Winners of the 2026 Sarajevo Film Festival announced; Austrian director wins

  according afsanehezendegimedia, citing Variety, Sandra Wollner’s film “Every Time” or “Always” also shone at the Sarajevo Film Festival, and after winning the Un Certain Regard award at the Cannes Film Festival, it took home the Heart of Sarajevo Award for Best Feature Film

The Austrian director’s third feature film won the award unanimously by the jury

Emily Watson, an actress with two Oscar nominations and who chaired this year’s jury, said in her praise of the film: “Cinematic elegance floats in this enchanting, flexible and transcendent story”

“Every Time” depicts the story of a mother and her teenage daughter and son who, after experiencing a tragedy and losing the family’s eldest daughter, travel to the Canary Islands for a family vacation they have never experienced before, and it is here that, under the coastal sun, the past and the present slowly blend

Winners of the 2026 Sarajevo Film Festival announced; Austrian director wins

The Heart of Sarajevo award for Best Director went to Georgian filmmaker Anna Urushadze for her film “Supporting Role,” which won two awards at the Rotterdam Film Festival earlier this year. The jury unanimously praised Urushadze’s fearless blend of the mundane and the dreamy, as well as her refreshing curiosity for meaning in life and cinema. This twisty, emotional drama follows a movie star on a surreal, ironically melancholic quest through the streets of Tbilisi

The award for best actress went to Eva Kostić for her performance in “۱۷,” the first feature film by North Macedonian director Kosara Mitić, about a teenager at a camp who suffers the aftermath of a sexual assault. The jury called her performance deeply instinctive, heralding the fearless emergence of a young talent

The award for best actor went to Adrian Vancic for “You Don’t Belong Here,” a film by Romanian filmmaker Florin Srban, winner of the Locarno Golden Leopard, about a respected doctor whose world is turned upside down when he discovers that his son is suspected of murdering a gypsy man. The jury praised Vancic’s performance for his uncanny precision, which served the director well

The Heart of Sarajevo award for Best Documentary Feature went to “Embracing a Mountain,” co-directed by Biljana Totorov and Petar Glomažić. The documentary, which tells the story of sisterhood and loneliness in the Montenegrin highlands, has already won the Grand Jury Prize for World Cinema at the Sundance Film Festival and the Grand Prize at the Polish Documentary Festival. The jury described the documentary as “an unforgettable journey,” praising its moving portrayal of two extraordinary women in a declining lifestyle, with epic and stunning cinematography

Winners of the 2026 Sarajevo Film Festival announced; Austrian director wins

The full list of award winners at the 32nd Sarajevo Film Festival  is as follows

Best Feature Film: “Every Time” by Sandra Wollner

Best Director: Anna Urushadze for “Supporting Role”

Best Actress: Eva Kostic for her role in “17”

Best Actor: Adrian Vancic for “You Don’t Belong Here”

Best Documentary Feature: “Holding a Mountain,” Biljana Totorov, Petar Glomazic

Best Documentary Short: “The Holy Struggle” by Karla Jelich

Special Jury Prize for Short Documentary: “The Ship Is Underway” by Zhora Papuyan

Best Short Fiction Film: “Nobody Said Anything,” directed by Tamara Todorovic

Special Mention for Short Fiction Film: “Porcatale” by Cise Gordal

Best Student Short Film: “Disease” by Reka Pinches

The Sarajevo Film Festival (SFF) was founded in 1995 during the siege of the city by Serbs during the Bosnian War (1992-1995) and has since become the most important film festival in Southeastern Europe