Heading to the Silver Frame Film Festival in Srebrenica in a Škoda Elroq: Where Sustainability Sets the Tone
There are some trips I mark on my calendar every year. The trip to Srebrenica for the Silver Frame Film Festival is one of them—this July will be my third time attending. This time, I had a dual mission: Together with the Goethe-Institut Bosnia and Herzegovina and with support from Škoda BiH, I had the honor of presenting the International Green Short Film Award—and I made the trip there entirely on electric power in the new Škoda Elroq. How much did the trip cost me? Just this much for now: It was definitely sustainable—and thus the perfect match for an award that’s all about sustainability. The exact breakdown is at the end of the article. .
A festival that brings life back
The festival was founded by filmmaker Ado Hasanović, who himself hails from the region. His vision: to breathe new life into a city that most people know only as the site of the 1995 genocide—and to offer young people from Srebrenica, Bratunac, and the surrounding area real opportunities for the future. The “silver frame” in the name symbolizes the connection between heritage and the present: a place where images, stories, and creativity take on new form.
That is precisely why the Goethe-Institut is also involved here. Simone Voigt, director of the Goethe-Institut BiH, summed it up at the opening: Art and culture should raise awareness of environmental issues and climate change in Bosnia and Herzegovina—while at the same time opening up a future for the younger generation. Film is a particularly powerful medium for this purpose: it tells moving stories, prompts reflection, and calls for action.
Six films, one theme: loss
At the heart of this partnership is the International Green Short Film Competition. After all, Srebrenica is not only a place of remembrance, but also a place of breathtaking natural beauty—with mountains and the Drina River, which is severely polluted by landfills and wastewater. Hardly anyone pays attention to it. That is exactly what we hope to change.
The 78-minute competition program was curated by Berlin-based film and media expert Borjana Gaković, who has been a member of the DOK Leipzig selection committee since 2020. She has selected six recent short films—from Greenland to Canada, from France to Rhodes. All revolve around a single theme: loss. And yet they do not look back, but forward—toward a future that is under threat.
The jury—Nebojša Jovanović (Talents Sarajevo), photographer and cultural producer Aida Redžepagić, and Valentina Gagić Lazić (Sara Srebrenica Association)—was unanimous: The award went to “Sikoqqinngisaannassooq” by Adam Sébire, a powerful film about Greenland’s disappearing ice. A unanimous decision—and also the audience’s favorite.
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Personally, I was especially pleased with this choice—the film was my favorite, too. That said, I have to admit: All six films were incredibly powerful thematically, each in its own unique way. But this film, with its title that I find unpronounceable, captured exactly what’s happening right now—what climate change really means. What impressed me most were the words that were repeatedly carved into the snow, each with its own meaning, most of them related to the ice. It’s unbelievable: Greenlandic culture has its own words for the disappearance of the ice—words that simply don’t exist in our Western culture.
Incidentally, the title itself is a brand-new word: The children of the island created it together with director Adam Sébire during filming—sikoqqinngisaannassooq, a future without sea ice. So this language first had to invent a word for the disappearance of its ice—and it was the children who did so, the very generation that will live in that future. And the film made it powerfully clear through its imagery that what is happening there affects us all, worldwide. Every second carried a message.
Encounters That Last
Guests such as the Berlin-based actor and filmmaker couple Barbara Sotelsek and Carsten Clemens, who traveled to the festival for the world premiere of their short Western film, demonstrated that Silver Frame is more than just four days of cinema. Carsten led an acting workshop for teens from the local theater club—and was thrilled by their openness and talent. For Barbara, whose family has Bosnian roots, it was her first return since the ’90s.
One of the most moving moments of the festival, however, took place off-screen: the visit to the mothers of Srebrenica, to which I took Barbara and Carsten, as well as two wonderful festivalgoers from Serbia. It’s encounters like these that show what makes this place special: embracing the pain, paying respects—and still laughing together and having a cup of coffee. Especially in this group, with guests from Germany and Serbia, you could really feel how much hope and a sense of renewal there is in Srebrenica.
What many people don’t know: The Silver Frame Film Festival takes place as part of the Emmaus Bootcamp, which brings young people from all over the world to Srebrenica every July. They attend workshops, get to know one another—and have the opportunity to get directly involved in the festival. That’s exactly what’s particularly close to Ado Hasanović’s heart: connecting with young people—and, above all, taking responsibility for the young people from Srebrenica. They should finally be given a platform to showcase their talent—a talent that’s every bit as good as anything on the international market.
The films shot during a workshop held in Srebrenica and the surrounding area during the festival will be screened at the Sarajevo International Film Festival, which takes place this year from August 14 to 21.
Stone Monuments: The Stećci of Potočari
Another path led us to the stećci in Potočari—those monumental medieval tombstones found only in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the neighboring regions. Created between the 12th and 16th centuries, their reliefs depicting hunters, dancers, suns, and crescents tell the story of life in medieval Bosnia. Since 2016, selected Stećci necropolises have been designated as UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
They are of particular significance to the region around Srebrenica: they attest to how ancient and rich the history of settlement in this area is. Even the Romans mined silver here—the ancient mining town of Domavia was located very nearby, and Srebrenica still owes its name to silver today. The stećci carry this history forward into the Middle Ages, when the area was an important mining and trading center. Standing before these stones, one realizes that Srebrenica is a place with a centuries-old, dignified history—far more than the single chapter to which it is so often reduced.
Electric Travel Through Eastern Bosnia
Of course, a green film award mission also calls for green travel. And so I set off from Sarajevo in the new Škoda Elroq —all-electric, of course. Škoda BiH not only sponsored the award’s prize money but also provided the vehicle for the trip.
The route is quite a challenge: From Sarajevo, it heads north via Olovo, through dense coniferous forests and along the Krivaja River, then continues through the hilly terrain of eastern Bosnia toward Bratunac and finally to Srebrenica. Curves, uphill climbs, downhill slopes—exactly the kind of terrain where many still believe an electric car would reach its limits.
In fact, the opposite is true. The Elroq handles the uphill climbs with ease, and on downhill stretches, regenerative braking recovers a good portion of the energy. You glide quietly through some of the country’s most beautiful landscapes—and arrive feeling relaxed, while others are still at the gas station.
And the circle continues to close: Just like last year, the international Sarajevo Film Festival—which takes place this year from August 14 to 21—will once again feature an all-electric VIP fleet —this time consisting exclusively of Škoda models. Among them: our Elroq, which made its debut in the film industry at the Silver Frame Film Festival and is now continuing its journey at the Sarajevo Film Festival.
And how many times do you think I had to recharge it? For the entire trip—not even once!!!
So how much did all this fun cost? If you charge at 1 BAM per kWh, the 62 kWh consumed comes to just around 62 BAM —about 32 euros for 443 kilometers, even though the air conditioning ran at full power the whole time in the summer heat—and there were five of us plus luggage on the return trip. And mind you, this was on Bosnian country roads with plenty of elevation changes—the Elroq actually stayed well below its WLTP fuel consumption figure. Anyone who still claims you can’t take road trips in an electric car, I’d be happy to take them along to Srebrenica!
