The 'Great Freedom' film by Austrian director and screenwriter Sebastian Meise won the Heart of Sarajevo Award of the 27th Sarajevo Film Festival.

Addressing the audience at the Sarajevo National Theatre during the award ceremony, the filmmaker said this was a great honour.

“Thank you all, thank you for the invitation,” said Meise.

Serbian filmmaker Milica Tomovic won the Heart of Sarajevo in the Best Director category for the film ‘Celts’.

The ensemble cast of the film ‘The Hill Where Lionesses Roar’, consisting of Flaka Latifi, Era Balaj and Urate Shabani won the Heart of Sarajevo in the Best Actress category, while the Best Actor of the 27th Sarajevo Film Festival was Georg Friedrich for his role in the ‘Great Freedom’ film.

‘Landscapes of Resistance’ by Marta Popivoda won the Heart of Sarajevo in the Best Documentary category.

The Human Rights Award within the Competition Programme – Documentary Film was given to Ahmet Necdet Cupur and his ‘Les Enfants Terribles’.

A total of 48 films competed this year for the Heart of Sarajevo Award.

Within four competition categories – feature film, documentary, short and student film – 18 saw their world premiere, while 25 films marked their regional premiere.

This year's Honorary Heart of Sarajevo was handed to German filmmaker, playwright, author and photographer Wim Wenders. The festival paid tribute to the famous director and the guests had an opportunity to see a retrospective of his selected work in the festival's ‘Tribute to’ programme.

The 27th Sarajevo Film Festival will close on Friday with the screening of the rewarded films in all categories.