German-Austrian film Everytime wins top prize at Sarajevo Film Festival

SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina — The German-Austrian feature film *Everytime*, directed by Sandra Wollner, won the Heart of Sarajevo for Best Narrative Feature Film at the 32nd Sarajevo Film Festival on Friday. Wollner received the award during the closing ceremony at the National Theatre Sarajevo. The film, which explores themes of grief and loss, blends reality with the past through warm visuals, with cinematography by Gregory Oke.

The jury, led by actress Emily Watson, awarded *Everytime* €16,000 and issued a citation praising its "moments of cinematic grace" and "mesmerically elastic and transcendental grief-soaked ghost story." The decision was unanimous. Producers Lixi Frank, Viktoria Stolpe, and David Bohun were also recognized alongside Wollner.

*Everytime* previously won the top prize in the Un Certain Regard section at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. It is Wollner’s third feature film, following *The Trouble with Being Born* and *Das unmögliche Bild*. The ORF co-financed the production.

Other major awards included the Heart of Sarajevo for Best Director, which went to Ana Urushadze for *Supporting Role*, with a €10,000 prize sponsored by the United Nations in Bosnia and Herzegovina and UNESCO. Eva Kostić, 17, won Best Actress for her role in *17*, receiving €2,500 sponsored by L’Oréal Paris. Romanian actor Adrian Văncică won Best Actor for his performance in *You Don’t Belong Here*, directed by Florin Şerban, earning €2,500. The film had previously won the Golden Leopard at the Locarno Film Festival.

The festival also presented the Honorary Heart of Sarajevo to actor Emir Hadžihafizbegović for his contributions to Bosnian-Herzegovinian and regional cinema. The closing ceremony featured a screening of the restored version of Danis Tanović’s Oscar-winning *No Man’s Land*.

The Sarajevo Film Festival, founded in 1995 during the siege of Sarajevo in the Bosnian War, has since become the leading film festival in Southeast Europe. In 2021, German director Wim Wenders received the Honorary Heart of Sarajevo for his lifetime achievement.