Global Times

Sarajevo film fest honors Turkish Palme d’Or winner

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Turkish director and Cannes Palme d’Or winner Nuri Bilge Ceylan on Friday received an outstandin­g contributi­on award at the opening of the Sarajevo film festival.

“This is great honor for me, really, and I accept it with my heart,” the director said after receiving the “Heart of Sarajevo” award.

Ceylan scooped the top prize at the Cannes film festival in 2014 for his epic drama Winter Sleep.

His latest feature, The Wild Pear Tree, was also selected to compete for the Palme d’Or at Cannes.

The Sarajevo film festival, now in its 24th year, will also celebrate Ceylan’s talent as a stills photograph­er with a exhibition of his work in the Bosnian capital.

The festival kicked off on Friday night with an open-air screening of Cold War by Oscar winner Pawel Pawlikowsk­i, who took home the prize for best director at this year’s Cannes festival.

Pawlikowsk­i also won the best foreign language movie Oscar for Ida in 2015.

More than 200 films from 56 countries and regions will be shown during the eight-day festival which highlights works from southeaste­rn Europe.

This year’s Sarajevo jury will be led by renowned Iranian director Asghar Farhadi.

Establishe­d as an “act of resistance” during the 1992-95 inter-ethnic war in Bosnia, the Sarajevo film festival regularly attracts big names.

Past guests include Hollywood stars Robert De Niro, Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt, Juliette Binoche, Jeremy Irons and John Cleese.

However, its main goal is to promote cinema from the region.

“We are happy that directors from southeast Europe choose the Sarajevo Festival for the premier screening of their movies, therefore opening the doors to other big festivals,” the event’s director Miro Purivatra said ahead of the festival.

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