Asghar Farhadi will receive the Honorary Heart of Sarajevo at this year’s film festival.
In recognition of his outstanding contribution to the art of cinema, the acclaimed Iranian director and screenwriter will accept the award in person, and a retrospective of his work is set to be presented as part of the Sarajevo Film Festival’s Tribute to program.
Farhadi returns to Sarajevo eight years after serving as jury president for the feature film competition in 2018. That year, his movie Everybody Knows screened in the Open Air program. He joins fellow Honorary Heart recipient Emily Watson, who is also serving as the fest’s jury president in August.
“It is difficult to overstate Asghar Farhadi’s significance to world cinema,” said Jovan Marjanović, director of the Sarajevo Film Festival. “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 honoured to welcome Farhadi back to the Festival.”
Farhadi was born in 1972 in Iran. He became interested in cinema when he was a teenager and started his filmmaking education by joining the Youth Cinema Society of Esfahan in 1986, where he made 8mm and 16mm short films. He devoted his final thesis at Tehran University 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 Berlinale’s Silver Bear for best director, Farhadi gained international recognition and critical acclaim withA Separation (2011). It nabbed him the Oscar and César for best foreign film. He then left Iran for France to shootThe Past (2013), winning Bérénice Bejo best actress in Cannes in 2013.
Farhadi returned to Iran to direct The Salesman (2016), which earned its world premiere in competition at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival and won best screenplay and best actor (Shahab Hosseini). The film became Farhadi’s biggest success and earned him his second Academy Award. His most recent work, A Hero and Parallel Tales, also debuted in Cannes in 2021 and 2026, respectively.
The 32nd Sarajevo Film Festival will take place Aug. 14-21.