Croatian films competing in the categories of documentaries and student films were awarded at the 29th Sarajevo Film Festival (SFF), at a ceremony held on Friday.

“Valerija” by Sara Jurincic, a film which takes its audience on a journey through a world without men, with the author exploring what that world would be like, was awarded as the best short documentary.

In the category of student films, a special jury mention was given to “Short cut grass” by David Gaso.

The Georgian film “Blackbird blackbird blackberry” by Elena Naveriani won the Heart of Sarajevo Award as Best Feature Film and actress Ekaterine Chavleshivili, who plays in the movie, won the Best Actress Award.

Jovan Ginic, who played in Lost Country, a production by Serbia, France, Croatia, Luxembourg and Qatar, won the Best Actor Award.

The Heart of Sarajevo for Best Director went to Philip Sotnychenko of Ukraine, for his film La Palisiada.

SFF director Jovan Marjanovic said that this year’s edition of the festival drew an audience of more than 120,000, a record-high number.

He noted that the festival showed solidarity with the victims of a mass killing in Gradacac, a town in northeastern Bosnia and Herzegovina, where on 11 August a man killed his wife and two other people.

Fifteen of the films shown at the festival warn of the problem of violence against women.

This year’s SFF featured 235 films and television series from 59 countries, and 49 competed for festival awards.