Fifty-three films in four categories will compete this year for the Sarajevo Film Festival's main award – Heart of Sarajevo, the festival's management announced on Thursday.

A team led by Izeta Gradjevic, the Festival's Creative Director, has seen 950 films including 150 feature fiction films, 180 documentaries, 420 short and 200 student films, and has picked 53 to compete for the best ones in their own categories.

Selector for the Competition Programme – Feature Film Elma Tataragic picked nine titles, of which four are world premieres, one international premiere and four regional. Selector for the Competition Programme – Documentary Film, Rada Sesic, picked 16 titles with five world premieres, two international and seven regional.

Established in 2003, the main Competition Programme of the Sarajevo Film Festival annually attracts over 300 directors, screenwriters, producers, actors and actresses, and other film professionals.

Over the years, it became the most important showcase of South European cinema and a meeting place for film professionals and filmgoers with a penchant for the national cinema of the countries represented in its four distinct sections.

The 25th edition of the Festival will open on August 16 and close a week later.