25 Years After Its Premiere, Academy Award®-Winning No Man’s Land by Danis Tanović Returns in a Restored Version to Close the 32nd Sarajevo Film Festival

A quarter of a century after its original premiere, No Man’s Land, directed by Danis Tanović, returns to the Sarajevo Film Festival. One of the most significant achievements of Bosnian and Herzegovinian cinema will be presented in the Open Air programme as the closing film of the 32nd Sarajevo Film Festival.

 

This festival screening will mark the world premiere of the digitally restored version of the film, which has left an indelible mark on both regional and global cinema. Festival audiences will have the exclusive opportunity to be the first to experience the newly restored 4K version, completed by Studiocanal using the original 35mm camera negative.

 

This presents a unique opportunity for audiences to rediscover a landmark of Bosnian and Herzegovinian cinema on the big screen, within a distinctive festival setting, before more than 3000 spectators at the Coca-Cola Open Air Cinema, the festival’s largest venue.

 

No Man’s Land had its world premiere on 12 May 2001 at the Cannes Film Festival, where it received the award for Best Screenplay. By August of the same year, it was presented to domestic audiences at the Sarajevo Film Festival, winning both the Best Film Award and the Audience Award. This marked the beginning of an exceptional international journey, culminating on 24 March 2002 with the Academy Award® for Best Foreign Language Film.

 

No Man’s Land remains enshrined as one of the greatest achievements of Bosnian and Herzegovinian cinema and a defining moment in the country’s contemporary history. Emerging from the lived experience and realities of the region, the film’s universal story of war, absurdity, and humanity resonated with critics and audiences worldwide, earning Bosnia and Herzegovina one of its most significant international cultural distinctions.

 

The return of No Man’s Land to Sarajevo, 25 years after its first encounter with festival audiences, offers a special opportunity for a new generation of viewers to discover a film that defined an era, as well as for those who remember it to experience it once again in its full brilliance, on the big screen and within the shared atmosphere that only a film festival can provide.

 

The screening at the 32nd Sarajevo Film Festival is expected to be attended by members of the film’s cast and crew, led by director Danis Tanović, whose debut feature opened a new chapter in the history of Bosnian and Herzegovinian cinema and demonstrated that stories from Bosnia and Herzegovina can reach the very pinnacle of world cinema. The film stars Branko Đurić, Rene Bitorajac, Filip Šovagović, Georges Siatidis, Serge-Henri Valcke, Katrin Cartlidge and many others.

 

The screening of No Man’s Land at the 32nd Sarajevo Film Festival will stand as a celebration of one of the greatest achievements of Bosnian and Herzegovinian cinema.

The 32nd Sarajevo Film Festival will take place from 14 to 21 August 2026.