Though she couldn’t be there in person, Angelina Jolie was there in spirit.
The actress and special envoy for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, 36, sent a pre-recorded message to accept her honorary citizenship from the Assembly of Sarajevo Canton Parliament, held at the National Theatre in Sarajevo Thursday.
“I am deeply grateful to the citizens of Sarajevo and the Sarajevo Canton assembly for bestowing upon me this incredible honor of citizenship. I am so proud to now be a part of such an extraordinary part of the world and fellow citizen to the people I deeply love and admire,” Jolie said. “I wish I could be there with all of you tonight, and I look forward to visiting in July when I can properly accept and personally express my gratitude.”
The honorary citizenship of Sarajevo Canton is only given out to one individual per year. The board chose Brad Pitt‘s fiancee because she “puts the focus of current problems in the world” in the spotlight — “namely hunger, poverty, inequality and injustice, and atrocities due to consequences of war.”
The award was presented on state at the National Theatre by Mirjana Malic. The board praised Jolie for her directorial debut, In the Land of Blood & Honey, because it “draws attention to the trauma of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s most recent war and the horrors and tragedies of our city and state.”
