'Buick' drives Sarajevo festival

Croatian-Bosnia co-production wins top prize

By NICK HOLDSWORTH

'Buick Riviera,' a Croatian-Bosnian co-production shot in the U.S. that studies the impact of the 1990s’ Balkans civil war on two men far from the conflict, won best film at the 14th Sarajevo Film Festival, which wrapped Saturday.

“Buick Riviera,” a Croatian-Bosnian co-production shot in the U.S. that studies the impact of the 1990s’ Balkans civil war on two men far from the conflict, won best film at the 14th Sarajevo Film Festival, which wrapped Saturday.

Based on the chance meeting in the U.S. of two refugees from opposite sides of the war who find they cannot escape its tragic consequences no matter how far they flee, the Goran Rusinovic-directed pic also drew a joint actor nod for Slavko Stimac and Leon Lucev.

Other winners of the main feature competition were Turkish actress Ayca Damgaci for her role in Huseyin Karabey’s “My Marlon and Brando,” a cross-cultural love story based on her own relationship with Kurdish Iraqi actor Hama Ali Khan.

Debut feature director Austrian Handl Klaus drew a special jury mention for “March,” about inexplicable suicides in a small village.

Documentary honors went to Bulgarian director Boris Despodov’s feature-length “Corridor 8,” about the people who live along the route of a planned highway to connect Bulgaria, Albania and Macedonia.

Best short film was Bosnian director Ivan Ramadan’s six-minute animation “Tolerance,” about a character who emerges from the Ice Age with a “big idea.”

Brit Cat Villiers, who produced Milcho Manchevski’s “Before the Rain” and helmer Danis Tanovic’s Oscar-winning war film “No Man’s Land,” was presented with a Heart of Sarajevo award at the closing ceremony in Sarajevo’s National Theater for her “outstanding contribution to film and support for the Sarajevo Film Festival.”

Apart from the competition selections and 11 other film programs, the fest was also the venue for a talent campus, introduced two years ago, and for the sixth edition of regional co-production market CineLink.

The festival, which has long enjoyed strong support from the international film world, was also host to guests including directors Todd Haynes, Charlie Kaufman and Mike Leigh, plus actor Kevin Spacey.