As a tribute “for his impact and remarkable career in cinema,” Willem Dafoe will receive the Honorary Heart of Sarajevo Award during the 31st Sarajevo Film Festival.
For Dafoe, this marks a return to the festival 25 years after his last appearance, and a masterclass is also scheduled during the event. “Every time Dafoe steps in front of the camera, he proves himself a true master of his craft,” says festival director Jovan Marjanović. “His filmography is one every actor aspires to.”
Dafoe joins Ray Winstone and Stellan Skarsgård as one of the honorees at this year’s festival.
The festival also announced that Ukrainian filmmaker and artist Ilya Khrzhanovskiy, known for his ambitious DAU project, will be honored during the 31st edition with a retrospective as part of the festival’s tribute programme.
Born in Moscow in 1975, Khrzhanovskiy gained international recognition with his debut feature 4 (2005), awarded in Rotterdam. He then embarked on DAU, a multidisciplinary endeavour that produced 14 feature films, TV series, and art installations from 700 hours of footage.