UNESCO granted support to Sarajevo Film Festival (SFF) to conduct a study on its cultural, economic and social impact on Sarajevo and Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Festival said on Friday.

The study will be carried out in cooperation with Olsberg SPI, a leading international consultancy for creative industries that measured the SFF's impact since 2015. The consultancy will allow for a deep analysis in line with UNESCO guidelines for assessing festivals’ impacts.

Jovan Marjanovic, the Head of Industry at the Festival said that “this study comes at the right time. Now that the city of Sarajevo was designated the status of the UNESCO Creative City as the City of Film, and after the Canton of Sarajevo announced new financial incentives for film and TV production, we hope that this study will provide expert insight in how the creative industries policy of the City and Canton can be reshaped to reinvigorate the whole film and TV sector in Sarajevo.”

UNESCO’s International Fund for Cultural Diversity is a means to support the implementation of the UNESCO 2005 Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions, by fostering the emergence of a dynamic cultural sector in developing countries.

The study is to be presented at the upcoming edition of Sarajevo Film Festival 2020.