The 'Tree of Love' award for Best Leading Actress was presented on Thursday evening in Mostar to Jelena Kordić Kuret for her role as Asja in the film 'The Happiest Man in the World,' directed by Teona Strugar Mitevski. The award for Best Leading Actor went to Senad Bašić for his role as Faruk in the film 'Bosnian Pot,' directed by Pavo Marinković, according to the jury of the 17th Mostar Film Festival.

The 'Tree of Love' award for Best Supporting Actor was given to Izudin Bajrović for his role in the film 'The Happiest Man in the World.' The award for Best Supporting Actress this year went to Irma Alimanović for her role in the film 'The Happiest Man in the World.'
The jury decided not to award the prize for Best Debutant this year but awarded three special recognitions. A special acknowledgment was given to the cast of the film 'Stigmas,' directed by Zdenko Jurilj, where Ivo Krešić, Bojan Beribaka, Miro Barnjak, Ivan Skoko, Mario Knezović, and Robert Pehar excelled as a unique ensemble in this poignant and socially significant film."
Adnan Hasković received a special acknowledgment for his role as Zlatan in the film 'Die Before Death,' directed by Adnan Imamović. Another special acknowledgment went to Jelena Jovanov for her role as Kaja in the film 'Something Sweet,' directed by Tin Vodopivec.

All decisions were made unanimously, and we are especially pleased that this year actors from Bosnia and Herzegovina excelled in all the awarded categories, including those from Mostar," emphasized the members of the jury Branka Bešević Gajić, Anila Gajević, and Amira Kudumović
The president of the Mostar Film Festival jury, Branka Bešević Gajić, said it was not easy to determine who was the best. 'I think that, as always, nuances were decisive this year as well, and the best of the best won valuable awards,' said Bešević Gajić.
The director of the Mostar Film Festival, Slaven Knezović, expressed satisfaction that most of the main awards went to Bosnian-Herzegovinian actors, which is after 17 years of holding the festival 'another victory and another indication that we can rely on local forces.
He noted that the Mostar Film Festival opened with the film 'Bosnian Pot' and is closing tonight with the Bosnian-Herzegovinian film 'Stigmas.' 'I am proud that it was filmed in our Herzegovina, and I am glad that local forces were engaged and that the expert jury recognized that,' emphasized Knezović.
After the awards ceremony, the film 'Stigmas,' directed by Zdenko Jurilj, was screened. It is a film that deals with the universal theme of ideological stigmatization. The plot is set in western Herzegovina during the turbulent period after World War II. It speaks about the devastation left in a traditional environment by ideological confrontations, culminating during a tobacco smuggling journey. The main character of the film is Dragan, the son of the partisan Mile (who ends up in prison). Dragan is forced to go on a tobacco smuggling journey with a group of smugglers, believing that none of them knows his true identity.
During the four days of the festival, the expert jury watched six feature films in the competitive part of the program. 

*The text was translated by artificial intelligence.