Great Freedom triumphs at the Sarajevo Film Festival
- Sebastian Meise’s film won the Heart of Sarajevo for Best Feature, while Marta Popivoda’s Landscapes of Resistance was crowned as the Best Documentary
The German-Austrian co-production and Cannes’ Un Certain Regard Jury Prize winner Great Freedom [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Sebastian Meise
film profile] directed by Sebastian Meise ended up winning the top prize of the 27th Sarajevo Film Festival, the Heart of Sarajevo, given out by the jury consisting of US writer-director Mike Cahill, Hungarian filmmaker Lili Horvát, Viennale artistic director Eva Sangiorgi and Austrian Film Commission executive director Martin Schweighofer. On top of that, the film also won the Best Actor prize for co-lead Georg Friedrich and the CICAE award.
Milica Tomović was crowned as the Best Director for her 90s-themed ensemble drama Celts [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Milica Tomovic
film profile], which premiered earlier this year at Berlinale’s Panorama section, while the Best Actress prize went to the three-girl ensemble (Flaka Latifi, Era Balaj and Urate Shabani) from Luana Bajrami’s Cannes title The Hill Where the Lionesses Roar [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Luana Bajrami
film profile].
In the Documentary Competition, the winner was Marta Popivoda’s Rotterdam title Landscapes of Resistance [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Marta Popivoda
film profile], while Stefan Pavlović’s Looking for Horses [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] won the Special Jury Prize and Vlad Petri’s short film The Same Dream got the Special Jury Mention. Human Rights Award went to Ahmet Necdet Çupu’s Les Enfants Terribles [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile].
In the Shorts Competition, the Heart of Sarajevo winner is the Croatian-French co-production title Everything Ahead directed by Mate Ugrin, while Samir Karahoda’s Displaced won the Special Mention. My Uncle Tudor was elected to be Sarajevo’s nominee for the EFA award and Alexandru Mironescu’s Summer Planning triumphed at the Student Film Competition.
Norika Sefa’s Rotterdam title Looking for Venera [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Norika Sefa
film profile] won the newly founded Gender Equality Promotion award, while the special mention went to Laura Wandel’s film Playground [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Laura Wandel
film profile]. The Cineuropa Award went to Jacqueline Lentzou’s Berlinale Encounters title Moon, 66 Questions [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Jacqueline Lentzou
film profile]. There was no Audience award this year due to technical reasons.
The full list of film awards is below:
Feature Competition
Heart of Sarajevo for Best Film
Great Freedom [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Sebastian Meise
film profile] – Sebastian Meise (Germany/Austria)
Heart of Sarajevo for Best Director
Milica Tomović – Celts [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Milica Tomovic
film profile] (Serbia)
Heart of Sarajevo for Best Actress
Flaka Latifi, Era Balaj, Urate Shabani – The Hill Where the Lionesses Roar [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Luana Bajrami
film profile] (Kosovo/France)
Heart of Sarajevo for Best Actor
Georg Friedrich – Great Freedom
Documentary Competition
Heart of Sarajevo for Best Documentary
Landscapes of Resistance [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Marta Popivoda
film profile] – Marta Popivoda (Serbia/Germany/France)
Special Jury Prize
Looking for Horses [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] – Stefan Pavlović (The Netherlands/France/Bosnia and Herzegovina)
Special Jury Mention
The Same Dream – Vlad Petri (Romania) (short film)
Human Rights Award
Les Enfants Terribles [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] - Ahmet Necdet Çupu (Turkey/France/Germany)
Shorts Competition
Heart of Sarajevo for Best Short
Everything Ahead – Mate Ugrin (Croatia/France)
Special Jury Mention
Displaced – Samir Karahoda (Kosovo)
Student Film Competition
Heart of Sarajevo for Best Student Film
Summer Plans – Alexandru Mironescu (Romania)
Honorary Heart of Sarajevo
Wim Wenders
Other awards
Special Award for the Promotion of Gender Equality
Looking for Venera [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Norika Sefa
film profile] – Norika Sefa (Kosovo/North Macedonia)
Special Jury Mention
Playground [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Laura Wandel
film profile] – Laura Wandel (Belgium)
CICAE Award
Great Freedom – Sebastian Meise (Germany/Austria)
Cineuropa Award
Moon, 66 Questions [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Jacqueline Lentzou
film profile] – Jacqueline Lentzou (Greece/France)
EFA Nomination Candidate in the Category Best European Short Film
My Uncle Tudor – Olga Lucovincova (Hungary/Portugal/Belgium)
Awards for the National Student Competition
Best Film
Bjelko – Almir Zoletić
Special Jury Award
Atanasija – Boško Krljaš
Special Jury Mention
Wheel of Life – Tamara Maksimović
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