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31st Sarajevo Film Festival: Honorary Heart of Sarajevo and „Tribute to“ Programme dedicated to Paolo Sorrentino

The acclaimed Italian author Paolo Sorrentino is this year's recipient of the Honorary Heart of Sarajevo award and a retrospective of his films will be shown as part of the "Tribute to" programme.

The 31st Sarajevo Film Festival will pay tribute to Italian director Paolo Sorrentino in recognition of his outstanding contribution to the art of cinema. The multi-award-winning filmmaker will receive the Honorary Heart of Sarajevo, while a complete retrospective of his films will be presented as part of the "Tribute to" programme. Sorrentino will also hold a Masterclass and share his thoughts on contemporary art in a conversation with the audience.

"I am deeply honored to receive this prestigious recognition and grateful for the attention given to my filmography. I look forward to being with you in Sarajevo. Thank you from the bottom of my heart," said Sorrentino.

“Paolo Sorrentino managed to do what every filmmaker dreams of – he left a global impact through local, personal stories. With visually luxurious, emotionally filled and intellectually insightful style, he won the hearts of audiences around the world, who saw his characters, no matter how eccentric or withdrawn, as a mirror of our world, often absurd, sometimes cruel, but always deeply human. The Honorary Heart of Sarajevo is a recognition of the great beauty that he gave us with his films," said Jovan Marjanović, Director of the Sarajevo Film Festival.

Paolo Sorrentino, film director and screenwriter, was born in Naples in 1970. His first full-length feature film, "One Man Up", dates back to 2001 and was selected for the Venice Film Festival.

His next two films, "The Consequences of Love" from 2004 and "The Family Friend" from 2006, were in competition for the Palme d'Or in Cannes, as well as the film "Il Divo", which won the Jury Prize in 2008. He returned in competition at the Cannes Festival in 2011 with the film "This Must be the Place", and two years later with "The Great Beauty", which won the Academy Award®, the Golden Globe and the BAFTA Award for the best Foreign Language Film, as well as three EFA Awards.

He was selected once again in competition at Cannes in 2016 with “Youth”, garnering three EFA Awards, an Academy Award® nomination and two Golden Globe nominations.

In 2016 he created and directed the TV series "The Young Pope", nominated at the Golden Globes for Best Actor and at the Emmy Awards for Outstanding Production Design and Outstanding Cinematography. In 2018 he directed the movie "Loro" starring Toni Servillo and in 2019 Sorrentino directed the second series set in the world of modern papacy, "The New Pope", starring Jude Law and John Malkovich.

In 2021 he wrote and directed the "The Hand of God", nominated at the 2022 Academy Award® for Best Foreign Film, winner of the Leone d'Argento Grand Jury Prize and the Marcello Mastroianni Award at the 78th edition of the Venice International Film Festival, also winner of 5 David di Donatello 2022 including Best Film and Best Director and 4 Nastri d'argento 2022 including Best Film.

In 2024 he wrote and directed "Parthenope", presented in competition at Cannes and winner of the Biglietto D’oro among the most viewed films of the year.

The Honorary Heart of Sarajevo was founded in 2005 with the aim of recognizing individuals for their exceptional contribution to the affirmation and development of the film industry and the support and development of the Sarajevo Film Festival.

The 31st Sarajevo Film Festival will be held from 15th to 22nd of August, 2025.

Previous recipients of the Honorary Heart of Sarajevo:
Meg Ryan (2024), Alexander Payne (2024), John Turturro (2024), Philippe Bober (2024), Christof Papousek (2024), Mark Cousins (2023), Lynne Ramsay (2023), Charlie Kaufman (2023), Jesse Eisenberg (2022), Ruben Östlund (2022), Sergei Loznitsa (2022), Paul Joseph Schrader (2022), Wim Wenders (2021), Michel Franco (2020), Mads Mikkelsen (2020), Tim Roth (2019), Isabelle Huppert (2019), Alejandro González Iñárritu (2019), Paweł Pawlikowski (2019), Nijaz Hastor (2018), Nuri Bilge Ceylan (2018), Oliver Stone (2017), John Cleese (2017), Wolfgang Amadeus Brülhart (2016), Stephen Frears (2016), Robert De Niro (Lifetime Achievement Award, 2016), Benicio Del Toro (2015), Atom Egoyan (2015), Agnès B. (2015), Danis Tanović (2014), Gael García Bernal (2014), Béla Tarr (2013), Roberto Olla (2013), Branko Lustig (2012), Emil Tedeschi (2011), Jafar Panahi (2011), Angelina Jolie (2011), Dieter Kosslick (2010), Manfred Schmidt (2009), Cat Villiers (2008), Steve Buscemi (2007), Mike Leigh (2006), Gavrilo Grahovac (2006), Marco Müller (2005).

Previous Honourees of the Sarajevo Film Festival’s “Tribute to” Programme include:
Elia Suleiman (2024), Jessica Hausner (2023), Sergei Loznitsa (2022), Wim Wenders (2021), Michel Franco (2020), Paweł Pawlikowski (2019), Nuri Bilge Ceylan (2018), Joshua Oppenheimer, Oliver Stone (2017), Amat Escalante (2016), Brillante Mendoza, Atom Egoyan (2015), Michael Winterbottom (2014), Cristi Puiu (2013), Todd Solondz (2012), Lucrecia Martel (2011), Bruno Dumont (2010), Jia Zhang-ke (2009), Todd Haynes (2008), Tsai Ming-Liang, Ulrich Seidl (2007), Abel Ferrara, Béla Tarr (2006), Alexander Payne (2005), Dušan Makavejev, Gaspar Noé (2004), Peter Mullan (2003), Stephen Frears (2002), Mike Leigh (2001), Steve Buscemi (2000).