The Honorary Heart of Sarajevo award will also go to Palestinian director Elia Suleiman, the organizers added.
Recipients of awards will attend the screening of their most popular movies, present their latest productions, and hold masterclasses during the 30th edition of the festival, to be held from August 16-23, the SFF said.
The SFF was founded towards the end of the Bosnian War of 1992-1995 by a group of movie enthusiasts and has been supported since then by figures in the industry from across the world.
SFF Director Jovan Marjanovic said it was a ‘great privilege’ to be able to bring such industry figures to Sarajevo and connect them with young people from the region. “These are the ties that last and we see the people returning, enabling the festival to grow and develop.”
The world premiere of ‘My Late Summer’ by Bosnian Oscar-winning director Danis Tanovic will open the festival, which will showcase 240 films in total this year.
Meg Ryan will present a special screening of her 1998 hit romantic comedy ‘You’ve Got Mail’ at the open-air cinema that can accommodate 2,000 viewers, as well as her latest directorial effort ‘What Happens Later’, in which she also stars.
Fifty-four films from southeastern Europe, Ukraine, and the southern Caucasus will compete in four selections – features, short films, documentaries, and student films – for the Heart of Sarajevo award, including 19 world premiers.
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“What unites all these countries is that they are the periphery, both geopolitically and culturally,” Marjanovic said.
“So the Sarajevo Film Festival has positioned itself as the center of all these cinematographies, their window to the world to some extent, a platform for their cooperation and the cooperation with the rest of the world.”
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