“This is the place that I love and that fascinates me,” famous Mexican filmmaker Gael Garcia Bernal told the audience in Sarajevo on Wednesday evening, prior to the screening of his latest film Chicuarotes.

Bernal, who received the Honorary Heart of Sarajevo five years ago for his contribution to the film industry, was the special guest of the jubilee 25th Sarajevo Film Festival (SFF).

He unveiled to the audience he was a bit ashamed of directing the films but that he enjoys doing it.

His directorial career was strongly influenced by Alejandro González Iñárritu and Alfonso Cuaron, said Bernal.

The Mexican actor won international acclaim with a string of prominent roles in a number of cult films including Pedro Almodóvar's Bad Education, Alfonso Cuarón's Y Tu Mamá También, Alejandro González Iñárritu's Babel, Walter Salles’ THE Motorcycle Diaries, Pablo Larraín's Neruda and Amazon’s series Mozart in the Jungle, which nabbed two Golden Globe awards in 2016.

Bernal's directorial feature Chicuarotes, which premiered in Cannes earlier this year, was screened this year during the SFF along with the film by Elia Suleiman, It must Be Heaven, in which Bernal played one of the main roles.

In 2014, the SFF screened Iñárritu's Amores Perros film with the Mexican actor playing one of the starring roles.