Mexican director receives top prize for submission at Sarajevo Film Festival

By Sanela Crnovrsanin

SARAJEVO, Bosnia and Herzegovina (AA) - Mexican filmmaker Michel Franco received the Heart of Sarajevo Award late Tuesday for a submission at last year’s online Sarajevo Film Festival.

The award-winning director could not receive his award last year because of the coronavirus pandemic.

The 42-year-old director’s 2020 dystopian drama, New Order, was screened on the fifth day of the 27th Sarajevo Film Festival.

This year’s Heart of Sarajevo Award was given to world-renowned German director Wim Wenders for his many contributions.

-47 films presented at festival

The 27th Sarajevo Film Festival kicked off Friday and features 47 movies in four categories.

The festival began 27 years ago to make the city a destination of culture and art again and help heal the memories of the 1990s bloody Bosnian War.

It features 10 short and nine feature films as well as 10 documentaries and 12 student films.

The festival, which ends Aug. 30, will also feature world premieres of 18 films, international premieres of three films, a European premiere, regional premieres of 24 films and a film of Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Attendees at past festivals include such luminaries as Robert De Niro, Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt, Orlando Bloom, Daniel Craig, John Malkovich, Morgan Freeman, Gerard Depardieu and Turkish director Nuri Bilge Ceylan.