Willem Dafoe to receive Honorary Heart of Sarajevo at SFF today

(Patria) - In recognition of his exceptional contribution to the art of filmmaking, actor Willem Dafoe will be presented with the Honorary Heart of Sarajevo at the 31st Sarajevo Film Festival today. He will first hold a Masterclass today, offering participants a unique opportunity for direct exchange of knowledge and experience with this world-renowned actor.

With over 150 films in his career, Willem Dafoe is an internationally acclaimed actor known for his versatility, courage, and willingness to take risks in some of the most significant films of our time. His artistic curiosity and need to explore human nature lead him to projects worldwide – from major Hollywood productions to independent films.

At the 31st Sarajevo Film Festival, Dafoe will also hold a masterclass, where he will share his experiences and thoughts on contemporary art with young talents, film professionals, and the festival audience.

"Willem Dafoe returns to the Sarajevo Film Festival after 25 years, and we are immensely pleased to present him with the Honorary Heart of Sarajevo. Every actor strives to achieve a body of work like his, and every role confirms his exceptional acting skill. Whether he plays in a Hollywood blockbuster or a low-budget independent film, his characters are always complex, emotional, and unforgettable," stated Jovan Marjanović, Director of the Sarajevo Film Festival.

In 1979, Dafoe was cast in Michael Cimino's film Heaven's Gate, but was soon dismissed from the production. Since then, he has collaborated with directors who constitute an encyclopedia of contemporary cinema: Wes Anderson, Patricia Arquette, Kathryn Bigelow, Kenneth Branagh, Tim Burton, Scott Cooper, Anton Corbijn, Saverio Costanzo, David Cronenberg, Abel Ferrara, Mary Harron, Werner Herzog, Walter Hill, Spike Lee, David Lynch, Hayao Miyazaki, Phillip Noyce, Sam Raimi, Dee Rees, Jason Reitman, Robert Rodriguez, Isaiah Saxon, Julian Schnabel, Paul Schrader, Martin Scorsese, Zack Snyder, Guillermo del Toro, Lars von Trier, James Wan, Wim Wenders, Yorgos Lanthimos, Zhang Yimou, and many others.
He has been nominated for an Academy Award® four times – as Best Actor for his role as Vincent van Gogh in At Eternity's Gate (and a Golden Globe nomination), and as Best Supporting Actor in Oliver Stone's Platoon, E. Elias Merhige's Shadow of the Vampire (also Golden Globe and SAG nominations), and Sean Baker's The Florida Project (also Golden Globe and SAG nominations). He has won awards from the New York Film Critics Circle and the National Board of Review, and is a two-time recipient of the Los Angeles Film Critics Association awards. He has also won two Independent Spirit Awards, the Volpi Cup at the Venice Film Festival, and an Honorary Golden Bear for Lifetime Achievement at the Berlinale. He recently won the Iris Award from the Hellenic Film Academy for Best Actor in Vasilis Katsoupis's Inside.

With his wife, director Giada Colagrande, he has collaborated on four films: Padre, A Woman, Before It Had a Name, and the documentary Bob Wilson’s Life and Death of Marina Abramović.

His adventurous spirit is reflected in roles such as Thomas Wake in The Lighthouse; Marcus, an elite assassin and mentor to Keanu Reeves in the John Wick series; the voice of the fish Gill in Pixar's animated hit Finding Nemo; Pasolini in Abel Ferrara's film of the same name; FBI agent Paul Smecker in the cult classic The Boondock Saints; Leonhard Seppala in Togo, about the 1925 serum run in Alaska; and the legendary role of Norman Osborn / Green Goblin, which he reprised in Jon Watts's Spider-Man: No Way Home. This spirit continues in upcoming films: Kent Jones's Late Fame, Nadie Latif's The Man in My Basement, Miguel Angel Jiménez's The Birthday Party, Gastón Solnicki's The Souffleur, and Jennifer Peedom's Tenzing. He is soon to begin filming Cuddle by Bárbara Paz and Robert Eggers's Werwulf – their fourth collaboration – followed by Eggers's adaptation of A Christmas Carol for Warner Bros.

He was recently appointed Artistic Director of the Theatre Department of the Venice Biennale for the 2025 and 2026 seasons. He was one of the founders of The Wooster Group – a New York-based experimental theater company – with whom he worked from 1977 to 2005 in the US and abroad. He subsequently collaborated with Richard Foreman on the play Idiot Savant at New York's Public Theatre, with Robert Wilson on the international productions The Life & Death of Marina Abramović and The Old Woman (with Mikhail Baryshnikov), on Marina Abramović's opera 7 Deaths of Maria Callas, and with Romeo Castellucci on an adaptation of Hawthorne's The Minister’s Black Veil.