Established in 1994 in the then still besieged Bosnian capital, the festival has since surpassed its local significance, turning into the most important film festival in Southeast Europe, its director Mirsad Purivatra has said.
This year's festival features films to be presented in 18 different programmes.
The festival jury will be presided over by Romanian director Calin Peter Netzer and its other members are Croatian actress Zrinka Cvitesic, British producer Mike Downey, Serbian director Maja Milos, and the director of the Cartagena Film Festival, Diana Bustamante.
Among the films competing at the festival are "The High Sun" by Dalibor Matanic, the winner of the jury prize in the Un Certain Regard programme of the Cannes Film Festival, "Our Everyday Life" by Ines Tanovic, co-produced by Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Slovenia, the documentary "I Like That Super Most the Best" by Eva Kraljevic, and the documentary "Chasing a Dream" by Mladen Mitrovic, also co-produced by Croatia.
Croatian director Ivona Juka's debut "You Carry Me" will be shown outside the competition programme.
The festival will open with the screening of the Brazilian film "The Second Mother" by Anna Muylaert and close with the Icelandic-Danish production "Fusi" by Dagur Kari.
Guests to be presented with special festival awards this year are Oscar-winning actor Benicio Del Toro and director Atom Egoyan.
A special guest of the festival is director Brillante Mendoza and the audience will be able to see five of his movies.
A screening of the film "Citizenfour", a story about the most famous whistle-blower of today, Edward Snowden, has attracted great interest of the audience and additional screenings have been scheduled.