Sandra Wollner’s Everytime has been awarded the Honorary Heart for best narrative feature film at the 32nd Sarajevo Film Festival.
As this year’s edition drew to a close on Friday night, filmmakers gathered at the city’s National Theatre where the jury members — including Igor Bezinović, Sara Klimoska, Matthijs Wouter Knol and Athina Rachel Tsangari, led by Emily Watson —unveiled their top picks.
A final Honorary Heart of Sarajevo was awarded to Emir Hadžihafizbegović, one of the most prominent actors in Bosnian-Herzegovinian and regional cinema, in recognition of his contribution to film. He joined Watson, Diego Luna, Woody Harrelson and Asghar Farhadi in receiving an Honorary Heart. The festival officially closed with a screening of a restored No Man’s Land by Danis Tanović.
Austrian filmmaker Sandra Wollner and producers Lixi Frank, Viktoria Stolpe and David Bohun won the best narrative feature film award for Everytime, taking home 16,000 Euros. Led by Birgit Minichmayrhe, the film follows a mother, her young daughter and a teenage boy as they travel to Tenerife in a bid to cope with the tragic death of their eldest daughter and sister.
Wollner sat down with THR in Sarajevo to discuss taking the movie on the festival circuit. “The festival being founded during the siege in 1995, I think that’s very powerful,” she said about the Bosnian event. “And you can still feel something of that history here. I felt it yesterday when I had a radio interview. Just from some of the questions, you could get the sense that there might be a different way of approaching trauma or loss here, simply in the way people talked about the film.”
The jury said their decision was unanimous. “Moments of cinematic grace float through this mesmerically elastic and transcendental grief-soaked ghost story,” they wrote.
The best director prize went to Georgian filmmaker Ana Urushadze for Supporting Role, winning her 10,000 Euros for her next project. It follows Niaz Ninua (played by Dato Bakhtadze), a fading Georgian film star accustomed to playing heroic lead roles. After meeting with a young, female director, who offers him the chance to play a bizarre and deeply unsympathetic character in her debut feature, Niaz leaves the audition unconvinced (and pretty offended). But he soon embarks on something of an odyssey around the city and gradually surrenders to the role.
Urushadze said to THR earlier this week: “To me, ultimately, it’s a film about realizing the elusive nature of reality, and taking control of your life.” The judges said they were “enchanted by her irreverent blending of the banal and the oneiric.”
Elsewhere, Eva Kostić was awarded best actress for her performance in 17, winning 2,500 Euros. “A fearless emergence of a young talent. Raw, visceral and deeply instinctive,” the jury said.
Best actor, meanwhile, went to Adrian Văncică for You Don’t Belong Here, which comes with the same cash prize as best actress. “For a performance marked by tenacity and understated rigour,” the jury commented.
The documentary film jury was headed up by Palestine’s Kamal Aljafari, as well as Austrian Sabine Gebetsroither and film editor Ollie Huddleston, from the U.K. They gave the Heart of Sarajevo to To Hold a Mountain from Biljana Tutorov and Petar Glomazić, who claimed 4,000 Euros. “With astonishingly epic cinematography, this touching portrait of two extraordinary women and a disappearing way of life enchanted us,” said the jury. “Tied together by a traumatic past, their struggle to save the mountain was an unforgettable journey.”
The Heart of Sarajevo for best short documentary film was given to Croatia’s Karla Jelić and her project Holy Defiance. She was awarded 2,000 Euros. “This short and extremely powerful film featured a brave act of defiance against resurgent male misogyny,” said the jury. “We salute the film‘s courageous artist who stood alone against reactionary crowds trying once again to confine society and silence women.”
The special jury award in this selection went to The Ferry Flows from Zhora Papoian, who also takes home 2,500 Euros. “Without being didactic, this short film showed the power of images to tell stories. We were given time and space to experience the lives of a music teacher and his pupils who are forced to endure grief and loss as part of their daily lives.”
Check the full list of winners from the 32nd Sarajevo Film Festival below.
Honorary Heart of Sarajevo for Narrative Feature Film
Everytime, Sandra Wollner
Best Director
Supporting Role, Ana Urushadze
Best Actress
Eva Kostić, 17
Best Actor
Adrian Văncică, You Don’t Belong Here
Documentary Feature Film
To Hold a Mountain, Biljana Tutorov and Petar Glomazić
Short Documentary Film
Holy Defiance, Karla Jelić
Special Jury Award
The Ferry Flows, Zhora Papoian
Narrative Short Film
Nobody Said Anything, Tamara Todorović
Special Mention
Porkatal, Sis Gürdal
Student Short Film
Unwellness, Réka Pinczés
Special Award for Promoting Gender Equality
17, Kosara Mitić
Special Mention
Don’t Ask Me If I Killed, Helena Maksyom
Special Youth Perspectives Award
Skateboarding Is Not for Girls, Dima Duma
Katrin Cartlidge Foundation Award
Lana Daher