In collaboration with Slovenia, Slovenia, and Finland, the six-part Croatian mini-series was produced The Last Socialist Artifact had the perfect pedigree to take top honors in the Hearts of Sarajevo Awards for TV Series, a regional award set up to celebrate the past year’s best small-screen talent from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Serbia, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Kosovo and Slovenia.
A study of today’s post-industrial world presented with humor and warmth,The Last Socialist Artefacttells the story of two city guys who take over a disused turbine factory in a depressed backwater with the intention of reopening it. The series’ near-grand slam of awards, winning five of the eight available, was contested by two detective mysteries from Serbian: Get upAnd Black Wedding.
The inaugural Comedy awards were a little more evenly spread, with the main awards split between Bosnia and Herzegovina’s AdvokadoOnce described as a type of “Balkan Dumb & Dumber”, and Serbia’s family holiday-set series Strange Kind of Loves.
On a bittersweet note, the award for Best Leading Actor went to the late Mustafa Nadarević, the celebrated Bosnian actor who died of cancer in November 2020, for his work in Crazy, Confused, Normal(Bosnia and Herzegovina).
Deadline is media partner for this year’s edition of the TV awards. Here’s the full list of winners below:
Best Drama Series
The Last Socialist Artifact
Best Leading Actress—Drama Series
Ivana Vuković (Get up)
Best Leading Actor—Drama Series
Izudin Bajrović (The Last Socialist Artifact)
Best Supporting Actress—Drama Series
Lana Barić (The Last Socialist Artifact)
Best Supporting Actor—Drama Series
Slavko Štimac (Black Wedding)
Rising Star–Drama Series
Stefan Vukić (Get up)
Best Director for the Episode—Drama Series
Dalibor Matanić (The Last Socialist Artifact)
Best Screenplay for the Episode—Drama Series
Hana Jušić, Jelena Paljan, Milan F. Živković (The Last Socialist Artifact)
Best Comedy
Advokado
Best Leading Actress—Comedy
Jasna Đuričić (Advokado)
Best Leading Actor—Comedy
Mustafa Nadarević (Crazy, Confused, Normal)
Rising Star—Comedy
Jovan Jovanović (Strange Kind of Loves)
Best Director for the Episode—Comedy
Nikola Kojo (Strange Kind of Loves)
Best Screenplay of the Episode
Boban Jevtić, Nikola Kojo (Strange Kind of Loves)