25/08/2025 - Stefan Đorđević’s docufiction has won the top feature fiction prize, while other awards went to Sorella di Clausura, Fantasy and Yugo Florida, and DJ Ahmet took home the Cineuropa Award

Director Stefan Đorđević with his Heart of Sarajevo for Wind, Talk to Me (© Obala Art Center)

The 31st Sarajevo Film Festival handed out its official and partner awards as it drew to a close on 22 August, wrapping up eight days of screenings, master classes and events in the Bosnian capital. This year’s big winner of the Heart of Sarajevo for Best Feature Film, which comes with an award of €16,000, was Stefan Đorđević’s autobiographical docufiction Wind, Talk to Me [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], which premiered earlier this year to acclaim in IFFR’s Tiger Competition. Serving on this year’s feature-film competition jury was Ukrainian director and writer Sergei Loznitsa (president of the jury), Serbian actor Dragan Mićanović, Romanian filmmaker and actor Emanuel Pârvu (who won the award in last year’s competition), Bosnian-Dutch writer-director Ena Sendijarević and Berlinale helmer Tricia Tuttle. The jury described the film as one of “beguiling melancholy and delicate beauty”.

The Heart of Sarajevo for Best Director went to Ivana Mladenović’s Sorella di Clausura [+see also:
film review
interview: Ivana Mladenović
film profile] – the jury highlighted its “punk spirit” – which enjoyed its premiere at the Locarno Film Festival before heading to Sarajevo. The Heart of Sarajevo for Best Actress also went to the players in a film that premiered at Locarno: Kukla’s Fantasy [+see also:
film review
interview: Kukla
film profile], with the prize shared between the ensemble quartet in this coming-of-age film about three young Balkan women in a conservative town who befriend a trans woman, an event that changes their lives forever. The corresponding award for best actor went to Andrija Kuzmanović in the sombre Yugo Florida [+see also:
film review
film profile], which enjoyed its world premiere at Sarajevo.

In the documentary section, whose jury comprised producer Blake Levin (USA), film curator Cíntia Gil (Portugal) and DokuFest artistic director Veton Nukollari (Kosovo), the top prize and Oscar-qualifying status went to Ivette Löcker's Our Time Will Come [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile]. The Heart of Sarajevo for Best Short Film, also an Oscar-qualifying category, went to Natalia Mirzoyan's Winter in March. Georgi M Unkovski’s DJ Ahmet [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Georgi M Unkovski
film profile], which premiered earlier this year at the Sundance Film Festival, received two gongs: the Special Youth Perspectives Award and a partner accolade, the Cineuropa Award, presented to a work with high artistic merit that also “promotes the idea of European dialogue and integration”.

Here is the full list of award winners at this year’s Sarajevo Film Festival:

Competition Programme - Feature Film

Heart of Sarajevo for Best Feature Film
Wind, Talk to Me [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] – Stefan Đorđević (Serbia/Slovenia/Croatia)

Heart of Sarajevo for Best Director
Sorella di Clausura [+see also:
film review
interview: Ivana Mladenović
film profile] – Ivana Mladenović (Romania/Serbia/Italy/Spain)

Heart of Sarajevo for Best Actress
Sarah al Saleh, Alina Juhart, Mia Skrbinac, Mina Milovanović – Fantasy [+see also:
film review
interview: Kukla
film profile] (Slovenia/North Macedonia)

Heart of Sarajevo for Best Actor
Andrija Kuzmanović – Yugo Florida [+see also:
film review
film profile] (Serbia/Bulgaria/France/Croatia/Montenegro)

Competition Programme - Documentary Film

Heart of Sarajevo for Best Documentary Film
Our Time Will Come [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] – Ivette Löcker (Austria)

Heart of Sarajevo for Best Short Documentary Film
The Man's Land – Mariam Bakacho Khatchvani (Georgia/Hungary, short film)

Special Jury Award
In Hell with Ivo [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] – Kristina Nikolova (Bulgaria/USA)

Special Mention
I Believe the Portrait Saved Me – Alban Muja (Kosovo/Netherlands)

Competition Programme - Short Film

Heart of Sarajevo for Best Short Film
Winter in March – Natalia Mirzoyan (Estonia/France/Belgium)

Special Mention
Eraserhead in a Knitted Shopping Bag – Lili Koss (Bulgaria)

Competition Programme - Student Film

Heart of Sarajevo for Best Student Film
Tarik – Adem Tutić (Serbia)

Other awards

Special Award for Promoting Gender Equality
God Will Not Help [+see also:
film review
interview: Hana Jušić
film profile] – Hana Jušić (Italy/Romania/Greece/France)

Special Youth Perspectives Award
DJ Ahmet [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Georgi M Unkovski
film profile] – Georgi M Unkovski (North Macedonia/Czech Republic/Serbia/Croatia)

Honorary Hearts of Sarajevo
Willem Dafoe
Stellan Skarsgård
Paolo Sorrentino
Ray Winstone

Partners’ awards

European Film Academy Short Film Candidate
Things Hidden Since the Foundation of the World – Kevin Walker, Irene Zahariadis (Greece/USA, short film)

CICAE Award
White Snail [+see also:
film review
interview: Elsa Kremser and Levin Peter
film profile] – Elsa Kresmer, Levin Peter (Austria/Germany)

Cineuropa Award
DJ Ahmet – Georgi M Unkovski