The 32nd Sarajevo Film Festival wrapped up its latest edition, presenting the awards for its official competition lines. European and regional cinema staged a prominent showing, with the top accolade, the Heart of Sarajevo for Best Feature Film, awarded to Austrian filmmaker Sandra Wollner for Everytime.
Everytime secured a unanimous vote from the narrative feature jury, who lauded the film as an exquisite cinematic exploration where grief, memory, and loss interweave seamlessly, crafting a distinctive visual and spiritual realm. The victory comes with a cash prize of €16,000.
Wollner’s triumph in Sarajevo follows her Un Certain Regard prize win at the Cannes Film Festival earlier this year, extending the film’s remarkable momentum across the international festival circuit throughout 2026.
Georgian director Ana Urushadze picked up the Heart of Sarajevo for Best Director for Supporting Role, taking home a €10,000 cash award sponsored by the United Nations in Bosnia and Herzegovina in cooperation with UNESCO.
The Best Actress award was bestowed upon Eva Kostić for her performance in 17, while Romanian actor Adrian Văncică took Best Actor for his role in You Don’t Belong Here. Each acting prize carries a purse of €2,500.
In the documentary category, To Hold a Mountain, directed by Serbian filmmakers Biljana Tutorov and Petar Glomazić, earned the Heart of Sarajevo for Best Feature Documentary. The film collected the €4,000 prize and became eligible to enter the Oscar race under festival regulations for the category. The documentary follows two women in their quest to save a mountain intertwined with their past amid mounting threats to the land and their traditional lifestyle.
The Heart of Sarajevo for Best Short Documentary went to Holy Defiance by Karla Jelić, while Zhora Papoian’s The Ferry Flows received the Documentary Competition Special Jury Award.
In the short film section, Nobody Said Anything by Tamara Todorović claimed the Heart of Sarajevo for Best Short Film, and Porkatal by Sis Gurdal received a Special Mention from the jury. The short film competition featured ten titles this year, five of which made their world premieres in Sarajevo, while the remaining entries made regional debuts.
In the student film section, the Heart of Sarajevo went to Unwellness by Hungarian director Réka Benczes, highlighting a promising young voice in cinema. The student competition serves as a crucial launchpad for discovering emerging talent across Southeast Europe, presenting 11 student films this year, including six world premieres.
17 by Koshara Mitić earned the Special Award for Promoting Gender Equality, with a Special Mention in the same category awarded to Don’t Ask Me If I Killed by Helena Maksyom. Additionally, Skateboarding Is Not for Girls by Dina Duma received the Youth Perspective Award.
The official competition featured 51 films across feature, documentary, short, and student programs. The overall festival lineup boasted more than 250 films from roughly 70 countries, running from August 14 to 21.
Beyond the main competition, the festival paid tribute to global cinema visionaries by presenting the Honorary Heart of Sarajevo to Iranian director Asghar Farhadi, American actor Woody Harrelson, and other distinguished figures.
The closing ceremony at the National Theatre Sarajevo brought the edition to a close, reinforcing the festival’s commitment to offering regional cinema an international platform while spotlighting new talent alongside icons of global cinema.
