We’re two minutes into an outdoor film projection on a balmy evening at the Sarajevo Film Festival when, suddenly, the screen disappears from view. It takes me a moment or two to realise that the moustachioed Bosnian man in front has chosen this moment to haul his considerable girth out of his seat and begin a shouted conversation with a friend seven rows behind. It’s an exuberantly oversized gut you could probably balance a pint on, and it’s showing no signs of moving. Nobody minds, it’s all part of the show.
Also between me and the screen are three generations of one family squeezed into as many seats, sharing their picnic (meat, beer, more meat) with their neighbours. And there’s the thick fug of several hundred extra-strength Bosnian cigarettes lending a misty soft focus to the screen.
The movie, not that it matters, is Michael Moore’s documentary Fahrenheit 9/11. It plays here like a pantomime, with beery boos greeting the bad guys and cheers for Moore’s satirical gibes. These are perhaps not the ideal circumstances in which to appreciate a film, but I can’t remember when I have enjoyed one more.
The Sarajevo Film Festival’s atmosphere is special – started in 1995 while the city was still under siege, it has come to represent the indomitable spirit of the Sarajevans – but it is by no means unique. There are thousands of film festivals around the world, many as welcoming to the casual visitor as they are to movie industry bigwigs. The cinematic events which offer the most to the tourist are those which, like Sarajevo, the locals embrace as their own rather than the exclusive events with yards of velvet rope. What better time to visit a town than when it seems like the entire population is celebrating?
Another good example is Karlovy Vary in the Czech Republic, which retains the egalitarian “films for the people” approach of the Communist era. In July each year, the chocolate-box spa town (better known to English-speaking tourists as Carlsbad) is filled with backpackers and film buffs of all ages lured by the discounted ticket passes and the free cinema seats that reward those with the patience to queue long enough. The town’s usual tourists – well-heeled Russians and doddery pensioners looking for a curative quick-fix from the thermal springs – find themselves dropped into an atmosphere approaching a mini-Glastonbury. Students are sprawled on every available surface; the genteel parks and pergolas echo with cinematic debate.
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Higher profile festivals such as Cannes, meanwhile, are harder work for the nonindustry visitor. For one thing, there are few film screenings to which members of the public can gain entry. And for another, if you haven’t booked your accommodation by December, you are staying in Nice, my friend. Still, if you can find a floor to crash on, it’s worth a visit – at the height of the festival, there is as much entertainment on the Croisette as there is in the cinemas.
The website www.britfilms.com has a directory of international film and video festivals which you can browse by location or date. Meanwhile, here are some of the best of the fests around the world.
Motovun Croatia, July 23-27
Why go: For starters, where the hell is Motovun? It’s a hilltop town in Istria, with a population of just 1,000. Here, a hedonistic five-day marathon takes place, with screenings from 10am until 4am – many in the open air. Backpackers camp in the fields beneath the town and are hauled up each day in a tractor-pulled trailer.
How to get tickets: Visit the festival website for details: www.motovunfilmfestival.com
Where to stay: In a tent. Or do like the hardcore festival-goers do and sleep in the gutter where you fell the night before.
Where to drink: Everywhere, throughout the day.
Sarajevo Bosnia and Herzegovina, August 17-25
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Why go: An atmosphere like no other – besides the open-air screenings, the festival also organises a children’s programme: 3,000 kids a day are coached in from villages. It’s also an opportunity to visit a battered but beautiful city that wears its scars with pride.
How to get tickets: Book in advance through the website: www.sff.ba/2007.
Where to stay: The Holiday Inn (www.holiday-inn.com/ sarajevo) is where the festival crowd tend to stay. It’s where the foreign correspondents holed up during the siege, which may be why it has relatively few bullet holes in it.
Where to drink: The Meeting Point, Hamdije Kresevljakovica 13, is where film-makers and audiences congregate for a beer.
Venice Italy, August 29-Sept 8
Why go: Old-world glamour, world-beating queues.
How to get tickets: Be prepared to queue for hours at the festival ticket booths for high-profile titles – the more obscure the movie, the better your chances.
Where to stay: The Excelsior (www.starwoodhotels.com/ westin), where you can rub shoulders with industry big-shots, or in the gloriously monstrous Hungaria Palace (www.hotelhungaria.com).
Where to drink: The Hotel Des Bains terrace. The hotel was the setting for Death In Venice – its cinematic pedigree is faultless. Sip a prosecco at dusk during the first week of the festival and you are likely to catch Hollywood’s finest calming their prered carpet nerves.
Toronto Canada, September 6-15
Why go: Many of the Oscar contenders for the following year are premiered in Toronto’s huge programme.
How to get tickets: Book in advance through the website: www.tiff07.ca.
Where to stay: The Four Seasons Hotel (www.fourseasons.com/toronto).
Where to drink: Lobby Lounge, 192 Bloor Street West, attracts a starry crowd.
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San Sebastian Spain, September 20-29
Why go: One of the best: the locals support the festival enthusiastically; the cuisine is so fantastic it’s a wonder anyone gets to the cinema. The retrospective programmes are also excellent.
How to get tickets: Order online through the festival website from the Sunday before the festival begins (September 16 this year): www.sansebastianfestival.com.
Where to stay: Visiting stars pick the crumbling elegance of the Maria Cristina (www.luxurycollection.com/mariacristina).
Where to drink: The lobby bar in the Maria Cristina has a constant flow of famous faces. But trawl the bars in the old town for pinchos (Basque tapas) and a glass of wine, and you might be surprised who you run into. My best random meeting was with the Mexican heart-throb Gael Garcia Bernal.
Other festivals:
BFI 51st London Film Festival, sponsored by The Times (www.lff.org.uk ), Oct 17-Nov 1.
Berlin International Film Festival (www.berlinale.de), February.
Cannes International Film Festival (www.festival-cannes.fr), France, May.
Zanzibar Film Festival (www.ziff.or.tz), Tanzania, June/July.
Karlovy Vary International Film Festival (www.kviff.com), Czech Republic, July.