We always find it interesting to discover the movies which are making waves in film festivals around the world — not just the major festivals like Cannes & San Sebastien, but lesser known ones as well.

Today we’ll highlight a few films which have triumphed in a few recently-closed festivals, from Norway, Bosnia & Herzegovina and the good ole USA.

Norwegian International Film Festival
This festival is based in Haugesund, Norway and features films from over 35 nations. It closed on August 23rd, giving its Film Critics Award to a highly-acclaimed movie from France, The Class (Entre les murs), an autobiographical account of a teacher’s travails in a Parisian suburb. You might have heard of The Class already, as it had picked up Cannes’ prestigious Palme d’Or,
http://www.filmfestivalen.no/

Sarajevo Film Festival
Sarajevo’s film festival was established 14 years ago, during the war which both saw the birth of the modern Bosnian state, and ripped it asunder. The festival’s goal was to promote culture within Bosnia, opening the isolated land to the outside world … and letting the world in. It’s grown into one of the most important cultural events in the Balkans.

This year’s winner of the Heart of Sarajevo was Buick Riviera, a Croatian road movie about two men who fought on opposite sides of the Bosnian war, and happen to meet in the middle of America.
http://www.sff.ba/

Rhode Island International Film Festival
The biggest festival in the nation’s tiniest state has been steadily gaining in influence since its inception 11 years ago. It’s now among the USA’s most important, drawing tens of thousands of moviegoers and screening hundreds of films, many of them world & US premieres. This year’s Grand Prize for Best Feature went to The Full Picture, a low-budget film from debut director/screenwriter Jon Bowden, about a man who hails from a messed-up family and struggles with commitment.
http://www.film-festival.org/

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