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 [+lee también:
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ficha de la película], 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 [+lee también:
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ficha de la película] – 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 [+lee también:
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entrevista: Kukla
ficha de la película], 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 [+lee también:
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ficha de la película], 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 [+lee también:
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ficha de la película]. 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 [+lee también:
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entrevista: Georgi M. Unkovski
ficha de la película], 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 [+lee también:
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ficha de la película] – Stefan Đorđević (Serbia/Slovenia/Croatia)

Heart of Sarajevo for Best Director
Sorella di Clausura [+lee también:
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entrevista: Ivana Mladenović
ficha de la película] – Ivana Mladenović (Romania/Serbia/Italy/Spain)

Heart of Sarajevo for Best Actress
Sarah al Saleh, Alina Juhart, Mia Skrbinac, Mina Milovanović – Fantasy [+lee también:
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entrevista: Kukla
ficha de la película] (Slovenia/North Macedonia)

Heart of Sarajevo for Best Actor
Andrija Kuzmanović – Yugo Florida [+lee también:
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ficha de la película] (Serbia/Bulgaria/France/Croatia/Montenegro)

Competition Programme - Documentary Film

Heart of Sarajevo for Best Documentary Film
Our Time Will Come [+lee también:
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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 [+lee también:
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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 [+lee también:
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entrevista: Hana Jušić
ficha de la película] – Hana Jušić (Italy/Romania/Greece/France)

Special Youth Perspectives Award
DJ Ahmet [+lee también:
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tráiler
entrevista: Georgi M. Unkovski
ficha de la película] – 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 [+lee también:
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entrevista: Elsa Kremser y Levin Peter
ficha de la película] – Elsa Kresmer, Levin Peter (Austria/Germany)

Cineuropa Award
DJ Ahmet – Georgi M Unkovski