Into the Blue wins Heart of Sarajevo for Best Short Film
Antoneta Alamat Kusijanović’s film Into the Blue won the Heart of Sarajevo for Best Short Film. Also, Special Mention went to Zdenko Jurilj for his documentary film Home, while the minority Croatian co-production Men Don’t Cry won the Young Audience Award, and the 23rd Sarajevo Film Festival Partners’ Award went to When Pigs Come, also a minority Croatian co-production, by Biljana Tuturov. Furthermore, Nebojša Slijepčević won three of five prizes in the Docu Rough Cut Boutique workshop, held in parallel with Sarajevo Film Festival, for his documentary film in development, Srbenka.
After recently being nominated for a Student Oscar Award for Best Film, Into the Blue, the debut film by Antoneta Alamat Kusijanović, won Best Short Film in Sarajevo. Kusijanović also received a cash prize of 2 500 EUR. The jury was made up of Igor Drljača (film director and screenwriter), Milica Tomović (film director) and Florian Weghorn (Berlinale Talents programme director). Into the Blue had its world premiere in the Generation 14plus programme in Berlin where it received Special Mention, while it won the Young Jury Award at the Short Film Festival in Oberhausen. The screening in Sarajevo was also the film’s regional premiere.
Zdenko Jurilj’s documentary film Home had its world premiere in this year’s competition programme in Sarajevo. The film is produced by the Croatian Film Association and co-produced by Kadar, Široki Brijeg, Bosnia & Herzegovina. The film received Special Jury Mention as voted by Claas Danielsenglavni (executive director of the film fund 'Mitteldeutsche Medienfoerderung GMBH'), Gitte Hansen (deputy director of ‘First Hand Films’ responsible for international sales and special services/distribution in Switzerland) and Želimir Žilnik (film director). Biljana Tuturov’s When Pigs Come also premiered in the documentary competition, and the Serbian-Croatian-Bosnian & Herzegovinian co-production won the one of the festival partners’ awards – The (EDC) European Documentary Network – Talent Grant.
The minority Croatian co-production, and Bosnia & Herzegovina’s candidate for an American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences 90th ‘Oscar’ Award nomination in the Best Foreign Language Film category, Men Don’t Cry, won the Young Audience Award.
The Heart of Sarajevo for Best Film went to Scary Mother by Ana Urushadze, and Best Director went to Emanuel Pârvu for his film Meda or the Not So Bright Side of Things.
Furthermore, Nebojša Slijepčević’s film in development, Srbenka, took home three of five prizes at this year’s Docu Rough Cut Boutique workshop: the HBO Adria with a 2 000 EUR cash prize, the CAT&Docs Award, also with a 2 000 EUR cash prize, and the Digital Cube Award which includes postproduction services in the amount of 20 000 EUR.
The 23rd Sarajevo Film Festival took place in Bosnia & Herzegovina’s capital city from August 11th to 18th. For more information please visit the festival’s official website.
Cover photos: Antoneta Alamat Kusijanović; award ceremony
(*photos from SFF official website)