Dino Mustafić’s The Pavilion captured the Golden Apple Jury Award for Best Feature Film at the 22nd Bosnian-Herzegovinian Film Festival in New York City, which ran April 22 to 26, 2026.
Lidija Zelović’s Home Game received the Jury Award for Best Documentary Film.
Starring Rade Šerbedžija, Ksenija Pajić, and Mirjana Karanović, The Pavilion a dark comedy about elderly residents of a nursing home who, frustrated by years of abuse, arm themselves and revolt against the staff.
In a statement, the jury said, “Using dark humor to confront difficult conditions, the film mobilizes satire and the absurd as strategy to speak up. Change demands sacrifice, and silence must be broken. The film shows a confrontation with institutional care as a system that itself produces neglect. Embracing excess, tragedy and laughter – a forceful and uncompromising work on individual and collective revolt, human organization and resistance, The Pavilion is a story of urgency we desperately need today.”” – BHFF 2026 Official Jury”
Also at the festival, actor Rade Šerbedžija was awarded a special Golden Apple for Outstanding Contributions to Bosnian-Herzegovinian Cinema.
Lidija Zelović has been portraying her displaced family in the Netherlands since 1993, ever since they fled their war-torn home in Sarajevo. Home Game exposes the duality that all migrants live with: what is ‘home’? By doing so, the filmmaker draws attention to disruptive social and political developments in the Netherlands, which she recognizes from her native (fallen apart) Yugoslavia.
“Through personal archives and reflections, Lidija Zelović confronts the meaning of “home” after displacement. What emerges is not only a family history, but an apparent structure of repetition where the fractures of Bosnia and Yugoslavia reappear within the contemporary Dutch political landscape. This film transforms the personal into a lens on contemporary fractures that shape our world. For its emotional force, this film stands as a powerful and deserving winner,” said the official jury in a statement.
Other jury awards went to Mirza Abdagić’s No Big Deal for Best Short Narrative Film, and Best Acting Performance was awarded to Faketa Salihbegović-Avdagić for her role of Merima in Mirza Begović’s Testament.
Jury Special Mentions went to two documentary shorts, Bojan Stojčić’s Steel Hotel Song and Jakob Krese’s Ceasefire.
The BHFF 2026 Audience Award went to Where Have You Been/Sto te nema by director Mirko Pincelli and accepted by co-producer Aida Sehovic. The documentary chronicles the long journey and final homecoming of Aida Šehović’s monument honoring victims of the Srebrenica Genocide.
Artistic Director Amir Husak and Program Director Dijana Jelača say, “On behalf of the entire BHFF team, we congratulate all the well-deserving winners of this year’s Golden Apples! We are excited about all the amazing films we showed at the 22nd BHFF. We also want to thank the guest filmmakers in attendance, whose presence and participation in illuminating conversations made the festival an even more special experience. Thank you also to the jury, donors, and especially to our dedicated audiences, who always generate a well of enthusiasm, respect, and appreciation for Bosnian-Herzegovinian cinema.”
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