Woody Harrelson will receive the Honorary Heart of Sarajevo at the 32nd Sarajevo Film Festival, the festival announced on Monday, August 3, 2026.

The award recognises what the festival called Harrelson's "outstanding contribution to the film industry and an exceptional acting career," according to Variety. The festival cited his three Oscar nominations — for The People vs. Larry Flynt (1996), The Messenger (1997) and Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017) — as part of the announcement.

Festival director Jovan Marjanović praised Harrelson's acting and said his talent, charisma and boldness inspire future generations of film-makers and performers.

The 32nd edition of the Sarajevo Film Festival runs from August 14 to 21, 2026. Harrelson is not the only honouree: Bosnian actor Emir Hadžihafizbegović will also receive the Honorary Heart of Sarajevo at this year's edition.

To coincide with the award, the festival will screen Michael Winterbottom's 1997 film Welcome to Sarajevo, which stars Harrelson alongside Stephen Dillane and Marisa Tomei. The film, set during the siege of Sarajevo in the 1990s, carries a particular resonance for a festival born in that same conflict — the Sarajevo Film Festival was founded in 1995, while the city was still under siege.

The festival's closing night will feature a newly restored version of Danis Tanović's No Man's Land, marking 25 years since the film's premiere at Cannes. No Man's Land went on to win the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 2002.

The Honorary Heart of Sarajevo has become a regular fixture of the festival's opening and closing ceremonies. Previous recipients have included Danish actor Mads Mikkelsen, Swedish director Ruben Östlund — honoured at the 28th edition in 2022 before a screening of Triangle of Sadness — and British actor Ray Winstone, who received the award at the 31st edition.

For an actor whose career has spanned more than four decades — from Cheers to True Detective to the Hunger Games franchise — the Sarajevo honour adds another international stop to a list of accolades already anchored by those three Oscar nominations. That the festival chose to pair the award with a screening of Welcome to Sarajevo ties the recognition to the city's own story, not just the actor's filmography.