Emily Watson will lead a five-person jury at the 32nd Sarajevo Film Festival, which runs from August 14 to 21 this year.
Joining Watson on the jury are Greek filmmaker Athina Rachel Tsangari, Croatian director Igor Bezinovic, North Macedonian actress Sara Klimoska, and Matthijs Wouter Knol, CEO and Director of the European Film Academy. The full lineup was announced this week, according to Variety.
Watson arrives at the festival fresh off playing Mary Shakespeare in Chloé Zhao's adaptation of Maggie O'Farrell's novel Hamnet. She has also just wrapped the second season of the HBO/Max series Dune: Prophecy. Her film credits include Lars von Trier's Breaking the Waves and Hilary and Jackie, both of which earned her Oscar nominations for Best Actress, as well as A24's God's Creatures, Small Things Like These, Gosford Park, Punch-Drunk Love, and The Theory of Everything. In 2019, she received Emmy and Golden Globe nominations for her work in the HBO/Sky miniseries Chernobyl. Last year, she received the Richard Harris Award at the BIFAs for her outstanding contribution to British film.
Watson joins a list of past jury presidents that includes Sergei Loznitsa in 2025, Paul Schrader in 2024, Mia Wasikowska in 2023, Ruben Östlund in 2019, and Mike Leigh in 2004.
Tsangari is regarded as a principal figure in the Greek New Wave. Her 2010 film Attenberg won the Coppa Volpi award for best actor and the Lina Mangiacapre directing award at Venice. Her 2015 film Chevalier won best film at the London Film Festival and was nominated for best foreign film at the Independent Spirit Awards. Her most recent feature, Harvest, a neo-western starring Caleb Landry Jones and Harry Melling, premiered in Venice competition in 2024.
Bezinovic is best known for Fiume o morte!, which won the European Film Award for best documentary in 2025. His earlier work includes the documentaries The Blockade from 2012 and Veruda: A Film About Bojan from 2015.
Klimoska has the leading role in Sister Brother Manhole Cover, directed by Milcho Manchevski, which is set to premiere this year. She has also appeared in Goran Stolevski's You Won't Be Alone, which premiered at Sundance, and Stolevski's Housekeeping for Beginners, which screened at Venice.
Wouter Knol has served as CEO and Director of the European Film Academy since 2021. Before that, he spent 12 years with the Berlinale team, first as head of programming of Berlinale Talents from 2008 to 2014, and then as director of the European Film Market from 2014 to 2020. He has also worked as a creative and associate producer on 30 award-winning documentaries.
Winners of the main feature competition will be announced on August 21, the final day of the festival.
