American director-screenwriter Paul Schrader will serve as chairman of the feature film jury of the 30th Sarajevo Film Festival, which runs from August 16 to 23.
Schrader will be joined on the jury by Swedish actor and producer Noomi Rapace, Finnish director-writer Juho Kuosmanen, Sarajevo-born, Paris-based director, writer and editor Una Gunjak, and Slovenian actor Sebastian Cavazza.
The jury will announce the winners of the Heart of Sarajevo awards on August 23.
Schrader first made a name for himself as a screenwriter with “Taxi Driver” (1976), directed by Martin Scorsese, and his collaboration with Scorsese continued with films such as “Raging Bull” (1980).
He made his directorial debut with ‘Blue Collar’ (1978) and went on to direct critically acclaimed films such as ‘American Gigolo’ (1980) and ‘Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters’ (1985).
In 2017, he wrote and directed “First Reformed,” which earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay.
Recent projects include ‘The Card Counter’ (2021), ‘Master Gardener’ (2022) and ‘Oh Canada’ (2024).
Rapace captured the attention of the international entertainment community in 2009 with her portrayal of Lisbeth Salander in ‘The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo’, for which she was nominated for a British Academy Film Award and the European Film Award.
She became one of the world’s most sought-after international actors, balancing high-profile Hollywood roles in “Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows” (2011) and “Child 44” (2015) with sharp international productions like “Lamb” (2021). ) and “You Won’t Be Alone” (2022). She also appeared in high-profile TV shows such as “Jack Ryan” (2019), “Django” (2023) and this year in “Constellation”.
Through her production company Boom Films, Rapace is developing several projects, including ‘Hamlet’ with filmmaker Ali Abbasi, in which she will play the title role.
Kuosmanen made his feature film debut with ‘The Happiest Day in the Life of Olli Mäki’, which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in 2016 and won the top prize in the Un sure Regard section.
His second feature film, ‘Compartment No. 6’ (2021), also premiered at Cannes, this time in the main competition, where it won the Grand Prix, a prize shared with Asghar Farhadi’s ‘A Hero’.
He recently directed three episodes of the TV series ‘Alice & Jack’, starring Andrea Riseborough and Domhnall Gleeson.
In 2014, Gunjak won the Heart of Sarajevo Award at the Sarajevo Film Festival for the short film ‘The Chicken’, which premiered at Cannes Critics’ Week, and went on to win the European Film Award for Best Short Film.
‘Excursion’, Gunjak’s first feature film, premiered at the 2023 Locarno Film Festival and earned a special mention. The film was screened at more than 50 festivals and won awards for best script at FAF Belgrade and best actress at the Marrakech Film Festival. “Excursion” has been released theatrically in twenty countries in Europe.
Cavazza has made more than 80 appearances on stage and taken on more than 80 roles in front of the camera, including notable films such as “Men Don’t Cry” (2017) and “AI Rising” (2018), and the series “Besa ” (2018).
