Romanian director Emanuel Pârvu’s “ Three Kilometers to the End of the World ,” a potential winner of the prestigious Palme d’Or at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, was awarded the top prize at the Sarajevo Film Festival on Friday night.

The third feature from the actor-turned-director was awarded by the jury headed by U.S. writer-director Paul Schrader (“First Reformed”) that included Swedish actor and producer Noomi Rapace (“ Lamb ”), Finnish director-writer Juho Kuosmanen (“ Compartment No. 6 ”), Sarajevo-born, Paris-based director, writer and editor Una Gunjak (“ Excursion ”) and Slovenian actor Sebastian Cavazza (“Men Don’t Cry”).

“Three Kilometers,” which depicts a 17-year-old who becomes the victim of a homophobic assault in a small town in Romania’s Danube Delta, explores the impact of the attack on his rural community from various perspectives. Variety ’s Guy Lodge described it as a “claustrophobic study of personal and institutional prejudice closing in on a community misfit,” praising the “cinematic heritage” of its formal accomplishments but adding that “there’s little about the film that feels idiosyncratic, either stylistically or in its surface-level human portraiture.”

The best director award was given to Yorgos Zois for his fantasy-drama “ Arcadia ,” which had its world premiere in the Encounters section of the Berlin Film Festival. The film tells the story of a brilliant neurologist, Katerina, played by Greek standout Angeliki Papoulia (“Dogtooth,” “The Lobster”), and her husband, Yannis (Vangelis Mourikis), a once highly-regarded doctor. They are called to identify the victim of a tragic car accident at an out-of-season seaside resort. Once there, Katerina is forced to confront her worst fears while making mysterious, nighttime trips to the titular seaside tavern.

The best actress award went to Anab Ahmed Ibrahim for her performance in “ The Village Next to Paradise ,” directed by Mo Harawe, which was the first feature film from Somalia to ever be screened on the Croisette when it premiered in Cannes’ Un Certain Regard section this year. Ibrahim plays a woman striving to live on her own terms after a marriage that ended due to her infertility, in what Variety ’s Murtada Elfadl described as Harawe’s “poised” and “confident” debut.

The best actor award in Sarajevo went to Doru Bem for his starring role in Andrei Cohn’s “Holy Week,” a historical drama about the never-ending cycle of violence in a 19th-century Romanian village. Bem portrays a Jewish man named Leiba who runs the village inn, a meeting place for both Christians and Jews. However, this apparent harmony hides underlying racism and antisemitism.

More to come…