Bosnian director Danis Tanovic's No Man's Land, which won the best screenplay award in Cannes last month, will open the seventh Sarajevo Film Festival on August 17.

Although municipal and higher level government ministries have been slow to respond to the festival organisers' applications for financial support, preparations are nevertheless in full swing for this year's event from August 17-25.

In addition to a film programme which features films from Central and Eastern Europe, as well as the best in international independent and mainstream cinema, Sarajevo will also present a number of workshops and seminars to give local film-makers, producers and aspiring screenwriters a chance to work closely and exchange information with their counterparts from abroad.

Among the innovations this year will be the Bosnian Film Production Project initiative, where film-makers from Bosnia and Herzegovina will have the chance to present their works-in-progress to potential investors. As part of this initiative, each eligible project, which is in the planning stages or already in production, will be analysed by a committee comprising producers, screenwriters and European film fund representatives.

Sidebars already confirmed are a programme of short films by students of the UK's National Film & Television School and a programme of 'Partisan Westerns' curated by the Film Archive of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Also on the menu this year will be a week-long seminar held by five internationally renowned film critics with aspiring film reviewers and journalists from Bosnia and Herzegovina. The programme will include daily film screenings, writing assignments and class critiques, as well as the eventual publication of the articles produced.