Emily Watson has maintained a sustained relationship with the Sarajevo Film Festival spanning multiple decades, beginning with her participation in Lars von Trier’s Breaking the Waves at the festival’s 1996 edition, just one year following the end of the siege in Bosnia. Her acclaimed performance in that film earned her a first Oscar nomination and established a lasting bond with the event.
Watson returned to Sarajevo a decade later in 2006 with her infant daughter, and has now brought that same child, now 20 years old, to support her during the current festival. This year, Watson serves as president of the feature film competition jury and received the festival’s Honorary Heart award. During the ceremony, the festival screened a retrospective showing of Breaking the Waves, and Watson took the opportunity to dedicate her award to the memory of her late co-star Katrin Cartlidge, who died in 2002. The Sarajevo Film Festival had previously established a filmmaking bursary in Cartlidge’s name.
According to festival director Jovan Marjanović, the institution has long cherished Watson’s involvement, noting that Breaking the Waves captured hearts during the festival’s early years before it developed its current regional focus. Watson herself credits the festival’s emphasis on regional cinema from the Balkans as a primary motivation for her continued participation. She emphasizes the festival’s role in the region’s cultural recovery and healing process, describing its atmosphere as fundamentally distinct from larger commercial film festivals due to its focus on locally meaningful cinema rather than global commercial campaigns.
Serving as jury president marks only the second time Watson has held such a role, with her previous experience coming decades ago at France’s Dinard British & Irish Film Festival. The current jury includes fellow members Matthijs Wouter Knol, Athina Rachel Tsangari, Igor Bezinović, and actress Sara Klimoska, tasked with evaluating films including Sandra Wollner’s Everytime and Florin Serban’s You Don’t Belong Here. Watson has also noted the festival’s tangible economic benefits to Sarajevo and its importance as a site of cultural resilience, having witnessed the city’s transformation since her initial visit when evidence of conflict remained visibly present throughout the urban landscape.
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