Greek Coming-of-Age Drama ‘Medium’ Acquired by Wide Ahead of Sarajevo Competition Premiere (EXCLUSIVE)

Variety. “No, they do damage is what they do.

Jessica Kiang The term “coming of age” is misleading, implying “age” is some far-off looming entity that you can see approaching and prepare for accordingly. Really, growing up is experienced in milestones you seldom even notice until they’re long in the rearview and you’re busy being disappointed by how un-green the grass of adulthood really is.

Christopher Vourlias Receiving a lifetime achievement award this week at the Sarajevo Film Festival, Scottish director Lynne Ramsay teased a slew of projects currently in the pipeline, heralding her much-anticipated return to the director’s chair since wowing Cannes in 2017 with the Joaquin Phoenix-starring thriller “You Were Never Really Here.” Among them are a second collaboration with Phoenix, who earned best actor honors on the Croisette for that performance, as well as “Stone Mattress,” a revenge thriller set aboard a luxury Arctic cruise that stars Julianne Moore and Sandra Oh. There’s also “Die, My Love,” starring Jennifer Lawrence, which is based on the novel by Argentinian writer Ariana Harwicz about a woman living in isolation in rural France who loses her mind amid marriage and motherhood.

Georgian filmmaker Elene Naveriani clinched the Best Feature Award in the main international competition of the 29th Sarajevo Film Festival with her latest pic Blackbird Blackbird Blackberry. The award comes with a €16,000 cash prize.

Blackbird Blackbird Blackberry” won the top prize, the Heart of Sarajevo Award for best feature film, Friday at the Sarajevo Film Festival. The Georgian film, in which a stoically independent woman in her late 40s experiences a gentle existential awakening during an affair with a local deliveryman, also won the best actress prize for Ekaterine Chavleishvili’s performance.

Christopher Vourlias Oscar-winning screenwriter Charlie Kaufman blasted Hollywood studio bosses this week at the Sarajevo Film Festival, calling out their pay packages and insisting that cost-cutting executives are willing to sacrifice the art of moviemaking for the sake of profit. “It’s disgusting, because they don’t do anything,” Kaufman told Variety. “No, they do damage is what they do.

Afternoon Insiders, Max Goldbart bringing you another dose of this here weekly roundup. We’ll be taking a break next week for the August bank holiday but will be back in your inboxes in a fortnight for the new term. In the meantime, sign up here.

The Sarajevo Film Festival has distanced itself from a controversial Serbian film that has been accused of glorifying Serbian nationalist groups after experts from the feature were screened at the festival’s industry forum.

Christopher Vourlias A World War II drama that critics say glorifies Serbian nationalist groups has sparked outrage at the Sarajevo Film Festival, with organizers under fire for allowing excerpts of the forthcoming film to screen and the mayor of Sarajevo demanding resignations in the ensuing dust-up. On Wednesday, the Sarajevo fest fought back, insisting that it was caught off-guard by the film’s inclusion at an industry event on Tuesday.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor The Sarajevo Film Festival has modified its scheduled activities on Wednesday after the Bosnia and Herzegovina government declared it to be a “Day of Mourning” following three murders committed in Gradačac on Friday. The perpetrator, a bodybuilder, reportedly livestreamed the murder of his first victim, his former wife, on Instagram.

The Sarajevo Film Festival has canceled all social events and will halt red-carpet coverage set for tomorrow (Aug 16) to observe Bosnia’s national day of mourning following a high-profile triple murder-suicide in the country’s Northeastern region.

Christopher Vourlias To step inside Sarajevo’s Apollo cinema 30 years ago, you first had to find the door. The streets of the Bosnian capital were pitch black. Power cuts brought on by a crippling siege, which started in 1992 when Bosnian Serb forces surrounded the city, left the town plunged in darkness.

Without a doubt, Charlie Kaufman is one of the most unique writers in modern film. Every time he has a new project, fans are always expecting a new, interesting spin on something we’ve seen before.

Sporting a grey WGA-branded “strike” t-shirt, writer-director Charlie Kaufman led a packed-out masterclass this morning in the main hall of the Bosnian Cultural Center at the Sarajevo Film Festival.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor “The Hollow” won the Heart of Sarajevo Award for best TV drama series at the Sarajevo Film Festival on Sunday, and also came away with a host of other awards. The in-competition series came from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Serbia, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Kosovo and Slovenia.

The Heart of Sarajevo awards for TV series, the Sarajevo Film Festival’s awards strand for TV shows, unraveled this evening, and they were dominated by two shows, the Serbian comedy Mom and Dad Are Playing War 2 (Tata Se Igraju Rata 2) and the Bosnian drama The Hollow (Kotlina).

Bono surprised attendees at the Sarajevo Film Festival in Bosnia with an a cappella rendition of Bob Marley‘s ‘Redemption Song’ – watch the moment below.The frontman and The Edge were present at the film festival for a special screening of U2‘s Kiss The Future documentary when the legendary Irish vocalist hopped on the mic to serenade the crowd.Fans quickly joined in to sing along to the track after Bono unexpected belted out the opening lines to the Bob Marley classic. Watch a clip of the performance below.#Bono & #TheEdge at the #SarajevoFilmFestival for #KissTheFuture: "Redemption Song"Video © @28th_sff"When Bono's voice meets the silver screen.

Christopher Vourlias It’s a welcome sight for any longtime visitors returning to Sarajevo, the white-jacketed waiters circling the terrace of the majestic, Austro-Hungarian-built Hotel Europe as film and TV industry professionals parse scripts and close deals amid the espresso-fueled chatter. Around them a haze of cigarette smoke hovers like the mist that settles each morning over the green hills that ring this scenic Bosnian city.

Christopher Vourlias U2 frontman Bono made a surprise appearance Friday night at the opening ceremony of the Sarajevo Film Festival, with the Irish pop star leading a rapturous crowd in a cappella rendition of Bob Marley’s “Redemption Song.” The legendary vocalist, appearing alongside bandmate the Edge, took the stage after an emotional screening of “Kiss the Future,” director Nenad Cicin-Sain’s documentary, produced by Ben Affleck and Matt Damon, about U2’s relationship with war-torn Sarajevo in the 1990s. Based on American-born aid worker Bill Carter’s “Fools Rush in: A Memoir,” the film chronicles the band’s efforts to publicize the plight of the city’s besieged civilians during the Bosnian War.

Bono made a surprise appearance at the Sarajevo Film Festival this evening, where he accompanied the crew behind the U2-inspired Bosnian war documentary Kiss The Future, which opened the festival.