Sarajevo Film Festival

  • Monty Pyton’s John Cleese to be Honored at Sarajevo Film Festival

    John Cleese John Cleese will receive the Honorary Heart of Sarajevo Award for his “extraordinary contribution to the art of film” at the 23rd edition of Sarajevo Film Festival. After the award ceremony, Sarajevo Film Festival’s audience will have the opportunity to see legendary comedy A FISH CALLED WANDA within the Open Air Program. John Cleese is best known for his involvement in MONTY PYTHON’S FLYING CIRCUS, FAWLTY TOWERS, MONTY PYTHON AND THE HOLY GRAIL, MONTY PYTHON’S LIFE OF BRIAN, and A FISH CALLED WANDA. In addition to his comedic activities, he was a co-founder with Sir Antony Jay of Video Arts, a management and sales training video company. Over a period of 20 years, Video Arts made over 120 training videos, and it was the largest firm of its kind outside the United States. John Cleese was also a co-author, with the eminent psychiatrist Dr. Robin Skynner of two books ‘Families And How To Survive Them’, and ’Life And How To Survive It’. These books, which explored psychology, psychiatry, and their application to the wider world, both became best sellers. Currently he is Provost’s Professor at Cornell University.

    Read more


  • MUSTANG and TOTO AND HIS SISTERS Win Top Awards at 21st Sarajevo Film Festival

    MUSTANG directed by Deniz Gamze Ergüven MUSTANG directed by Deniz Gamze Ergüven is the winner of the Heart of Sarajevo Award for Best Feature Film at the 21st Sarajevo Film Festival. Mustang stars Güneş Sensoy, Doğba Doğuslu, Tuğba Sunguroğlu, Elit Işcan, Ilayda Akdoğan, Nihal Koldaş, and Ayberk Pekcan.
    It’s the beginning of the summer. In a village in the north of Turkey, Lale and her four sisters come home from school, innocently playing with boys. The supposed debauchery of their games causes a scandal with unintended consequences. The family home slowly turns into a prison, classes on housework and cooking replace school, and marriages begin to be arranged. The five sisters, driven by the same desire for freedom, fight back against the limits imposed on them.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rU9JAN8LtIk TOTO AND HIS SISTERS / TOTO ŞI SURORILE LUI directed by Alexander Nanau is the winner of the Heart of Sarajevo Award for Best Documentary Film.
    TOTO ŞI SURORILE LUI brings us the astonishing family story of Toto (10), and his sisters, Ana (17) and Andreea (15). During their mother’s imprisonment, Toto passionately learns dancing, reading and writing, while his sisters try to keep the family together in a world that has long forgotten what the innocence of childhood should be. What happens when we discover that we can get more from life than our parents have to offer ?
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MXtjJbB1Oh4 21st Sarajevo Film Festival Awards OFFICIAL AWARDS COMPETITION PROGRAM – FEATURE FILM HEART OF SARAJEVO FOR BEST FEATURE FILM MUSTANG Turkey, France, Germany, Qatar Director: Deniz Gamze Ergüven SPECIAL JURY PRIZE SON OF SAUL / SAUL FIA Hungary Director: László Nemes SPECIAL JURY MENTION CHEVALIER Greece Director: Athina Rachel Tsangari HEART OF SARAJEVO FOR BEST ACTRESS Güneş Şensoy, Doga Doğuşlu, Tuğba Sunguroğlu, Elit İşcan, Ilayda Akdoğan (MUSTANG / Turkey, France, Germany, Qatar) HEART OF SARAJEVO FOR BEST ACTOR Yorgos Kéntros, Vangelis Mouríkis, Panos Kóronis, Makis Papadimitríou, Yorgos Pyrpassópoulos, Sakis Rouvás (CHEVALIER / Greece) COMPETITION PROGRAMME – SHORT FILM HEART OF SARAJEVO FOR BEST SHORT FILM A MATTER OF WILL / BISERNA OBALA Montenegro Director: Dušan Kasalica SPECIAL JURY MENTION DAMAGED GOODS / KALO Bosnia and Herzegovina Director: Nermin Hamzagić SPECIAL JURY MENTION TUESDAY / SALI Turkey, France Director: Ziya Demirel COMPETITION PROGRAMME – DOCUMENTARY FILM HEART OF SARAJEVO FOR BEST DOCUMENTARY FILM TOTO AND HIS SISTERS / TOTO ŞI SURORILE LUI Romania Director: Alexander Nanau SPECIAL JURY PRIZE FOR COMPETITION PROGRAMME DOCUMENTARY FILM TITITÁ Hungary Director: Tamás Almási SPECIAL JURY MENTION FLOTEL EUROPA Denmark, Serbia Director: Vladimir Tomić HUMAN RIGHTS AWARD ONE DAY IN SARAJEVO / JEDAN DAN U SARAJEVU Bosnia and Herzegovina, Austria Director: Jasmila Žbanić Award for the best film of the Competition Programme – Documentary Film dealing with the subject of human rights. HONORARY HEART OF SARAJEVO Atom Egoyan, director Benicio Del Toro, actor KATRIN CARTLIDGE FOUNDATION AWARD 2015 Ran Huang CINELINK AWARDS EURIMAGES COPRODUCTION DEVELOPMENT AWARD A BALLADE Aida Begić / Adis Đapo ARTE INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS CINELINK AWARD HAMARAT APARTMENT Huseyin Karabey / Su Baloglu MACEDONIAN FILM AGENCY CINELINK AWARD THE SON Ines Tanović / Alem Babić LIVING PICTURES SERVICE CINELINK AWARD SOLDIERS Ivana Mladenović / Ada Solomon SYNCHRO FILM VIENNA CINELINK AWARD A BALLADE Aida Begić / Adis Đapo HAMARAT APARTMENT Huseyin Karabey / Su Baloglu THE SON Ines Tanović / Alem Babić EAVE SCHOLARSHIP Alem Babić WORK IN PROGRESS AWARDS POST REPUBLIC AWARD THE FIXER Adrian Sitaru / Anamaria Antoci RESTART AWARD GODLESS Ralitza Petrova / Rossitsa Valkanova YOUNG AUDIENCE AWARD NEXT TO ME Serbia Stevan Filipović 21st SARAJEVO FILM FESTIVAL PARTNERS AWARDS HT ERONET AUDIENCE AWARD FOR BEST FEATURE FILM MUSTANG Turkey, France, Germany, Qatar Deniz Gamze Erguven HT ERONET AUDIENCE AWARD FOR BEST DOCUMENTARY FILM CHASING A DREAM Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Croatia Mladen Mitrović ASSOCIATION OF FILMMAKERS IN B&H – “IVICA MATIĆ” AWARD Mirsad Purivatra for his contribution to B&H cinema Zoran Galić for his contribution to B&H cinema CINEUROPA PRIZE SUPERWORLD Austria Karl Markovics CICAE AWARD THE HIGH SUN Croatia, Serbia, Slovenia Dalibor Matanić EDN TALENT GRANT I LIKE THAT SUPER MOST THE BEST Croatia Eva Kraljević SARAJEVO SHORT FILM NOMINEE FOR THE EUROPEAN FILM AWARDS 2015 TRANSLATOR Turkey Emre Kayiş Best Pack & Pitch Award (Talents Sarajevo Pack & Pitch) The best pitch Anda Puscas Ismet Kurtulus BH FILM STUDENT PROGRAMME AWARD Best film: VEJDA: ENCHANTED WORLD OF FAIRIES Julia Klier (ASU Sarajevo) Special Jury Award IMPERATIV Jelena Ilić Todorović (Akademija umjetnosti Banja Luka) Special Jury Mention WOYZECK Adi Selimović (ASU Sarajevo) DOCU ROUGH CUT BOUTIQUE AWARDS Work in Progress Digital Cube Award KORIDA Siniša Vidović HBO Adria Award KORIDA Siniša Vidović IDFA Award LITTLE BERLIN WALL Toma Chagelishvili CAT &Docs Award CINEMA, MON AMOUR Alexandru Belc Croatian Radiotelevision Award (HRT) CINEMA, MON AMOUR Alexandru Belc

    Read more


  • Benicio Del Toro to Receive the Honorary Heart of Sarajevo Award at 21st Sarajevo Film Festival

    Benicio Del Toro A Perfect Day Academy Award®-winning actor Benicio Del Toro will receive the Honorary Heart of Sarajevo Award for his extraordinary contribution to the art of film at the 21st Sarajevo Film Festival. Previous recipients of the festival’s most prestigious award include among others Angelina Jolie, Gael Garcia Bernal, Steve Buscemi and acclaimed international award-winning directors Jafar Panahi, Mike Leigh, Béla Tarr and Danis Tanovic.  The Heart of Sarajevo Award was designed by French designer and filmmaker, Agnès B, who is also a patron of the festival. Del Toro will present Fernando León de Aranoa’s drama “A Perfect Day”, in which he has a starring role, and which recently premiered in Directors’ Fortnight at the 68th Cannes Film Festival. The film will be screened as a part of the Open Air Program, the festival’s largest screening venue, where Del Toro will also receive the Honorary Heart of Sarajevo in front of an audience of 3,000 film enthusiasts. The acclaimed actor will also hold a master class for the participants of Talents Sarajevo, a networking and training platform for emerging film professionals from Southeast Europe and Southern Caucasus. Since it was founded in 2007, Talents Sarajevo has become the regional hub for meeting and training of aspiring film professionals. Throughout his career, Del Toro has earned critical accolades including winning an Academy Award® for Best Supporting Actor for his role in Steven Soderbergh’s “Traffic” and an Oscar® nomination for his work in Alejandro Gonzales Inarritu’s “21 Grams.”  Re-teaming with Soderbergh to star in “Che”, the biography of Che Guevera, Del Toro’s performance won him the Best Actor award at Cannes in 2008 and again the following year at the Goya Awards in Madrid, Spain. Del Toro made his motion picture debut in John Glen’s “License to Kill” opposite Timothy Dalton’s James Bond and has earned critical acclaim for his performances ever since.  In addition to winning a Best Supporting Oscar® for “Traffic,” he has also garnered a Golden Globe, a Screen Actors Guild Award, BAFTA Awards, Berlin International Film Festival’s Silver Bear Award as well as recognition from the New York Film Critics Circle, the National Society of Film Critics, and the Chicago Film Critics Association. Loved by audiences and critics alike, Del Toro has worked with such directors as Paul Thomas Anderson, Oliver Stone, Robert Rodriquez, Peter Weir, George Huang, Abel Ferrara, Guy Ritchie, Sean Penn, Susanne Bier, Terry Gilliam. Del Toro can next be seen starring in Denis Villeneuve’s “Sicario” opposite Emily Blunt and Josh Brolin, which is scheduled for a September 18th, 2015 release by Lionsgate in the U.S. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQfqygkNMqE

    Read more


  • 19th Sarajevo Film Festival Opens Today, Friday August 16th with Film “AN EPISODE IN THE LIFE OF AN IRON PICKER | TRAILER

    AN EPISODE IN THE LIFE OF AN IRON PICKER AN EPISODE IN THE LIFE OF AN IRON PICKER

    The 19th Sarajevo Film Festival opened today, Friday, August 16, 2013, (thru August 24, 2013) with a ceremony at the National Theatre hosted by Bosnian-Herzegovinian actress Marija Pikić. The ceremony was followed by a screening of AN EPISODE IN THE LIFE OF AN IRON PICKER by the Bosnian-Herzegovinian director Danis Tanović. This latest film by Danis Tanović won the Silver Bear at the 63rd International Film Festival in Berlin. The film’s protagonist Nazif Mujić also received a Silver Bear. In addition to the two official awards, the film received a special mention by the Ecumenical Jury.

    AN EPISODE IN THE LIFE OF AN IRON PICKER is based on a true story and it deals with alienation and discrimination in contemporary Bosnian-Herzegovinian society. The film follows Nazif, who supports his family by gathering scrap metal. After his wife Senada is denied emergency treatment for a miscarriage, Nazif is ready to do everything in his power to save her life—desperately gathering more scrap metal and asking for help from non governmental and state institutions. In the following ten days, Nazif and Senada are fully exposed to the callousness of contemporary society.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dtFrHUktgP8

    Read more


  • 17th Sarajevo Film Festival Awards; Angelina Jolie Receives Honorary Heart of Sarajevo Award

    The 17th Sarajevo Film Festival wrapped up after it’s run from July 22nd thru 30th, 2011, and handed out awards for 2011. The big highlight of the festival was the presentation of the Honorary Heart of Sarajevo award  to actress and humanitarian worker, Angelina Jolie along with Jafar Panahi and Emil Tedeschi. Jolie was in attendance to accept the award.

    COMPETITION PROGRAMME – FEATURE FILM

    The Heart of Sarajevo Award for Best Film:
    BREATHING / ATMEN
    Director: Karl Markovics
    Austria

    Special Jury Award:
    AVÉ
    Director: Konstantin Bojanov
    Bulgaria

    The Heart of Sarajevo Award for Best Actress:
    Ada Condeescu (LOVERBOY)
    Romania

    The Heart of Sarajevo Award for Best Actor:
    Thomas Schubert (BREATHING / ATMEN)
    Austria

    COMPETITION PROGRAMME  – SHORT FILM

    The Heart of Sarajevo Award for Best Film:
    MEZZANINE / MEZANIN
    Director: Dalibor Matanic 
    Croatia

    Special Jury Mentions:
    TAKE TWO / VTORI DUBAL
    Directress: Nadejda Koseva
    Bulgaria, Germany

    DOVE SEI, AMOR MIO
    Director: Veljko Popovic
    Croatia

    COMPETITION PROGRAMME – DOCUMENTARY FILM

    The Heart of Sarajevo Award for Best Documentary Film:
    A CELLPHONE MOVIE / MOBITEL
    Director: Nedžad Begovic
    BiH

    Human Rights Award:
    ECUMENOPOLIS: CITY WITHOUT LIMITS / EKÜMENOPOLIS: UCU OLMAYAN SEHIR
    Director: Imre Azem
    Turkey, Germany

    HEART OF SARAJEVO HONORARY AWARD

    Angelina Jolie, Actress, USA
    Emil Tedeschi, Majority owner and President of the Governing Board of Atlantic Group
    Jafar Panahi, Director, Iran

    CINELINK AWARDS

    CineLink A Jury:
    BEHROOZ HASHEMIAN
    CEDOMIR KOLAR   
    JACQUELINE ADA
    GEORGES GOLDENSTERN
    ANNAMARIA LODATO
    MEHMET DEMIRHAN
    REMI BURAH

    EAVE scholarship
    MARIA DRANDAKI

    Living Pictures Service Award
    THE WEDNESDAY CHILD
    Director: Lili Horvath
    Hungary

    International Relations Arte Price
    HUMIDITY
    Director: Nikola Ljuca
    Serbia

    Centre national de la cinematographie Award
    STAGE FRIGHT
    Director: Yorgos Zois
    Greece

    Eurimages Award
    YOZGAT BLUES
    Director: Mahmut Fazil Coskun
    Turkey

    Special Mention
    TOUCH ME NOT
    Director: Adina Pintilie
    Romania

    CineLink Work in Progress Awards

    CineLink Work in Progress Jury:
    CAMILLE NEEL                         
    REBEKKA GARRIDO                                        
    CAROLINE LIBRESCO

    Restart Award
    CHILD MINER
    Directress: Alexandra Gulea
    Romania

    Post Republic Award
    MOLD
    Director: Ali Aydin
    Turkey

    Read more