"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).
.

BOSNIAN STATE PROSECUTOR APPEALS VERDICT AGAINST SERBIAN WAR CRIMINAL ZELJKO LELEK

SARAJEVO, Bosnia (August 25,2008) - The Bosnian State Prosecutor filed appealed the first instance verdict against Serbian war criminal Zeljko Lelek, sentencing him to 13 years' imprisonment for war crimes committed during the 1992-1995 Serbian aggression against Bosnia.

As per the announcement made by the Bosnian State Prosecution, the appeal referred to the acquitting part of the verdict and the duration of the sentence.

The Prosecution considers that "certain criminal procedure and criminal law provisions" have been violated, while "the factual status has been incorrectly determined".

The Bosnian State Court pronounced the first instance verdict on May 23 this year. It found Serbian war criminal Zeljko Lelek guilty, as member of the genocidal Serbian fascist aggressor's formations, of having participated in the deportation, rape, sexual abuse and unlawful detention of Bosnian civilians from the Visegrad area during the 1992-1995 Serbian aggression against Bosnia.

As stated in the verdict Serbian war criminal Zeljko Lelek was sentenced for having participated in taking away of Hasan Ahmetspahic and Nail Osmanbegovic from Crnca village, as well as rape of Zejneba Osmanbegovic.

Besides that he was found guilty of having raped two other Bosnian women in the course of June 1992. The two Bosnian women were detained by the genocidal Serbian fascist aggressor in "Vilina vlas" spa, which was turned into a concentration camp during the 1992-1995 Serbian aggression against Bosnia.

Serbian war criminal Zeljko Lelek was found guilty of unlawful detention of Bosnian civilians in the eastern Bosnian town of Visegrad. He was acquitted of the sub-charges that he tortured one of detained Bosnian civilians.

By the first instance verdict Serbian war criminal Zeljko Lelek was also acquitted of the charges that he participated in the taking away and murdering of a group of Bosnian civilians on the Drina river banks and the deportation of several Bosnian families from Visegrad.

The Prosecution's appeal has been forwarded to the Appellate Chamber of the Bosnian State Court.
.

LEADERS OF SIX MOST INFLUENTIAL POLITICAL PARTIES IN BOSNIA HELD TALKS IN SARAJEVO

SARAJEVO, Bosnia (August 25,2008) - Leaders of Bosnia's six most influential political parties met in the Bosnian capital Sarajevo on Saturday, to discuss a range of issues.Those included Bosnia's European integrations, constitutional reform, state-owned property status, and that of the Brčko District.

The Party of Democratic Action (SDA) leader Sulejman Tihić told reporters that "the talks had not resulted in major agreements".

A joint communiqué released after the meeting, and read by Tihić, said that that its participants decided to have Bosnia's Prime Minister Nikola Špirić submit information about "which SAA conditions were not met by Bosnia, and for what reason".

A proposal to conduct census in the country without ethnic criteria was not accepted, while there was also no breakthrough in on the state-owned property issue.Tihić said, all parties will send their legal opinions related to efforts to adopt a state property law.

Bosnia's top political representatives also failed to see eye to eye on adopting legislation that would outlaw genocide denial, but agreed that constitutional reform debate should continue after the local elections scheduled for October.
.

VOTERS' LIST FOR OCTOBER ELECTIONS TO BE ANNOUNCED THIS WEEK

SARAJEVO, Bosnia (August 25,2008) - The Bosnian Central Electoral Register for the next local elections in October was finalized on August 21 at midnight, and the Bosnian Central Election Commission now has until August 28 to announce the number of voters per constituency/municipality.

It has been known so far that there are more than three million voters in the country, but an exact number is expected to be unveiled this week.

Bosnia will hold local elections on October 5th. Voters will elect new municipal councils and municipal mayors, as well as new Brcko and Banja Luka assemblies and a new city council in Mostar.

These will be the first elections in Bosnia in which representatives of national minorities will be elected to local assemblies.64 political parties and 183 independent candidates were certified to stand in the election.
.