SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina—The 18th Sarajevo Film Festival is set to kick off with Aida Begic's regional premiere of "Children of Sarajevo," which recently won the top prize in the Cannes Film Festival's sidebar competition Un Certain Regard.

Over the next nine days some 100,000 moviegoers are expected to see some of the festival's 210 films from 57 countries.

The festival—which opens Friday—started in 1995 in besieged Sarajevo, as its founders tried to offer those braving mortar shells to gather in a downtown basement some sense of normal life. It has since grown into one of the biggest annual moviemaker gatherings in southeast Europe.

Although it is meant to be a regional event, in recent years Morgan Freeman, Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt, and Kevin Spacey have attended the event..