TEHRAN – In recognition of his outstanding contribution to the art of cinema, Iranian filmmaker Asghar Farhadi will be honored with the Honorary Heart of Sarajevo at the 32nd Sarajevo Film Festival, which is set to be held from August 14 to 21 in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. 

The acclaimed Iranian director and screenwriter will accept the award in person, while a retrospective of his work will be presented as part of the Festival’s Tribute To program, ISNA reported.
 
Farhadi returns to Sarajevo eight years after serving as President of the Jury for the Feature Film Competition at the 24th Sarajevo Film Festival in 2018, where his film “Everybody Knows” was screened in the Open-Air program.
 
“It is difficult to overstate Asghar Farhadi’s significance to world cinema. His remarkable body of work reminds us that the most profound dramas are often concealed within everyday life. His films do not offer easy answers; instead, they invite us to look more closely, listen more carefully and engage with life’s complexities. We are honored to welcome Farhadi back to the festival and to present him with the Honorary Heart of Sarajevo,” said Jovan Marjanović, Director of the Sarajevo Film Festival.
 
Asghar Farhadi, 54, is considered one of the most prominent filmmakers of Iranian cinema as well as world cinema in the 21st century.

He became interested in cinema when he was a teenager and started his education in filmmaking by joining the Youth Cinema Society of Isfahan in 1986, where he made 8mm and 16mm short films. 

He received his Bachelor of Dramatic Arts at the University of Tehran in 1998 and his Master's in Stage Direction a few years later. He devoted his final thesis to Harold Pinter and in particular the importance of silence and pauses in the playwright's work.
 
He made his directorial debut with “Dancing in the Dust” (2002). After the success of “About Elly” (2009), for which he won the Silver Bear for Best Director at the Berlinale, Farhadi gained international recognition and critical acclaim with “A Separation” (2011), receiving no less than 70 awards, including an Academy Award and a César for Best Foreign Film. 

He then left Iran for France to shoot “The Past” (2013), which won Bérénice Bejo the Best Actress Award at the Cannes Film Festival in 2013. He then returned to Iran to direct “The Salesman” (2016), which premiered in competition at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival, where the film won Best Screenplay and Best Actor (Shahab Hosseini). The film became Farhadi’s biggest success and earned him the second Academy Award of his career. The film, “A Hero” (2021), won the Grand Prix at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival. His latest film, “Parallel Tales,” shot in France, was screened at the 2026 Cannes Film Festival.

Towards the end of the four-year siege of Sarajevo, in 1995, Obala Art Centar initiated the Sarajevo Film Festival with the aim of helping to reconstruct civil society and retain the cosmopolitan spirit of the city.

Today, three decades later, the Sarajevo Film Festival is the leading film festival in the region, recognized by both film professionals and the wider audience. The Sarajevo Film Festival is an international film festival with a special focus on the region of South-East Europe, shining an international spotlight on films, talent and future projects from the region.

High-quality programming, a strong industry segment, an educational and networking platform for young filmmakers, and thus a presence of the international film industry, film authors, and media representatives alongside a paying audience of over 100,000 confirm its status as the leading film festival in the region, recognized by both professionals and wider audiences.

SS/SAB