Gault&Millau Croatia at the 29th Sarajevo Film Festival

The Heart of Sarajevo gala awards for the best regional TV series is an increasingly important event within the Srajaveo Film Festival, which takes place in the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina from August 11 to 18, 2023. The professional jury of the Festival, composed of 450 film professionals from the region, included 19 series from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Croatia, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Slovenia and Serbia in the competition for awards in 14 categories. The third Heart of Sarajevo award ceremony will be held on August 13 at the Hills Hotel in Ilidža, and a special dinner for guests, in cooperation with the prestigious gastronomic guide Gault&Millau Croatia and the Kvarner, Region Tourist Board will be prepared by Deni Srdoč, chef of the Nebo restaurant at the Hilton Costabella Hotel in Rijeka and owner of the Hidden Wine Bar. Nebo by Deni Srdoč is the best-rated restaurant in the Kvarner region in the Gault&Millau Croatia selection (4 points and 17/20 points), and in 2018, the same guide awarded, then 24-year-old chef, The Young Talent of the Year Trophy.

At the dinner for 150 guests - the protagonist of the best TV series from the region - chef Deni Srdoč will prepare a meat and vegetarian menu that best combines the cuisine of the Mediterranean and highlands, the gastronomic expression of Kvarner region, and the freshness of local ingredients from around Sarajevo. The Kvarner Region Tourist Board is a partner of the awards dinner for the best TV series, and in Sarajevo, in addition to gastronomy, it will also present its location potential for shooting TV series and movies. It will premiere a film that reveals all the richness of the tourist offer of this region, whose architecture, industrial heritage, beautiful beaches and half an hour's distance from the sea to the mountains, have attracted international productions for years. The films "The White Crow" with Ralph Fiennes in the lead role, “Move on" starring Mads Mikkelsen, and the film "Diana" about the late British princess, played by Naomi Watts, were filmed on locations in Kvarner. The cowboy village of the western town of Roswell, built for the filming of the trilogy about Winetou, is still located not far from the town of Fužine in Gorski kotar.

Director Matt Baker last year filmed the first season of the British TV series Hotel Portofino in Opatija and Lovran, and the second season was filmed in the same location, too. In June, Gault&Millau Croatia, in cooperation with the Kvarner Region Tourist Board, published a special edition of the Kvarner guide, and Kvarner has recently become a candidate for the prestigious title European Gastronomy Region, which it expects in 2026.

Chef Deni Srdoč, with the gastronomic awards of the GM and Michelin* guides, is the leader of a new generation of young chefs, whose culinary creations make the Kvarner region even more desirable for tourists. Along with the dishes that will be prepared at the Heart of Sarajevo awards night for the TV series, selected Saints Hills wines, will be served.

"We are happy that the promotional film of TZ Kvarner will be premiered at the Sarajevo Film Festival - the largest film festival in Eastern Europe, and that in front of the respectful community of the most prominent protagonists of the region's TV series production. Gastronomy and the film industry are an ideal combination in the promotion of any tourist destination," says Irena Peršić Živadinov, director of the Kvarner Region Tourist Board.

Their promotional film was produced by Filmerija from Rijeka and Cinematheque from Zagreb. The idea, slogan, direction and editing are by Sanjin Stanić, script by Edi Mužina, camera by Hrvoje Franjić, and the main character in the film is Ivan Raffaelli.