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23rd Sarajevo Film Festival Final Report

The Sarajevo Film Festival continuously develops its recognizable concept as an international film festival with a clear focus on Southeast European films. The 23rd edition was enhanced in several segments, which create additional value for film professionals and general audiences alike.

Based on the evaluation of the previous editions, the Festival Board has decided to strengthen synergies between the existing segments – programming, industry (CineLink Industry Days) and training (Talents Sarajevo). All three segments were firmly integrated and realized in parallel during the first 7 days of the Festival. The last day of the Festival was reserved for reruns of the winning films (official jury awards and audience awards) in a pure “film enjoyment” atmosphere.

This year Sarajevo Film Festival launched the new programme - Competition Programme - Student Film, for regional film schools and academies. The programme round the full circle of activities by which the Festival discovers, supports and promotes regional authors and serves as the market access point for wider audio-visual industries in the region to other European and global markets.

Better integration of the existing segments and development of the new competition programme enable Sarajevo Film Festival to further affirm itself as a must-attend film festival for authors, film professionals, students, cinemagoers and journalists.

Sarajevo Film Festival presented two new venues: House of Shorts - intended for filmmakers, film students and film professionals who wish to gain insight into the short film production, and Youth Theatre that served as a central gathering point for Children’s Programme and TeenArena audiences. 

Also, the Festival’s most popular venue Raiffeisen Open Air Cinema, that attracted some 3,000 moviegoers each night, was reconstructed and it offered a new experience of movie-watching under the stars. 

During the eight days of the 23rd Sarajevo Film Festival, numerous eminent filmmakers presented their work to the audience including Honorary Heart of Sarajevo Award Recipients John Cleese and Oliver Stone.

23RD SARAJEVO FILM FESTIVAL IN NUMBERS:
235 films from 54 countries
18 programmes
363 employees
250 volunteers
more than 1300 guests
more than 700 media representatives from 26 countries
more than 100.000 visitors

OFFICIAL AWARDS

COMPETITION PROGRAMME – FEATURE FILM

Jury:
Michel Franco, Director, Writer, Producer (President of the Jury, Mexico)

Members of the Jury:
Mark Adams, Artistic Director of EIFF (UK)
Goran Bogdan, Actor (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia)
Fatma Al Remaihi, CEO of Doha Film Institute (Qatar)
Melisa Sözen, Actress (Turkey)

HEART OF SARAJEVO FOR BEST FEATURE FILM
SCARY MOTHER / SASHISHI DEDA
Georgia, Estonia
Director: Ana Urushadze
Producer: Lasha Khalvashi
Financial Award, in the amount of 16.000 €.

HEART OF SARAJEVO FOR BEST DIRECTOR
EMANUEL PÂRVU
MEDA OR THE NOT SO BRIGHT SIDE OF THINGS / MEDA SAU PARTEA NU PREA FERICITĂ A LUCRURILOR
Romania
Financial Award, in the amount of 10,000 €, is provided by Agnes B.

SPECIAL JURY MENTION
DIRECTIONS / POSOKI
Bulgaria, Germany, Macedonia
Director: Stephan Komandarev

HEART OF SARAJEVO FOR BEST ACTRESS
Ornela Kapetani, DAYBREAK / DITA ZË FILL
Financial Award, in the amount of 2.500 €, sponsored by Tondach.

HEART OF SARAJEVO FOR BEST ACTOR
Şerban Pavlu, MEDA OR THE NOT SO BRIGHT SIDE OF THINGS / MEDA SAU PARTEA NU PREA FERICITĂ A LUCRURILOR
Financial Award, in the amount of 2.500 €, sponsored by Tondach.

COMPETITION PROGRAMME – SHORT FILM

Jury:
Igor Drljača, Director and Writer (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Canada)
Milica Tomović, Director (Serbia)
Florian Weghorn, Programme manager of Berlinale Talents (Germany)

HEART OF SARAJEVO FOR BEST SHORT FILM
INTO THE BLUE / U PLAVETNILO
Croatia, Slovenia
Director: Antoneta Alamat Kusijanović
Financial Award, in the amount of 2.500 €.

SPECIAL JURY MENTION
SOA
Montenegro
Director: Dušan Kasalica

SPECIAL JURY MENTION
COPA - LOCA
Greece
Director: Christos Massalas

COMPETITION PROGRAMME – STUDENT FILM

Jury:
Boaz Frankel, Director and editor (Israel)
Guillaume de Seille, Producer (France)
Teona Strugar Mitevska, Director (Macedonia)

HEART OF SARAJEVO FOR BEST STUDENT FILM
CLEAN / ČISTOĆA
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Director: Neven Samardžić
Financial Award, in the amount of 1,000 €, sponsored by Regional Cooperation Council.

SPECIAL JURY MENTION
LJUBLJANA - MÜNCHEN 15:27 / LJUBLJANA - MUNICH 15:27
Slovenia
Director: Katarina Morano

COMPETITION PROGRAMME – DOCUMENTARY FILM

Jury:
Claas Danielsen, CEO of Mitteldeutsche Medienfoerderung GMBH (MDM) (Germany)
Gitte Hansen, Deputy Director of First Hand Films, International Sales & Services | Swiss Distribution (Switzerland)
Želimir Žilnik, Director (Serbia)

HEART OF SARAJEVO FOR BEST DOCUMENTARY FILM
CITY OF THE SUN / MZIS QALAQI
Georgia, USA, Qatar, Netherlands
Director: Rati Oneli
Financial award, in the amount of 3,000 €, sponsored by Government of Switzerland.

SPECIAL JURY PRIZE FOR COMPETITION PROGRAMME DOCUMENTARY FILM
KINDERS
Austria
Directors: Arash T. Riahi, Arman T. Riahi
Financial Award, in the amount of 2,500 €, is provided by Al Jazeera Balkans.

SPECIAL JURY MENTION
HOME / DOM
Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Director: Zdenko Jurilj

HUMAN RIGHTS AWARD
MR. GAY SYRIA
Turkey, France, Germany
Director: Ayse Toprak
Best film of the Competition Programme – Documentary Film dealing with the subject of human rights. Award in the amount of 3,000 €, sponsored by Government of Switzerland.

HONORARY HEART OF SARAJEVO

John Cleese, Actor
Oliver Stone, Director

AUDIENCE AWARD:

Feature Film:
THE FROG, by Elmir Jukić

Documentary Film:
THE PUTIN INTERVIEWS, by Oliver Stone

Young Audience Award:
MEN DON'T CRY, by Alen Drljević

CINELINK AWARDS

CINELINK CO-PRODUCTION MARKET AWARDS

CineLink Co-Production Market Jury:
Uldis Dimisevskis, Georges Goldenstern, Behrooz Hashemian, Čedomir Kolar, Annamaria Lodato, Tomi Salkovski and Jani Thiltges.

EURIMAGES COPRODUCTION DEVELOPMENT AWARD
HALF-SISTER
Director: Damjan Kozole
Writers: Damjan Kozole, Urša Menart
Producer: Danijel Hočevar
Production company: Vertigo
Slovenia
- 20.000 €

MACEDONIAN FILM AGENCY CINELINK AWARD
HOLY EMY
Director: Araceli Lemos
Writers: Araceli Lemos, Gulia Caruso
Producers: Elina Psykou, Giulia Caruso, Konstantinos Vassilaros
Production company: StudioBauhaus
Greece
- 10.000 €

ARTE INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS CINELINK AWARD
CAT IN THE WALL
Directors: Mina Mileva, Vesela Kazakova
Writer: Mina Mileva
Producers: Mina Mileva, Vesela Kazakova
Production company: Activist38
Bulgaria
- 6.000 €

SPECIAL MENTION
THE GREAT TRAM ROBBERY
Director: Slobodan Šijan
Writers: Slobodan Šijan, Biljana Maksić, Vladimir Mančić
Producer: Marko Paljić
Production company: Gargantua Films
Serbia

MDM EAVE SCHOLARSHIP
Konstantinos Vassilaros / HOLY EMY

WORK IN PROGRESS AWARDS

Work In Progress Jury:
Paolo Bertolin, Petra Gobel, Paz Lázaro, Hedi Zardi and Serkan Yildirim.

TRT AWARD 
HONEYLAND
Directors: Ljubo Stefanov, Tamara Kotevska
Producers: Ljubo Stefanov, Atanas Georgiev
Production company: Apollo Media, Trice Films
Macedonia
- 30.000 €

POST REPUBLIC AWARD
THE DAY AFTER I’M GONE
Director: Nimrod Eldar
Producer: Eitan Mansuri
Production company: Spiro Films Ltd
Israel
- 50.000 € (in kind support)

RESTART AWARD
WHAT COMES AROUND
Director: Reem Saleh
Producers: Reem Saleh, Konstantina Stavrianou
Production company: Mazameer Productions
Lebanon / Egypt / Qatar
- 20.000 € (in kind support)

CINELINK DRAMA AWARD

CineLink Drama Award Jury:
Meinolf Zurhorst, Tatjana Andersson and Giacomo Durzi.

FILM CENTER SERBIA CINELINK DRAMA AWARD
ALL PANTHERS ARE PINK / SVI PANTERI SU PINK
Creators: Titus Kreyenberg, Miroslav Mogorović
Writer: Dimitrije Vojnov
Director: TBC
Producers: Titus Kreyenberg, Miroslav Mogorović
Production company: Unafilm, Art & Popcorn
Germany, Serbia
- 10.000 €

SPECIAL MENTION
GLYCERIN / GLICERIN
Creators: Ivan Knežević, Miloš Pušić
Writers: Ivan Knežević, Miloš Pušić
Director: Miloš Pušić
Producers: Ivan Knežević, Miloš Pušić
Production company: Altertise
Serbia

23rd SARAJEVO FILM FESTIVAL PARTNER'S AWARDS

AWARDS OF ASSOCIATION OF BOSNIAN FILMMAKERS

Ivica Matić Award
Redžinald Šimek

Ivica Matić Award 
Tomislav Topić

Ivica Matić Award
Action Group of the Association of Bosnian Filmmakers for copyrights (Pjer Žalica, Jovan Marjanović, Elma Tataragić and Amar Nović)

CINEUROPA NAGRADA 
SCARY MOTHER / SASHISHI DEDA
Director: Ana Urushadze

CICAE NAGRADA
SON OF SOFIA / O GIOS TIS SOFIAS
Director: Elina Psykou

THE EUROPEAN DOCUMENTARY NETWORK - TALENT GRANT 
WHEN PIGS COME
Director: Biljana Tutorov

SARAJEVO SHORT FILM NOMINEE FOR EUROPAN FIOM AWARDS 2017
COPA-LOCA
Director: Christos Massalas

BEST PACK & PITCH AWARD (TALENTS SARAJEVO PACK & PITCH)

SIRIN
Senad Šahmanović – invitation for participation in the co-production market CineLink 

PINKLER
Patricia D'Intino
The postproduction of sound services in the amount of 4.000 EUR (studio Chelia)

BH FILM STUDENT PROGRAMME AWARD

Best B&H Student Film Award
TO OUTLIVE A TURTLE / NADŽIVETI KORNJAČU
Director: Katarina Živanović
Fakultet dramskih i filmskih umjetnosti Bijeljina

Special Jury Award 
CLEAN / ČISTOĆA
Director: Neven Samardžić
Akademija scenskih umjetnosti Sarajevo 

Special Mention
WINTER SUN / ZIMSKO SUNCE
Director: Pilar Palomero
Sarajevo Film Academy