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TRIESTE 2023 Awards

Sonne is victorious at the Trieste Film Festival

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- Kurwin Ayub’s debut feature film scoops the main prize at the 34th edition of Italy’s first and most important event for Central and Eastern European cinema

Sonne is victorious at the Trieste Film Festival
The festival's closing ceremony (© Giulia Spinelli)

Sonne [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Kurdwin Ayub
film profile
]
by the Iraqi director living in Vienna Kurwin Ayub has scooped the Trieste Prize, worth €5,000, for Best Feature Film at the 34th Trieste Film Festival, which wrapped on Saturday. The jury composed of Weronika Czołnowska, Beatrice Fiorentino and Stefan Ivančić singled out the movie “For having whisked us away with incredible energy into a vortex suspended between respect for traditions and a desire for modernity. For asking questions rather than offering answers and for suspending judgement and prioritising compassion. For exploring unresolved issues relating to the roots, religion and identity of new generations who are the children of migratory flows, without dogma and by way of modern-day language, through the eyes of three women searching for their place in the world”. Two Special Mentions were then awarded to Safe Place [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Juraj Lerotić
film profile
]
by Croatian director Juraj Lerotić, and Black Stone [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
by Greece’s Spiros Jacovides, both of which are first feature films.

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The Alpe Adria Cinema Prize for Best Documentary (€2,500), meanwhile, assigned by a jury composed of Rok Biček, Freddy Olsson and Julia Sinkevych, went to the medium-length movie Scenes With My Father, directed by Dutch-Croatian filmmaker Biserka Šuran. “An empty, old factory”, the judge’s motivation reads, “is turned into a stage for a story which takes us from east to west both geographically and mentally”. The jury also awarded a Special Mention to Fragile Memory [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Igor Ivanko
film profile
]
by Ukrainian director Igor Ivanko, who attemps to record the memories of his grandfather, famous Director of Photography Leonid Burlaka.

The TSFF Shorts Award for Best Short Film (€2,000) was won by Eva Vidan’s Plima (Croatia/USA), while Special Mentions winged their way to Where No Ships Go by Vlad Buzăianu (Romania) and Sheets by Evi Gjoni (Albania).

The audience also voted on their favourite works from the three afore-mentioned competitions, declaring their winners as Black Stone in terms of Best Medium-Length Film, The Hamlet Syndrome [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Elwira Niewiera and Piotr R…
film profile
]
by Elwira Niewiera and Piotr Rosołowski (Poland/Germany) as Best Documentary, and Not Tomorrow by Amerissa Basta (Greece/France) and Sheets as Best Shorts in a tie-break.

The Cineuropa Prize for Best Feature Film, meanwhile, was awarded to Butterfly Vision [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Maksym Nakonechnyi
film profile
]
by the young Ukrainian director Maksym Nakonechny, “Because it tells of the catharsis of a modern woman, a heroine of her own liberation who shuns the status of the "victim". A soldier traumatised by war, who questions what had seemed obvious to her. A metaphor, if you will, for the self-determination of the Ukrainian people”, the jury explained. Last but not least, the 2023 Eastern Star Prize - which recognises an individual from the film world who has helped to build bridges between Eastern and Western Europe, on a par with the Trieste Film Festival – was awarded to Polish master Krzysztof Zanussi.

The prize-winners are as follows:

Trieste Prize for Best Feature Film
Sonne [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Kurdwin Ayub
film profile
]
- Kurwin Ayub (Austria)
Special Mentions
Safe Place [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Juraj Lerotić
film profile
]
- Juraj Lerotić (Croatia/Slovenia)
Black Stone [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
- Spiros Jacovides (Greece)

Alpe Adria Cinema Prize for Best Documentary
Scenes with My Father - Biserka Šuran (Holland) (medium-length film)
Special Mention
Fragile Memory [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Igor Ivanko
film profile
]
- Igor Ivanko (Ukraine/Slovakia)

TSFF Shorts Prize for Best Short Film
Plima - Eva Vidan (Croatia/USA)
Special Mentions
Where No Ships Go - Vlad Buzăianu (Romania)
Sheets - Evi Gjoni (Albania)

Other Awards

Audience Award for Best Feature Film
Black Stone - Spiros Jacovides

Audience Award for Best Documentary
The Hamlet Syndrome [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Elwira Niewiera and Piotr R…
film profile
]
- Elwira Niewiera, Piotr Rosołowski (Poland/Germany)

Audience Award for Best Short Film (tie-break)
Not Tomorrow - Amerissa Basta (Greece/France)
Sheets - Evi Gjoni

Cineuropa Prize for Best Feature Film
Butterfly Vision [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Maksym Nakonechnyi
film profile
]
- Maksym Nakonechny (Ukraine/Czech Republic/Croatia/Sweden)

CEI (Central European Initiative) Prize 
Love Is Not an Orange [+see also:
trailer
interview: Otilia Babara
film profile
]
- Otilia Barbara (Moldova/France/the Netherlands/Belgium)

Corso Salani Prize
Il cerchio [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
- Sophie Chiarello (Italy)

Eastern Star Award
Krzysztof Zanussi

Non-Cinematographic Eastern Star Award
Zdeněk Zeman

Cinema Warrior Prize 
Fuori Orario

Osservatorio Balcani e Caucaso Transeuropa Prize for Best Documentary
The Hamlet Syndrome - Elwira Niewiera, Piotr Rosołowski

PAG (Progetto Area Giovani) Jury Prize
Not Tomorrow - Amerissa Basta

SNCCI Critics’ Prize for Best Film
Gli orsi non esistono - Jafar Panahi (Iran)

SNCCI Italian Critics’ Prize for Best Film
Small Body [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Laura Samani
film profile
]
- Laura Samani (Italy/France/Slovenia)

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(Translated from Italian)

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