Sundance award-winner to open festival; Dagur Kári’s Tribeca winner Virgin Mountain to close.

The Second Mother

Anna Muylaert’s The Second Mother (Que Horas Ela Volta?) is to open the 21st Sarajevo Film Festival on August 14.

Brazilian director Muylaert will be in attendance at Sarajevo’s impressive open air theatre for the screening of the film, in which the estranged daughter of a live-in housekeeper suddenly appears, breaking down unspoken class barriers that exist within the home.

The film debuted at Sundance in January where actors Regina Casé and Camila Márdila picked up the Special Jury Prize. It went on to win the Panorama Audience Award at Berlin in February and the jury prize for best screenplay at RiverRun.

Sarajevo has also announced that Dagur Kári’s Virgin Mountain (Fusi) will close the festival on August 22.

Kári will present the screening alongside lead actor Gunnar Jónsson, who plays a 43-year-old that still lives with his mother and whose monotonous daily routine is turned around by a new arrival.

Jónsson won best actor at the Tribeca Film Festival in April, where Kári also won best screenplay and the film picked up best narrative feature. It went on to win the audience award at CPH:PIX.

The titles form part of Sarajevo’s Open Air line-up, which the festival unveiled today.

As previously announced, Benicio Del Toro will attend the Open Air screening of Fernando León de Aranoa’s A Perfect Day, which first played in Directors’ Fortnight at Cannes. He will be accompanied by co-star Feđa Štukan.

Before the screening, on August 20, Del Toro will receive the Honorary Heart of Sarajevo Award, the festival’s highest accolade.

Other Open Air screenings include Jacques Audiard’s Cannes Palme d’Or winner Dheepan, with actors Jesuthasan Antonythasan and Kalieaswari Srinivasan in attendance.

Oscar-winning director Danis Tanovic and actor Danny Huston will present drama Tigers, alongside writer/producer Andy Paterson, producers Cat Villiers and Čedomir Kolar, and DoP Erol Zubčević.

Ognjen Sviličić’s These Are The Rules (Takva Su Pravila) will also screen with the director and cast at the Open Air theatre.

Also showing in the Open Air strand are Woody Allen’s Irrational Man, Jonathan Demme’s Ricki and the Flash, and Cannes Best Screenplay winner Chronic, with director Michel Franco in attendance.