Paolo Sorrentino, Stellan Skarsgård and Ray Winstone to receive the Honorary Heart of Sarajevo
by Cineuropa
- The Bosnian festival will celebrate the Italian director, the Swedish actor and the English actor and their contribution to the film industry
The 31st Sarajevo Film Festival has announced that Italian filmmaker Paolo Sorrentino, Swedish actor Stellan Skarsgård and English actor Ray Winstone will be honoured with the Honorary Heart of Sarajevo Award.
Jovan Marjanović, director of the Sarajevo Film Festival praised Sorrentino's unique ability to transform personal narratives into universal stories. “Paolo Sorrentino has managed to do what every filmmaker dreams of – he has made a global impact through local, personal stories. With a visually luxurious, emotional and intellectually insightful style, he has won the hearts of audiences around the world, who saw his characters, no matter how eccentric or withdrawn, as a mirror of our world – often absurd, sometimes cruel, but always deeply human.”
When talking about Skarsgård, Marjanović says "He has been a longtime friend of Sarajevo, and we are delighted to welcome him back. His career is filled with unforgettable roles in films that challenge, move, and stay with audiences. This award is a heartfelt thank you for his outstanding contribution to cinema and for the continued support he has shown to our festival.”
As for Winstone, Marjanović says “He is an actor who has captivated audiences for five decades with his great talent and undeniable presence. With honesty and intensity that resonate far beyond the screen, he has given us many unforgettable characters."
The festival will celebrate Sorrentino's career with a comprehensive retrospective of his work as part of the "Tribute to" programme, which will also include a master class by the filmmaker. Sorrentino began his feature-film career with One Man Up [+see also:
trailer
film profile] in 2001. His subsequent works quickly established him as one of Europe's most distinctive voices in cinema, including The Consequences of Love (2004), The Family Friend (2006), the Cannes Jury Prize winner Il Divo [+see also:
film review
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interview: Nicola Giuliano
interview: Paolo Sorrentino
interview: Philippe Desandre
film profile] (2008) and The Great Beauty [+see also:
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interview: Paolo Sorrentino
film profile] (2013), which won the Academy Award, the Golden Globe and the BAFTA for Best Foreign-language Film, along with three European Film Awards. His 2021 semi-autobiographical film The Hand of God [+see also:
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interview: Paolo Sorrentino
film profile] earned him the Silver Lion Grand Jury Prize at Venice and an Academy Award nomination, he released Parthenope [+see also:
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Skarsgård, a longtime friend of the Sarajevo Film Festival, as well as a curator and one of the patrons of the Katrin Cartlidge Foundation - whose scholarships were awarded at the Sarajevo Film Festival - presented the foundation’s scholarship to Juanita Wilson at the Festival’s 15th edition in 2009. "The Sarajevo Film Festival remains unwavering and driven in its aim to highlight subjects of great consequence, underscored by an intense lust for life. I love going there”, says Skarsgård. Skarsgård's international breakthrough came in 1982 with Hans Alfredson’s The Simple-Minded Murderer, for which he won the Berlinale Silver Bear for Best Actor, and was cemented later in 1996 with Breaking the Waves, which launched his long-running collaboration with Lars von Trier. His first significant Hollywood role came in 1990 when he portrayed a Russian submarine captain in The Hunt for Red October, and has since worked with filmmakers such as Gus Van Sant, Steven Spielberg and Miloš Forman. He has recently appeared in Denis Villeneuve’s Dune, the Star Wars series Andor and Joachim Trier's Cannes Grand Prix winner Sentimental Value [+see also:
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interview: Joachim Trier
film profile].
Winstone, one of the UK’s most prolific actors, has marked over forty years in the industry. From blockbusters to independent films, Ray’s film credits are extensive - most recently including Stephen Moyer's indie A Bit of Light, James Marsh’s heist drama King of Thieves [+see also:
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interview: James Marsh
film profile] and Marvel’s Black Widow. In December 2007, he received the Richard Harris Award for outstanding contribution at the British Independent Film Awards, in recognition of his many iconic roles; from his debut in Alan Clarke’s 1979 drama Scum, to his starring roles in Ken Loach’s Ladybird, Ladybird, and Martin Scorsese’s The Departed. He will next be seen in the second series of Guy Ritchie’s The Gentlemen, following its smash-hit first series for Netflix last year.
The Honorary Heart of Sarajevo, established in 2005, recognises individuals who have made exceptional contributions to cinema and supported the development of the film industry.
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