"BUICK RIVIERA" WINS SARAJEVO FILM FESTIVAL

SARAJEVO, Bosnia (August 25,2008) - A film about one Bosnian and one Serbian immigrant to the United States was chosen on Saturday as the best movie at the 14th Sarajevo Film Festival.The jury, chaired by Turkish film director Nuri Bilge Ceylan, awarded "Buick Riviera" by Croatian film director Goran Rusinovic and based on a novel by Miljenko Jergovic with the 25,000 Euro (US$37,160) Heart of Sarajevo Award.

The film tells the story of a Bosnian and a Serbian who meet on a deserted road in the United States. They spend the next 24 hours together, engaging in a psychological game of mutual accusations which will change their lives for good, just like the war they had both fled.

"To receive this award is a great honor both for the crew and the festival itself," Rusinovic said.

"Buick Riviera" was selected from 10 films from Austria, Bosnia, Croatia, Hungary, Serbia, Slovenia and Turkey which competed at the southeastern European largest film festival.

Leon Lucev and Slavko Stimac were chosen as best actors for their role in the film. The best actress award went to Ayca Damagaci for her role in "My Marlon and Brando" by Turkish director Huseyin Karabey.

The nine-day festival showed 174 films and documentaries. The Sarajevo Film Festival was launched near the end of the 1992-1995 Serbian,Montenegrin and Croatian aggressions against Bosnia and grew into the biggest regional film festival and one of the top ten in Europe.

COMPETITION PROGRAMME – FEATURE FILM

Jury:

President of the Jury:
NURI BILGE CEYLAN, director, Turkey

Jury members:
HUGH HUDSON, director, UK
MARIJA ŠKARIČIĆ, actress, Croatia
MICHAEL WEBER, head of Match Factory, Germany
DEBORAH YOUNG, artistic director of Taormina Film Festival, USA/Italy

Heart of Sarajevo for Best Film:

BUICK RIVIERA
Director: Goran Rušinović
Croatia, Bosnia, Germany, USA

Main award of the Sarajevo Film Festival’s Competition Programme provided by Concil of Europe (25,000 €)

The Special Jury Award:

MARCH
Director: Handl Klaus
Austria

Financial award provided by Agnes B. (10,000 €)

Heart of Sarajevo for Best Actress:

AYCA DAMGACI
MY MARLON AND BRANDO
Turkey

Financial award provided by the International Airport Sarajevo (2,500 €)

Heart of Sarajevo for Best Actor:

LEON LUČEV
SLAVKO ŠTIMAC
BUICK RIVIERA
Croatia, Bosnia, Germany, USA
Financial award sponsored by DHL (2,500 €)

COMPETITION PROGRAMME – SHORT FILM

Jury:

JAY JEON, Pusan Film Festival selector, Korea
ŠEJLA KAMERIĆ, artist BiH
MICHAEL J. WERNER co-chairman Fortissimo Films, USA


Heart of Sarajevo for Best Film:

TOLERANTIA
Director: Ivan Ramadan
Bosnia

Financial award in the amount of 3,000 € provided by Sarajevo Film Festival

Special Jury Mentions:

THE WAKE
Director: Timur Makarević
Bosnia

I KNOW
Director: Jan Cvitkovič
Slovenia, Hungary

Two Special Jury Mentions in the amount of 1,000 € each is provided by Coca-Cola HBC Bosnia d.o.o Sarajevo (po 1.000 €)

Special Honorary Mention:

ERGO
Director: Geza M. Toth
Hungary


COMPETITION PROGRAMME – DOCUMENTARY FILM

Jury:

MICHAEL BELTRAMI, director, Germany
JORGE SÁNCHEZ, director of Guadalajara Film Festival, Mexico
DŽEMAL ŠABIĆ, director, Bosnia


Heart of Sarajevo for Best Documentary Film:

CORRIDOR #8
Director: Boris Despodov
Bulgaria

Financial award provided by The Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (3.000 €)

Human Rights Award:

DIVORCE ALBANIAN STYLE
Director: Adela Peeva
Bulgaria


Special Mention:

FABULOUS FAIRIES
Director: Marko Jeftić
Serbia


Honorary Heart of Sarajevo Award:

CAT VILLIERS, PRODUCER

Special Heart of Sarajevo Award for 2008 is granted by the Sarajevo Film Festival Board of Directors to producer Cat Villiers.The Award is offered in recognition of the recipient’s outstanding contribution to film art and support in development of the Sarajevo Film Festival.

Cat Villiers has produced such masterpieces of our region’s cinematography as Milcho Manchevski’s multiply awarded BEFORE THE RAIN and Danis Tanovic’s NO MAN’S LAND, a film that carried the 2002 Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film. Through her work and continuous involvement with the Sarajevo Film Festival, she contributed to the visibility of South-Eastern European cinema and played an instrumental role in the development of strong ties between the British film industry and our region, helping to confirm the Sarajevo Film Festival as the main crossroads of international and regional cinema. As a Trustee of the Katrin Cartlidge Foundation, Cat Villiers has been one of the Festival’s key partners in making Sarajevo the Foundation’s home and shaping its work into a strong platform for new creative voices in cinema.

Past recipients of the Special Heart of Sarajevo Award: Marco Mueller (2005), Mike Leigh (2006), Gavrilo Grahovac (2006), Steve Buscemi (2007).
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