Merlinka Festival

Under the slogan "Say Eight" ("Reci osam"), the eighth annual Merlinka LGBT film festival opens on December 8 and runs until December 14 at Belgrade's Dom Omladine.

Audiences will have the opportunity to see 41 short films, six feature films and ten documentaries, some of which premiered at well-known festivals such as Sundance, Berlinale and Tribeca.

The LGBT community in Sarajevo has called on the Bosnian authorities to punish the perpetrators of an attack last Friday on the Kino Kriterion, one of the few LGBT-friendly clubs in the capital.

"Authorities need to prosecute this homophobic attack as a proper hate crime," Emina Bosnjak, from the Sarajevo Open Center, which promotes LGBT rights in Bosnia, told BIRN on Monday.

Vanja Lasic, manager of Kriterion, a small venue on the river Miljacka in Sarajevo, isn't too happy about having several security officials posted at the entrance of her club. "They kind of spoil the good atmosphere of the event," she says. "Still, I understand that unfortunately their presence is necessary."