The 24th Sarajevo Film Festival (SFF) officially opens Friday evening with the screening of the Cold War, a movie of the Oscar-awarded film-maker Pawel Pawlikowski.

SFF spokesperson Adrijana Copf told N1 this would be the biggest edition of the festival both in terms of the number of visitors and the number of the films that will be screened during the festival week.

N1 will broadcast a special programme live from the ‘festival square’, informing the audience about the event and hosting numerous celebrities: actors, film-makers, movie stars and other guests of the festival.

A special programme will be aired every day of the festival week at 21 o'clock.

266 films from 56 countries will be screened at the several stages in the city, including the popular open-air cinemas.

Ten movies will compete for the prestigious The Heart of Sarajevo award within the Competition Programme.

This year's Honorary Heart of Sarajevo will be handed to the Turkish film-maker Nuri Bilge Ceylan and Bosnian entrepreneur and philanthropy Nijaz Hastor, the SFF management earlier announced.

The solemn opening ceremony at the National Theatre Sarajevo will be hosted by actor Alban Ukaj.