24/03/2025 - Rúnar Rúnarsson’s O and Mohammad Rasoulof’s The Seed of the Sacred Fig have snagged Best Short and the Audience Award, respectively

The 2025 edition of the Vilnius Film Festival (Kino Pavasaris, 7-23 March) has wrapped with Dea Kulumbegashvili’s April [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Dea Kulumbegashvili
film profile] clinching the top prize – the Award for Best Film. Premiered at Venice last year, the Georgian filmmaker’s latest work, praised for its haunting visual language and powerful sociopolitical undertones, was described by the jury as “a film of great vision that balances surreal poetry with a provocative portrait of our contemporary world”. The award comes with an €8,000 cash prize funded by the Vilnius City Municipality.

The international competition jury was made up of Denis Krupnov, founder of Reason8; director-producer Giedrė Žickytė; senior Sundance programmer Heidi Zwicker; and helmer Mania Akbari.

In the Short Film Competition, Icelandic director Rúnar Rúnarsson was honoured with the Best Film Award for O, a meditative exploration of addiction that the jury commended as “an achievement of classical cinematic language”. Meanwhile, the Award for Best Lithuanian Short went to Past the Hill of Napoleon’s Hat by Arnas Balčiūnas, recognised for its layered narrative and subtle storytelling.

Moreover, Giedrė Beinoriūtė’s documentary Sacrum and profanum in Pievenai was crowned Best Lithuanian Premiere. The film tells the story of a quiet, secluded village in north-western Lithuania that comes to life once a year to celebrate Catholic Easter, striving to preserve the vanishing ancient tradition of the Guardians of the Cross.

Another special prize – the Young Filmmaker Award, established by the Vida Ramaškienė Foundation – went to film editor Ignė Narbutaitė. The honour is dedicated to an artist whose experience encompasses work on film sets as well as in film education, editing and video art.

Finally, the Audience Award went to Mohammad Rasoulof’s The Seed of the Sacred Fig [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Directors Talks @ European …
interview: Mohammad Rasoulof
film profile]. One of last year’s Palme d’Or contenders at Cannes (where it also won the Special Award), the German-Iranian-French drama was filmed in secrecy and offers a hard-hitting portrayal of a hellish family conflict and the infuriating reality of women’s lives in Iran.

“Thank you to everyone who came to celebrate 30 years of cinema together,” said festival head Algirdas Ramaška. “This year, a record number of almost 130,000 people attended the festival. It’s heartening to know that we have so many like-minded people – friends and strangers alike – who watched films, shared their thoughts and met the festival’s guests. The 17-day marathon of auteur cinema is now over, and we’re already looking forward to the next one – the beginning of a new decade for Kino Pavasaris.”

Below is the full list of this year’s winners:

Best Film
April [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Dea Kulumbegashvili
film profile] – Dea Kulumbegashvili (Georgia/France/Italy)
Special Mention
The New Year That Never Came [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Bogdan Mureşanu
film profile] – Bogdan Mureșanu (Romania/Serbia)

Best Short
O – Rúnar Rúnarsson (Iceland/Sweden)
Special Mention
Favours – Agnes Skonare Karlsson (Sweden)

Best Lithuanian Short
Past the Hill of Napoleon’s Hat – Arnas Balčiūnas (Lithuania)

Best Lithuanian Premiere
Sacrum and profanum in Pievenai – Giedrė Beinoriūtė (Lithuania)

Audience Award
The Seed of the Sacred Fig [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Directors Talks @ European …
interview: Mohammad Rasoulof
film profile] – Mohammad Rasoulof (Germany/Iran/France)

Young Filmmaker Award
Ignė Narbutaitė