Ryan was one of four film authors who received the award, alongside US and Palestinian film directors Alexander Payne and Elia Suleiman and US actor and producer John Turturro.
"It's an award in recognition of outstanding contribution to the world of cinema, to her incredible talents," festival director Jovan Marjanovic said before handing Ryan a silver heart-shaped award.
Ryan symbolically presented a special screening of her 1998 hit romantic comedy You've Got Mail at an open-air cinema, the same place where it was first screened at the festival in 1999.
At the masterclass moderated by Oscar-winning Bosnian film director Danis Tanovic, Ryan talked about What Happens Later, her second feature that she directed, wrote and co-starred with David Duchovny, which was also screened at the festival.
She said she ventured into acting to pay for her journalism studies, and she was an "untrained actress".
"I had a beginner's mind, which I see now as a very valuable thing, there is certain naivety, innocence that is important when you are an artist," she said.
The Sarajevo Film Festival, a movie showcase spreading from Vienna to Istanbul, was created by a group of film enthusiasts towards the end of the Bosnian war 30 years ago.Â
6°C