27/05/2025 - Stefan Malešević has swept the Serbian competition by winning Best Film, Cinematography and Editing, while Nicole Vögele's doc came out on top in the international strand

l-r: Iva Radivojević (director of When the Phone Rang), Jelena Maksimović (editor of Soil and Wings), Milan Milosavljević (director of Hidden in Leaves), Jelena Angelovski (producer of Soil and Wings) and Ivan Marković (director of Inventory) with their awards (© Andrija Radulovic)

The 18th edition of the Beldocs International Documentary Film Festival (21-27 May) announced its award winners last night at a ceremony held in the Yugoslav Film Archive. The jury for the Serbian Competition Programme – comprising Margot Mecca, programmer for Festival dei Popoli; director Göran Hugo Olsson; and film theoretician and critic Pavle Levi – gave out all three awards to Stefan Malešević’s Soil and Wings [+see also:
film review
film profile]: Best Film, Best Cinematography (also by Malešević) and Best Editing for Jelena Maksimović. Two films received Special Mentions: Iva Radivojević’s Locarno prizewinner When the Phone Rang [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Iva Radivojević
film profile] and Milan Milosavljević’s short Hidden in the Leaves.

In the International Competition Programme, Swiss director Nicole Vögele's acclaimed documentary The Landscape and the Fury [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] won the Best Film Award from the jury (consisting of Wojciech Diduszko, of Millennium Docs Against Gravity; and filmmakers Dragana Jovanović and Igor Bezinović). A Special Mention went to Simon and Marianne by Canada's Pier-Luc Latulippe and Martin Fournier.

Slovenian director Gregor Božič's Common Pear picked up the cross-sectional Best Short Film Award, with Special Mentions going to Poland's Izabela Zubrycka for You, River and Serbia’s Ivan Marković for Inventory. The Dutch-Bangladeshi co-production Where the Kids Have No Name by Jamillah van der Hulst won the Prize of the Teen Jury.

Meanwhile, the Beldocs Pitching Forum announced its awards on Saturday. The jury, comprising American Documentary’s Carmen L Vicencio, Visions du Réel’s Jasmin Basic and Rise and Shine’s Diana Karklin, judged two competitions: Beldocs in Development and Beldocs in Progress. The two monetary prizes, the Al Jazeera Balkans Award and the Film Centre of Montenegro Award, each worth €2,000, went to Sentence from Birth by Moldova’s Diana Vlas and Daniela Miron, and My Name Is Enough by Armenia’s Marina Arzumanova and Ani Grigoryan, respectively.

The Croatian project No Offence by Lucija Marčec won the Forgrade Post-production Award and the Ji.hlava New Visions Market Award, while The Touch by Serbia’s Dragan Jovićević picked up the Impronta Films Consultancy Award and the Thessaloniki Documentary Film Festival Networking Award.

The full list of this year’s Beldocs award winners is below:

Serbian Competition Programme

Best Film
Soil and Wings [+see also:
film review
film profile] – Stefan Malešević (Serbia/North Macedonia)

Best Cinematography
Stefan Malešević – Soil and Wings

Best Editing
Jelena Maksimović – Soil and Wings

Special Mentions
When the Phone Rang [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Iva Radivojević
film profile] – Iva Radivojević (Serbia/USA)
Hidden in the Leaves – Milan Milosavljević (Serbia, short film)

International Competition Programme

Best Film
The Landscape and the Fury [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] - Nicole Vögele (Switzerland)
Special Mention
Simon and Marianne – Pier-Luc Latulippe, Martin Fournier (Canada)

Short Film Competition

Best Film
Common Pear – Gregor Božič (Slovenia)
Special Mentions
You, River – Izabela Zubrycka (Poland)
Inventory – Ivan Marković (Serbia)

Teen Jury Award

Best Film
Where the Kids Have No Name - Jamillah van der Hulst (Netherlands/Bangladesh)

Beldocs Pitching Forum

Film Centre of Montenegro Award
My Name Is Enough - Marina Arzumanova, Ani Grigoryan (Armenia)
Producer: Ani Ordyan (Order Film Production)

Al Jazeera Balkans Award
Sentence from Birth – Diana Vlas, Daniela Miron (Moldova)
Producer: Daniela Miron (Ciresica Miron)

Forgrade Post-production Award
No Offence – Lucija Marčec (Croatia)
Producer: Ida Barac (Zagreb Academy of Dramatic Arts)

East Silver Caravan Award
In Passing - Gailė Garnelytė (Lithuania)
Producer: Akvilė Žilionytė-Khan (Artišokai)

Thessaloniki Documentary Film Festival Networking Award
The Touch – Dragan Jovićević (Serbia)
Producer: Vesna Grba (Greifer)

DAE – Documentary Association of Europe Talent Encouragement Award
Granddaughter – Afag Yusifli (Azerbaijan)
Producer: Murad Allahverdi (Buta Film)

Impronta Films Consultancy Award
The Touch – Dragan Jovićević

Ji.hlava New Visions Market Award
No Offence – Lucija Marčec

FIFDH Impact Award
Between Two Worlds - Ana Gurdiș, Doy-Romanta Dochitan (Moldova)
Producer: Maxim Cârlan (The MOLDOX Association)

MajorDocs Talent Award
Echoes - Anna Dziapshipa (Georgia)
Producer: Anna Dziapshipa (Sakdoc Film)

Dok Leipzig XR Award
The Ripple Effect - Ani Mardoyan (Armenia)