Director Ena Sendijarevic (2nd R, Front) poses for a photo after receiving the Heart of Sarajevo for the Best Feature Film of the 25th Sarajevo Film Festival in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, on Aug. 22, 2019. (Photo by Nedim Grabovica/Xinhua)
There were 53 films in competition for the Heart of Sarajevo Awards.
SARAJEVO, Aug. 23 (Xinhua) -- A movie coproduced by Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) and the Netherlands and directed by Ena Sendijarevic has won the best feature film at the 25th Sarajevo Film Festival (SFF) on Thursday evening.
"Take me Somewhere Nice" tells a story of a girl Alma who leaves her mother's home in the Netherlands and travels to her native BiH to visit the father she has never met. However, she faces many obstacles, but remains fearlessly determined to find her father. During the search for him and road trip through BiH, Alma learned to accept and understand herself, and embrace all challenges that come her way.
During her speech, Sendijarevic said she was overwhelmed while accepting the Heart of Sarajevo award.
"I am attending the festival for the fifth time, I am dedicating the prize to SFF, it is the great part of my life," Sendijarevic said.
Director Ena Sendijarevic speaks after receiving the Heart of Sarajevo for the Best Feature Film of the 25th Sarajevo Film Festival in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, on Aug. 22, 2019. (Photo by Nedim Grabovica/Xinhua)
The Heart of Sarajevo for the best director went to Turkish Emin Alper, who directed "A Tale of Three Sisters".
"It is a great honor to receive this award. I am very grateful to the Sarajevo Film Festival, if they invite me again I will keep coming," Alper said.
The jubilee edition of the festival brought a total of 270 movies screened in 18 programs from 56 countries. A total of 68 films made their world premieres, while 12 more chose the festival to be their first screenings outside the country where they were made.
There were 53 films in competition for the Heart of Sarajevo Awards and more than 100,000 visitors since Aug. 16.
Towards the end of the four-year siege of Sarajevo, in 1995, the SFF was initiated with the aim of helping to reconstruct civil society and retain the cosmopolitan spirit of the city.
For the last 25 years, SFF has been recognized as the leading film festival in the region, recognized by both professionals and the wider audiences.
