As part of the activities marking the Human Rights Day on Tuesday, August 16th 2016, Sarajevo Film Festival organized a special programme, featuring a screening of the film AMONG THE BELIEVERS directed by Mohammed Ali Naqvi and Hemal Trivedi, as well as a panel on the topic CAN WE FIGHT VIOLENT EXTREMISM WITH EDUCATION?

Before the screening of the movie former Deputy Head of Mission of the Swiss Embassy in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Wolfgang Amadeus Brülhart, received the Honorary Heart of Sarajevo Award in recognition of his contribution and support to Obala Art Centar, and the initiative to build the Meeting Point cultural center, which is recognized today as Sarajevo Film Festival’s main cinema and meeting point. 

During the award hand-over, the director of the festival Mirsad Purivatra talked about the post-war period when the festival started and the role that Brülhart played in recovery of the culture. 

"We were lucky to meet a man who had such an energy, such a vision and a good will, and today the results of his work are still visible. He was a man who said that the Sarajevo Film Festival must be formed and he helped us gradually develop the infrastructure“, stated Purivatra. 

Wolfgang Amadeus Brülhart, thanking for the award, recalled that the consisting part of the mission at the time was to also to listen to the wishes of the peoples of BiH.

"This award for me is a reward of Bosnia and Herzegovina to Switzerland. Switzerland has always helped BiH culture and its development. My wish was to help the culture and its development, together with the Swiss embassy and the people from Switzerland, because it was known that during the war in BiH the culture was something that was pushing people forward on a daily basis", explained Brülhart.

Interview with Mr. Brülhart for Festival TV of 22nd Sarajevo Film Festival can be seen under the following link: Festival TV.