Famous actor Robert De Niro arrived in Sarajevo where he will attend the opening ceremony of the 22nd Sarajevo Film Festival, which will be held tonight.
The double Oscar winner, who was nominated five times for this award, and winner of the Golden Globe awards landed at Sarajevo Airport around noon with a private plane, where he was greeted by media and representatives of the Sarajevo Film Festival. He was accompanied by several people, including his agent.
To recall, De Niro is the winner of the Honorary Heart of Sarajevo for Lifetime Achievement, after which will be screened his film “Taxi Driver”.
The famous actor will attend the opening ceremony of the Sarajevo Film Festival tonight, and walk the red carpet.
“It is a great honor to have Robert De Niro as the first winner of the Honorary Heart of Sarajevo Award for Lifetime Achievement. From the moment we first met, about 10 years ago at the Tribeca Film Festival, we started working to get him to come to Sarajevo. That day is finally here, and we are very excited about it. As a film professional and a great lover of film, I believe that I’m saying this, not only for myself, but on behalf of the public and my colleagues,” said the Director of the SFF, Mirsad Purivatra.
De Niro will present the film that will open this year’s festival to the audience of Sarajevo. It is a cult achieving of Martin Scorsese “Taxi Driver,” which is restored in honor of the 40th anniversary of its screening. The film will be shown at the National Theatre and Open Air Cinema at the same time, where the Honorary Heart of Sarajevo will be awarded to De Niro in front of 3,000 film enthusiasts.
“Taxi Driver” was rated by critics, filmmakers and audiences as one of the most important films of all times. The film was nominated for an Oscar in 4 categories, including the Best Picture and the Best Actor (De Niro), won the Golden Palm in Cannes Film Festival in 1976 and two Golden Globes.
Famous actor will talk about his career in the interview, which will be held at the National Theatre in Sarajevo in front of the audience and the media, and it will be moderated by Mike Goodridge, former editor of the prestigious magazine Screen International and current CEO of London-based company Protagonist Pictures. Goodridge is one of the selectors of the program Kinoscope Sarajevo Film Festival.
Previous winners of the Heart of Sarajevo Award, among others, were Angelina Jolie, Benicio Del Toro, Gael Garcia Bernal, Steve Buscemi and famous and internationally recognized and award-winning directors Atom Egoyan, Jafar Panahi, Mike Leigh, Béla Tarr and Danis Tanovic.
(Source: Radiosarajevo/klix.ba)