program
The Telemach Youth Film Festival Sarajevo has officially unveiled the complete selection of OFF Generation Features, the competitive program for feature films, following the earlier announcement of the first three titles.
Two new films have been added to the lineup, including “Live a Little”, the debut feature by director Fanny Ovesen, which will have its Balkan premiere at Telemach OFF.
The film follows Laura and Alexandra, full of excitement as they arrive in Warsaw, the first stop on their summer couchsurfing trip across Europe. They quickly make new friends and plan parties, though Laura is also dealing with sadness over being apart from her boyfriend. However, the mood shifts dramatically after a night of heavy drinking—Laura wakes up in a stranger’s bed with no memory of what happened.
A Standout in This Year’s Lineup: “Next to Us” by Stevan Filipović
One of the most anticipated films this year is “Next to Us” (Pored nas), directed by Stevan Filipović. It is the third installment in the trilogy following “Next to Me” (Pored mene) and “Next to You” (Pored tebe), the latter of which was screened at Telemach OFF in 2023.
The film has become a symbol of civic resistance and the fight against the regime of Aleksandar Vučić in Serbia, portraying the political and social realities in Serbia—and the wider region—in a powerful, metaphorical way.
Set ten years after the high school drama Next to Me, the story follows former classmates now placed in an unfamiliar environment—both physically and psychologically.
This marks Filipović’s third film since 2018 to be shown as part of the Youth Film Festival Sarajevo.
As previously announced, the following films will also be screened as part of this selection:
“Sandbag Dam” (Zečji nasip), a Croatian film directed by Čejen Ćernić Čanak, had its world premiere earlier this year at the Berlinale, as part of the Berlinale Generation program. The film tells a touching story set in a small Croatian village, where Marko, a young athlete, lives with his parents and younger brother Fićo. Despite his talent for sports, he is preparing to follow his father’s plan to become a car mechanic. Marko’s life is turned upside down when Slaven, his forbidden childhood love, returns to the village for his father’s funeral.
“Sebastian”, which had its world premiere at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival, is directed by Mikko Mäkelä.
The film follows Max (played by Ruaridh Mollica), an ambitious young writer living in London who begins to lead a double life as a sex worker under the pseudonym Sebastian, in order to gather material for his debut novel.
“Familia”, directed by Francesco Costabile, had its premiere at the 2024 Venice Film Festival, where lead actor Francesco Gheghi won the award for Best Actor.
The film tells the story of Luigi Celeste, a twenty-year-old living in Rome in the early 1980s with his mother Licia and brother Alessandro. Their lives are disrupted when, after nearly a decade of absence, their violent father Franco returns, bringing fear and tension back into the family.
The OFF Generation Features program will be screened at two festival venues, with film crews in attendance: Youth Theatre Sarajevo (Pozorište mladih Sarajevo) and the Open-Air Cinema at Wilson’s Promenade (Ljetno kino Vilsonovo šetalište, museum district).
The Telemach Youth Film Festival Sarajevo will announce all program sections and films by the end of the month, while ticket sales begin on July 1st.
The festival will take place from July 18 to 25, 2025.
All films announced so far are available at: www.films.omladinski.ba
