In recognition of his exceptional contributions to the film industry and his remarkable acting career, Stellan Skarsgård will receive the Honorary Heart of Sarajevo at the 31st Sarajevo Film Festival.
“The Sarajevo Film Festival remains unwavering and driven in its aim to highlight subjects of great consequence, underscored by an intense lust for life. I love going there”, says Stellan Skarsgård.
Skarsgård, a longtime friend of the Sarajevo Film Festival, as well as a curator and one of the patrons of the Katrin Cartlidge Foundation – whose scholarships were awarded at the Sarajevo Film Festival – presented the foundation’s scholarship to Juanita Wilson at the Festival’s 15th edition in 2009.
With more than 150 TV and film projects on his resumé, he is one of Sweden ́s most internationally celebrated actors. He has made a career of breathing life and depth into characters on stage, in film, and on television.
“It is a true honor to present the Honorary Heart of Sarajevo to Stellan Skarsgård, an actor of remarkable depth, strength, and integrity. Stellan has been a longtime friend of Sarajevo, and we are delighted to welcome him back. His career is filled with unforgettable roles in films that challenge, move, and stay with audiences. This award is a heartfelt thank you for his outstanding contribution to cinema and for the continued support he has shown to our festival,” says Jovan Marjanović, director of the Sarajevo Film Festival.
Stellan began acting at the age of fifteen in the Swedish TV series Bombi Bitt and I. Following this initial success, he went on to work extensively with the prestigious Royal Dramatic Theatre of Stockholm while also appearing in a range of Swedish films.
His international breakthrough came in 1982 with Hans Alfredson’s The Simple-Minded Murderer, for which Skarsgård won the Berlinale Silver Bear for Best Actor. He went on to work with other treasured Scandinavian directors such as Bo Widerberg and Kjell Grede.
His first significant Hollywood role came in 1990 when he portrayed a Russian submarine captain in The Hunt for Red October. This marked the beginning of a prolific international period, including Zero Kelvin (1995), his first of many films with Norwegian director Hans Petter Moland, and Breaking the Waves (1996), which launched his long-running collaboration with Danish auteur Lars von Trier. The latter film won the Grand Jury Prize at Cannes and brought Skarsgård widespread recognition. He later appeared in von Trier’s Dogville, Melancholia, and Nymphomaniac.
Skarsgård has since worked with an array of influential filmmakers, including Gus Van Sant (Good Will Hunting), Steven Spielberg (Amistad), John Frankenheimer (Ronin), Paul Schrader (The Exorcist: Dominion), David Fincher (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo), and Miloš Forman (Goya’s Ghosts).
He entered the blockbuster realm as Bootstrap Bill Turner in two Pirates of the Caribbean films and charmed global audiences in Mamma Mia! and its sequel. He joined the Marvel Cinematic Universe as physicist Erik Selvig in Thorand reprised the role in four additional MCU titles.
On television, in 2015 Skarsgård starred in the poignant BBC series River by Abi Morgan. He then went on to receive an Emmy nomination and a Golden Globe win for his haunting performance in HBO’s Chernobyl. In the 2020s, he continues to balance prestige and popular work with a voice cameo in The Simpsons, a leading role in Denis Villeneuve’s Dune films and acclaimed turns in Andor (Star Wars) and the Cannes 2025 Grand Prix winner Sentimental Value.
The 31st Sarajevo Film Festival will take place from August 15 to 22, 2025.
