Stellan Skarsgård will receive the Honorary Heart of Sarajevo at the 31st Sarajevo Film Festival in recognition of his contribution to the film industry and his acting career.
Skarsgård created headlines around the world recently when he shared his views on Ingmar Bergman. Speaking at Karlovy Vary Film Festival, he said: “Bergman was manipulative. He was a Nazi during the war and the only person I know who cried when Hitler died.”
Sarajevo Film Festival chief Jovan Marjanović described Skarsgård as “an actor of remarkable depth, strength, and integrity,” and a longtime friend of Sarajevo. He added: “His career is filled with unforgettable roles in films that challenge, move, and stay with audiences. This award is a heartfelt thank you for his outstanding contribution to cinema and for the continued support he has shown to our festival.”
Skarsgård said the festival “remains unwavering and driven in its aim to highlight subjects of great consequence, underscored by an intense lust for life. I love going there.”
Skarsgård was a curator and one of the patrons of the Katrin Cartlidge Foundation – whose scholarships were awarded at Sarajevo. He presented the foundation’s scholarship to Juanita Wilson at the festival’s 15th edition in 2009.
Skarsgård, who has more than 150 TV and film projects on his resumé, began acting at the age of 15 in the Swedish TV series “Bombi Bitt and I,” and went on to work extensively with the prestigious Royal Dramatic Theatre of Stockholm, while also appearing in a range of Swedish films.
His international breakthrough came in 1982 with Hans Alfredson’s “The Simple-Minded Murderer,” for which Skarsgård won the Berlinale Silver Bear for best actor. He went on to work with other leading Scandinavian directors such as Bo Widerberg and Kjell Grede.
His first significant Hollywood role came in 1990 when he portrayed a Russian submarine captain in “The Hunt for Red October.” He went on to star in several international productions, including “Zero Kelvin” (1995), his first of many films with Norwegian director Hans Petter Moland, and “Breaking the Waves” (1996), which launched his long-running collaboration with Danish auteur Lars von Trier. The latter film won the Grand Jury Prize at Cannes and brought Skarsgård widespread recognition. He later appeared in von Trier’s “Dogville,” “Melancholia” and “Nymphomaniac.”
Skarsgård has since worked with an array of influential filmmakers, including Gus Van Sant (“Good Will Hunting”), Steven Spielberg (“Amistad”), John Frankenheimer (“Ronin”), Paul Schrader (“The Exorcist: Dominion”), David Fincher (“The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”) and Miloš Forman (“Goya’s Ghosts”).
He entered the blockbuster realm as Bootstrap Bill Turner in two “Pirates of the Caribbean” films and charmed global audiences in “Mamma Mia!” and its sequel. He joined the Marvel Cinematic Universe as physicist Erik Selvig in “Thor” and reprised the role in four additional MCU titles.
On television, in 2015 Skarsgård starred in the poignant BBC series “River” by Abi Morgan. He then went on to receive an Emmy nomination and a Golden Globe win for his haunting performance in HBO’s “Chernobyl.” In the 2020s, he continues to balance prestige and popular work with a voice cameo in “The Simpsons,” a leading role in Denis Villeneuve’s “Dune” films and acclaimed turns in “Andor” and the Cannes 2025 Grand Prix winner “Sentimental Value.”
The 31st Sarajevo Film Festival will take place from Aug. 15 to 22.