Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu to be honoured with Heart of Sarajevo Award

Los Angeles: Oscar-winning Mexican filmmaker Alejandra Gonzalez Inarritu will be receiving the Honorary Heart of Sarajevo Award at the 25th Sarajevo Film Festival.

Innaritu, who has won two consecutive best director Academy Awards for his films — “Birdman” and “The Revenant”, will be honoured for his exceptional contribution to the art of filmmaking, the festival announced on their official website.

“It gives us a great pleasure to honour this distinguished auteur who keeps pushing the limits by transforming his unique artistic vision into unpredictable and outstanding movies. His films are characterised by a distinctive style and pace and they captivate and thrill audiences and film critics around the world.

“We are happy that we’ll have a chance to welcome him at the 25th Sarajevo Film Festival and present him with the Honorary Heart of Sarajevo award for his immense contribution to the art of film with timeless, award-winning classics that he has been making throughout his career,” said Sarajevo Film Festival director Mirsad Purivatra.

Inarritu made his feature directorial debut in 2000 at Cannes critics week with “Amores Perros” and went onto to become the first Mexican filmmaker to be nominated for either director or producer in the history of the Academy Awards and the first filmmaker from the country to receive a best picture award at Cannes for “Biutiful” in 2010.

This year he also became the first Latin-American filmmaker to head the jury at Cannes 2019.

Sarajevo Film Festival runs from August 16 to 23. Inarritu will hold a master class, with the festival also organising a special screening of his film “Birdman”.