• The Cineuropa Award is given to a film that besides having indisputable artistic qualities also brings out the idea of European dialogue and integration
• The Prize is given by one or more qualified editors or collaborators chosen by Cineuropa and present at the Festival
• The Prize is given to a film produced or co-produced by a country participating in the MEDIA Programme or member of Eurimages
• The Prize consists of promotion on the Cineuropa site, including a special newsletter dedicated to the film (including a review, an interview with the director, and trailers and excerpts), which will be sent to our mailing list of over 50,000 subscribers.

The Prize is awarded at the following partner festivals:

Trieste Film Festival
Mons International Love Film Festival
Vilnius Film Festival - Kino Pavasaris
Lecce European Film Festival
Cinema City International Film Festival
Sarajevo International Film Festival
Istanbul Film Festival
Brussels Mediterranean Film Festival
Les Arcs European Film Festival

Exile

Exile by Visar Morina, Sarajevo Film Festival 2020

Visar Morina's Exile masterfully creates the sense of sweaty threat and unease, as in it, even a lethal combo of a dead rat and a stroller on fire proves to be the least of its protagonist’s worries. And it also shows how hard it is not to feel like “the other” sometimes – even in your own house.

Nova Lituania

Nova Lituania by Karolis Kaupinis, Vilnius International Film Festival - Kino Pavasaris 2020

Nova Lituania by Karolis Kaupinis is a film that gives an absurd yet elegant commentary on Europe’s colonial misadventures, showing the falsehood in the pretenses of colonizers as saviors or bringers of “civilization”, and how hard it is for a subaltern culture to keep its voice.

Oray

Oray by Mehmet Akif Büyükatalay, Mons International Film Festival 2020

Oray by Mehmet Akif Büyükatalay is a film that relies heavily on an excellent blend of young talents and non-professional actors. Opting to depict his characters and their relationships with a naturalistic approach, the director weaves his tale with a precision rarely seen from a first-time filmmaker. Main actor Zejhun Demirov is literally spectacular, making the movie’s structure not only convincing, but also utterly enthralling.

Lillian

Lillian by Andreas Horvath, Trieste Film Festival 2020

How can anybody fail to love Andreas Horvath's Lillian, a portrait of a simultaneously vulnerable and determined woman who is on a symbolic quest for something indefinable, challenging herself and defying a billboard asserting that "girls don't hitchhike" in this visually striking road movie that brings a true story from the 1920s bang up to date? And how can anybody fail to admire the magnificent performance by visual artist Patrycja Płanik, the mise-en-scène of the solid documentary approach, and the almost obsessive tenacity with which the director pursued and realised this project?

Instinct

Instinct by Halina Reijn, Les Arcs Film Festival 2019

Halina Reijn's Instinct boldly goes where few films dare to these days, with the help of two astonishing central performances, and proving there is more to life than political correctness.

A Son

A Son by Mehdi M. Barsaoui, Brussels Mediterranean Film Festival 2019

Tunisia, summer 2011. The holiday to the South of the country ends in disaster for Fares, Meriem and their 10-year-old son Aziz, when he is accidentally shot in an ambush. His injury will change their lives: Aziz needs a liver transplant, which leads to discovery of a long-buried secret. Will Aziz and the relationship survive?

Rounds

Rounds by Stephan Komandarev, Sarajevo Film Festival 2019

One night – seemingly just like any other. It’s November 9, 2019 – 30 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall and the regime change in Bulgaria. Three teams of police officers are patrolling the streets of Sofia, doing their job as they believe is right, while facing the challenges posed by contemporary Bulgarian reality.

Genesis

Genesis by Árpád Bogdán, Lecce European Film Festival 2019

The three stories within Genesis are rooted in the biblical notion of family: a woman in her late thirties rediscovers the faith she lost as a child; a mother goes to extreme lengths to ensure that her child is saved from the fate that she was forced to endure; a Roma boy's family are killed, and the perfect world of his childhood is destroyed. All three stories are based on real events that took place in Hungary: the Roma murders. The three protagonists are one way or another affected by these events, which change their lives fundamentally.

Animus Animalis (A Story about People, Animals and Things)

Animus Animalis (A Story about People, Animals and Things) by Aiste Zegulyte, Vilnius International Film Festival - Kino Pavasaris 2019

A taxidermist, a deer farmer and a museum employee guide us around a bizarre world, in which the line between reality and artificiality becomes imperceptible. Set up in fabricated nature’s glass-case, resembling their heart-beating “before,” the exhibited animals won’t stop observing us. The lifelike impression gradually gets stronger, only to collapse abruptly as reality kicks in. A movie that grasps, as the title implies, the soul of the animals.

Jellyfish

Jellyfish by James Gardner, Mons International Love Film Festival 2019

A powerful new British film featuring a stand-out performance from newcomer Liv Hill, who stars as 15-year-old Sarah Taylor, a girl caught between being bullied at school, hassled by her boss at a local arcade and looking after her younger brother, sister and manic-depressive mother (the excellent Sinead Matthews). Sarah’s drama teacher encourages her to use her fierce wit for a stand-up routine at her graduation show, but comedy and the harsh realities of her life soon clash and she struggles to balance her many demands.