The opening film is scripted by Cristian Mungiu, the Romanian director whose movie '4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days,' won the Palme d'Or at Cannes two years ago.
Prizes of 25,000 euros for best film and 2,500 euros for best actor and actress are to be awarded by a jury chaired by Serbian actress Mirjana Karanovic.
A special jury award worth 10,000 euros (15,000 dollars) is also on offer.
Only nine films produced in southeastern Europe are competing for these awards.
The festival also includes short and documentary film competition programmes, each offering the award of 3,000 euros.
Launched near the end of Bosnia's 1992-95 war as an act of resistance, the festival grew into the biggest regional film competition regularly visited by leaders in world cinema.
This year, festival guests include US actor Mickey Rourke, US actress Gillian Anderson and British actress Katie Jarvis and movie director Adrea Arnold.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------