Woody Harrelson will be honored with the Heart of Sarajevo award, the Sarajevo Film Festival's recognition of his contribution to cinema.
The actor will collect the honorary prize alongside Emily Watson, who is also president of this year's festival jury, as well as Asghar Farhadi and Diego Luna.
Harrelson has received three Academy Award nominations: best actor for "The People vs. Larry Flynt," and best supporting actor for both "The Messenger" and "Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri." He also won wide critical acclaim for his role in Ruben Ostlund's "Triangle of Sadness," which won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival.
Festival director praises Harrelson's range
Jovan Marjanovic, director of the Sarajevo Film Festival, said Harrelson was one of those actors audiences believed in even in the most unlikely roles, while at the same time being easy to picture as someone you could spend time with every day.
He said that this impressive naturalness in performance was actually one of the hardest qualities an actor could achieve on screen, yet Harrelson mastered it from film to film. Marjanovic added that Harrelson's talent, charisma and daring were a source of inspiration for many future generations, calling it a great honor for the festival to present him with the Honorary Heart of Sarajevo.
Harrelson, an American actor who first became known to wide audiences on the sitcom "Cheers" before building a long film career, joins a list of festival honorees that includes Watson, a British actress, Farhadi, an Iranian director and two-time Academy Award winner, and Luna, a Mexican actor known for his work in the Star Wars franchise.
Screening of Welcome to Sarajevo planned
In Harrelson's honor, the festival will screen "Welcome to Sarajevo," a 1997 film directed by Michael Winterbottom. The film premiered at the Cannes Film Festival and was also shown at the third Sarajevo Film Festival later that same year.
"Welcome to Sarajevo" examines the war in Bosnia in the mid-1990s and the role of journalists covering it for the media. It is based on the book "Natasha's Story" by journalist Michael Nicholson.
When the festival takes place
The 32nd Sarajevo Film Festival will run from August 14 to August 21. Held in the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina, it is one of the most prominent film festivals in southeastern Europe and presents its Heart of Sarajevo awards each year to films as well as to figures honored for their body of work.
