Sarajevo Photography Festival (SPF) is an annual international event celebrating photography in the heart of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Bringing together both emerging and established photographers, the festival serves as a platform for artistic exchange, cultural dialogue, and social engagement.
The 2025 edition will take place from June 9 to June 15, featuring a program of exhibitions, workshops, lectures, panel discussions, portfolio reviews, and networking events. With a strong focus on socially relevant themes, SPF provides a space for diverse voices and narratives, addressing topics such as human rights, identity, and cultural heritage. Since its inception in 2022, the festival has received submissions from nearly 60 countries and has become one of the largest networking event for photographers in the region.
SPF exhibitions take place in galleries, public spaces, and alternative venues, making photography accessible to a wider audience. The main exhibition of finalists and winners also travels to multiple cities across Bosnia and Herzegovina, ensuring cultural exchange beyond Sarajevo.
Education is a key pillar of SPF, with free workshops, lectures, and portfolio reviews led by internationally renowned photographers. The festival actively supports women in photography, ensuring greater representation in its jury, speakers, and exhibitions. Additionally, SPF collaborates with local and international institutions, schools, museums, and galleries, contributing to the broader cultural landscape.
The competition at SPF provides an opportunity for photographers to showcase their work to a global audience. A jury made of internationally recognized experts, including Pulitzer Prize winners, festival and gallery directors, ensures an objective and high-level selection process. Each year, around 80 photographers are exhibited, with 24 awards granted to outstanding participants.
ABOUT THE PRIZE
Each year, the top 3 winners in each of the 8 competition categories are awarded for their outstanding work. Additionally, the jury may grant honorable mentions to exceptional entries. The festival’s Grand Prix prize is 2,000 EUR (cash), while all first-place winners receive an award sponsored by Canon and a festival statue. The total value of prizes given is 7,000 EUR.
The award ceremony will take place at the National Theatre in Sarajevo in 2025, celebrating the achievements of talented photographers from around the world.
SUPPORT THE FESTIVAL
By supporting the Sarajevo Photography Festival, you help sustain a platform that promotes visual storytelling, cultural dialogue, and provides opportunities for emerging photographers. Whether through a donation or by purchasing festival goodies, your contribution directly supports exhibitions, workshops, and free educational programs.
WELTSCHMERZ
This year, we chose “Weltschmerz” as our theme—unanimously, without hesitation. It’s a word that carries a deep emotional weight, describing that ache we feel when faced with the world’s struggles, its injustices, and its unrealized potential. It’s the sadness of witnessing things as they are while longing for how they could be.
In a time of conflict, displacement, climate crises, and deep societal divisions, this theme feels more relevant than ever. The world is changing rapidly, and with it comes a collective sense of loss, frustration, and uncertainty. But Weltschmerz is not just about sorrow—it’s about acknowledging these emotions and transforming them into something meaningful.
Photography has the power to capture this feeling—whether in moments of despair, quiet resistance, or glimpses of hope. With this theme, we invite photographers to explore their own experiences of melancholy, loss, and resilience, and to translate them into images that make us feel, reflect, and connect.
CONTACT US
Get in touch
Whether for a future project or for info about the festival
Impressum
Sarajevo Photography Festival
Aida Redzepagic, director of the festival
[email protected]
Jelena Janković, program director
[email protected]
