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Sarajevo Film Festival introduces Prix Cineplexx award, an audience-voted prize tied to theatrical distribution
The Apex Times

THE APEX TIMES

Culture/The Apex Times/Jul 7, 5:38 AM EDT

Sarajevo Film Festival introduces Prix Cineplexx award, an audience-voted prize tied to theatrical distribution

The Sarajevo Film Festival says its newest honor, voted on by festivalgoers, is designed to connect recognition with a film’s ability to reach cinemas, offering 20,000 euros in marketing support and cash to the winning producer.

2 min readEditor-approved Apex article

The Sarajevo Film Festival has unveiled a new prize, the Prix Cineplexx, aimed at strengthening the connection between festival recognition and theatrical releases. The award will be given to the best feature from the festival’s Open Air Premiere program, with the winner selected by audience members, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

The festival says the Prix Cineplexx is created in partnership with Cineplexx, a cinema chain operating across Southeast Europe. In addition to audience recognition, the organizers described the prize as a mechanism to support a film’s commercial follow-through after the festival window, including promotional activities inside Cineplexx cinemas.

The prize package totals 20,000 euros (about $22,855), The Hollywood Reporter reported. It includes 15,000 euros for a marketing campaign in Cineplexx cinemas intended to back the winning film’s theatrical distribution, along with an additional 5,000 euros in cash for the film’s producer.

Festival officials tied the award to the festival’s Open Air slate, which is among its most attended programming areas. The Hollywood Reporter described Open Air as having been divided into two sections last year, with Open Air Premiere singled out as the forum for regionally anticipated works. The awards will be linked to that program and, by design, to the films’ ability to move from outdoor screenings and festival buzz to paid theatrical exhibition.

The Open Air Premiere screenings are presented at the UNIQA Open Air Cinema Stari Grad venue, which the report says doubled its seating capacity last year. The festival also characterized Cineplexx as a “natural partner” for a prize that centers on audience choice while providing regional filmmakers with a path to cinema exposure.

In remarks reported by The Hollywood Reporter, Jovan Marjanović, the festival’s director, said the award represents more than its monetary value because it pairs audience selection with substantial marketing support through one of the region’s largest cinema chains. He said the approach is intended to add value to the Open Air Premiere program while giving regional films an added distribution advantage.

The festival’s announcement positions the Prix Cineplexx as a recurring incentive for films screened at Sarajevo to secure theater visibility beyond the festival circuit. It also indicates a closer role for cinema operators in festival awards, not only by sponsoring recognition but by underwriting the promotional steps meant to support theatrical life after the exhibition period.

Why It Matters

  • The award is structured to convert audience popularity at a major regional festival into concrete theatrical marketing support, targeting distribution rather than only publicity.
  • For filmmakers and producers in the former Yugoslav region, the 15,000-euro in-cinema marketing component is designed to improve the odds of theatrical release and audience reach after festival screenings.
  • By pairing an audience-voted honor with cinema-chain promotional spending, the festival is increasing the role of exhibitors in determining which films receive follow-on market support.
  • The timing links festival selection to downstream release planning, using the Cineplexx campaign as a bridge between the Open Air Premiere program and cinema schedules.

Sources

Key Facts

  • The Sarajevo Film Festival introduced a new award called the Prix Cineplexx.
  • The prize will be awarded to the best feature in the Open Air Premiere program, selected by audience voting.
  • The award is partnered with Cineplexx, described as the leading cinema chain in Southeast Europe.
  • The Prix Cineplexx has a total value of 20,000 euros: 15,000 euros for a Cineplexx marketing campaign and 5,000 euros cash for the film’s producer.
  • Open Air Premiere is presented at the UNIQA Open Air Cinema Stari Grad.
  • The report says UNIQA Open Air Cinema Stari Grad doubled its seating capacity last year.