On 22 September 2010, after months of speculation, the Qatari government-owned Al Jazeera Media Network announced the US$1.56 million purchase of NTV 99, a local channel based in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. Named Al Jazeera Balkans, the project was envisioned as "a leader in providing high quality news and current affairs in the region " with planned offices throughout the Balkans and bureaus in key locations worldwide. With €15 million reportedly invested in the project, Al Jazeera Balkans began broadcasting on 11 November 2011, launching their website on the same day. The network's visual appearance is mainly based on that of its English-language counterpart. It broadcasts from the Eutelsat W3C satellite and also offers a live web stream just like its Arabic and English counterparts do. The network has subsequently become one of the leading news outlets in the Former Yugoslavia. On 13 February 2018 Al Jazeera Balkans confirmed the establishment of the AJB DOC Festival which will be held from 21–25 September 2018. Sarajevo was chosen as the venue because it already hosts the premier and largest film festival in Southeast Europe, the Sarajevo Film Festival. On 21 September 2018 the first edition of the AJB DOC Festival was opened in Cinema City Sarajevo with the screening of Søren Steen Jespersen's documentary, Lost Warrior. The 2018 edition's jury consisted of American actress, Karen Hayes, British media consultant, Ingrid Falk, Palestinian-Jordanian filmmaker and journalist, Montaser Marai, Croatian sociologist, Robert Tomić Zuber and Bosnian producer, Zoran Galić.
Format
The official objective of the AJB DOC Festival, outlined by the Al Jazeera Media Network, is to "promote authors and documentaries addressing social phenomena with a focus on universal human values such as courage, truth, justice, tolerance and cosmopolitism." The festival's official competition selection for the 2018 edition consisted of 15 international documentaries adapted for TV broadcasting. The non-competition selection, known as Last Minute Cinema, consisted of five acclaimed international documentaries. All selected films are considered for acquisition by Al Jazeera Balkans and its sister channel, Al Jazeera English, and will subsequently be screened on television. The selections will be finalized in June. The AJB DOC Festival, in cooperation with the Al Jazeera Media Network, holds a multi-day documentary workshop for authors, independent productions and film students from the Former Yugoslavia. In addition to film screenings, the first edition of AJB DOC Festival hosted post-screening Q&A sessions, social events, exhibitions and other content with the desire to create an atmosphere of artistic exchange and professional networking.
