19th Sarajevo Film Festival

The 19th edition of Sarajevo Film Festival was closed with award ceremony on Saturday 24th of August.  The SFF fever took over Sarajevo, one of my dearest cities, for nine days and was visited by various generations. Among many visitors were my correspondents (in this case my family), who have enjoyed the biggest festival in the Balkan region. It is truly lovely to stay in the charming capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina'.
The 19th edition was again marked with premieres and stars like Danny Glover, Armand Asante and Emile Hirsch. The big winner of the evening was Georgian film "In Bloom" by Nana Ekvtimishvili and Simon Grob. The movie won the Heart of Sarajevo Award for the Best Feature Film.

In Bloom

The movie's story takes places in Tbilisi, Georgian capital, after the collapse of Soviet Union and is based on two teenage girls trying to find their way through the transition. The two main roles in "In Bloom", Lika Babluani and Mariam Bokeria won the best actress award.

Heart of Sarajevo Award for the best actor went to Serbian actor Bogdan Diklic, for his role in 'A Stanger'.
Special prize - honorary Heart of Sarajevo went to Roberto Olla, executive director of Eurimages, the Council of Europe support fund for European cinema for his contribution to development of the South-east European cinematography.
The Heart of Sarajevo for the best short film went to "Shadow of a Cloud" by Radua Jude. The award for the best documentary went to Austrian film "Sickfuckpeople" by Juryja Rechinskog. The best documentary that deals with human rights went to "Married to Swiss Franc" by Arsen Oremovic, while the special award for documentary, awarded by Al Jazeera, went to the film "The Cleaners" by Konstantinos Georgousis.

The Katrin Kartlidge foundation Award traditionally announced at the SFF has been awarded to the young director Dyana Gaye for her short film DEWENTI.

SFF - Sarajevo Film festival - that was first launched in 1995, has become one of largest and best organized cultural events in the region of Former Yugoslavia.

More information about the festival: http://www.sff.ba/en