31st Sarajevo Film Festival Concludes with Awards Ceremony

(Patria) - The 31st Sarajevo Film Festival (SFF), the most significant regional film event and one of the leading cultural gatherings in Southeast Europe, concluded with an awards ceremony.

The main award, the "Heart of Sarajevo" for Best Film, was won by the film "Wind, talk to me", directed by Stefan Đorđević.

Đorđević dedicated the award to all mothers in Serbia who worry about their children being brutally beaten on the streets these days.

The "Heart of Sarajevo" for Best Director was awarded to Ivana Mladenović for the film "Sorrela Di Clausura".

The "Heart of Sarajevo" award for Best Actress was won by Sarah Al Saleh, Aline Juhart, Mina Milovanović, and Mia Skrbinac.

The "Heart of Sarajevo" for Best Actor was won by Andrija Kuzmanović, who stated that he was pleased to receive his favorite film award in Sarajevo.

The "Heart of Sarajevo" for Best Short Documentary Film was awarded to the film "Land of Men", directed by Mariam Bakacho Khatchvani, while the award for Best Documentary Film went to "Our Time Will Come", directed by Yvette Locker.

The "Heart of Sarajevo" for Best Short Film was awarded to the film "Winter in March", directed by Natalia Mirzoyan.

The award for Best Student Film was won by the film "Tarik", directed by Adem Tutić.

The Special Award for Promoting Equality was given to the film "God Will Not Help" by Hana Jušić.

The new award presented by SFF, named "Young Perspectives", was won by the film DJ Ahmet.

The festival, which opened on August 15th with the world premiere of the BiH film "Pavilion" directed by Dino Mustafić, offered a rich program over eight days with hundreds of screenings, appearances by international stars, and the promotion of new film talents.

This year, a total of 227 films and series from 65 countries were screened in Sarajevo, distributed across 22 program selections.

The focus was on four competition programs – feature film, documentary, short film, and student film – in which a total of 50 films competed for the "Heart of Sarajevo" award.

In the feature film category, there were nine entries, three of which had their world premiere and six their regional premiere.

The documentary program included 20 films – 12 feature-length and eight short – with a total of four world premieres, four international premieres, ten regional premieres, and two BiH premieres.

Paolo Sorrentino, one of the most significant European auteurs, was the central figure of this year's "Tribute To" program, with a retrospective of his films and the awarding of an honorary prize.

Acting stars Stellan Skarsgård, Ray Winstone, and Willem Dafoe were honored with the prestigious "Honorary Heart of Sarajevo" award, presented for outstanding contribution to the art of filmmaking.

The work of the competition programs was overseen by international juries composed of distinguished filmmakers.

The Sarajevo Film Festival, founded in 1995 during the siege of Sarajevo, continues to carry a strong symbolism of cultural resistance, as well as the role of a bridge between East and West, and a space for the affirmation of regional talents.

Over three decades, it has grown into the most important platform for films from Southeast Europe and an unmissable point on the international festival map.