Michel Frank, winner of the Honorable Heart of Sarajevo award

This year, the Honorary Heart of Sarajevo award of the 26th Sarajevo Film Festival (SFF) will be presented to the Mexican director, screenwriter and producer Michel Franc.

This year's SFF will be held from August 14 to 21 at festival locations and online, in accordance with the situation caused by the corona virus pandemic. As announced, the Honorary Heart of Sarajevo award is given in recognition of an outstanding contribution to film art and for the support of the SFF to "one of the most important independent filmmakers, the author of an impressive and recognizable film language".

Frank will also be honored with a retrospective of his works in the festival program "Tribute to".

"Recognizing Frank with this award is even more special for me because the award will be presented to a friend, and I want to express how much SFF's support over the years and our cooperation means to me and to the Festival. We are delighted that the 26th edition of the Sarajevo Film Festival will highlight the work of this exceptional filmmaker through the festival program 'Tribute to,'" said SFF director Mirsad Purivatra. Michel Frank, who was born in 1979 in Mexico City, put Mexican cinema in the center of world attention.

Films for which he has written, directed and produced include "Chronic" (Best Screenplay Award, Cannes 2015), "April's Daughter" (Jury Award "Izvestan Pogled", Cannes 2017) and "After Lucia" (Grand Prize selection "Izvestan pogled", Kan 2012).

The mentioned films, as well as many others, will be presented in the "Tribute to" program of the Sarajevo Film Festival.

Franko's first visit to Sarajevo was in 2009 with his first feature film "Daniel and Ana", which premiered in Cannes. Franco's new "Nuevo Orden", which is set in a dystopian Mexico City, is currently in post-production, so the arrival of this film is expected in the fall.