Council of Europe sponsors Best Movie Award

 

Council of Europe sponsors Best Movie Award

The Award “Heart of Sarajevo" for the best film, presented on the occasion of the international Sarajevo Film Festival, is being sponsored by the Council of Europe for the second consecutive year as part of its action to promote European artistic production. This international cultural event, held for the first time in 1995 at the height of the siege of the Bosnian capital, seeks to support and further regional cinema and authors. It will run from 12 to 20 August 2009 .


Short and full-length films by young directors from Eastern and Southern Europe are screened at the Festival, together with independent productions. The festival is a professional platform for the seventh art in a region where the Council of Europe is very active. The issues addressed by the contending works quite often tie in with the values upheld by the Organisation. Many are furthermore co-financed by the Council of Europe’s Eurimages support fund for European cinema.


At this year’s festival, the Council of Europe will present its most recent Europe-wide anti-discrimination campaign ’’Speak out against discrimination’’. The campaign aims to alert public opinion and condemn discrimination linked with racist attitudes and prejudices, particularly with Islamophobic, anti-Semitic and anti-Roma overtones. Another of its aims is give the diversity of European societies greater visibility by strongly supporting the access of minorities to media sector occupations.