01/09/2025 - Eleven films from the Balkan countries were screened in the festival’s competition; Little Trouble Girls, How Come It's All Green Out Here? and Otter also won prizes

Georgi M Unkovski’s DJ Ahmet [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Georgi M Unkovski
film profile], a co-production between North Macedonia, the Czech Republic, Serbia and Croatia, has won the Grand Prix at the 38th Herceg Novi Film Festival (23-29 August). The jury presided over by playwright and screenwriter Predrag Perišić, and consisting of Serbian actress Nataša Ninković, Montenegrin film critic Maja Bogojević, Turkish film professional Esra Demirkiran and Bosnian director Gorčin Stojanović, praised the film for “its prowess in bringing new vitality and emotion to the coming-of-age narrative”.

Slovenian director Urška Djukić’s debut feature, Little Trouble Girls [+see also:
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interview: Urška Djukić
film profile] (Slovenia/Italy/Croatia/Serbia), won the FEDEORA Award. The jury, consisting of Czech-British film scholar and cultural historian Natascha Drubek-Meyer, Montenegrin film critic Stojan Stamenić and Cineuropa's own Ştefan Dobroiu, hailed the film as “a tender, deeply human coming-of-age story that reminds us that nothing in life is ever definitive, and that we remain works in progress at every age. We were moved by the performances, the exquisite economy of the screenplay and, indeed, by everything else – above all, the film’s most powerful message: that no one has the right to silence one’s voice.”

Nikola Ležaić's How Come It's All Green Out Here? [+see also:
film review
interview: Nikola Ležaić
film profile] (Serbia/Croatia/Bulgaria) won the Best Directing Award, while Stefan Bošković received the Best Screenplay Award for Srđan Vuletić's Otter [+see also:
film review
interview: Srđan Vuletić
film profile] (Montenegro/Italy/Croatia/Bosnia and Herzegovina/Kosovo). The acting awards went to Serbian thesp Andrija Kuzmanović for Vladimir Tagić's Yugo Florida [+see also:
film review
interview: Vladimir Tagić
film profile] (Serbia/Bulgaria/France/Croatia/Montenegro) and to Slovenian actresses Anica Dobra and Lea Cok from Marko Naberšnik's Whites Wash at Ninety [+see also:
film review
film profile] (Slovenia/Serbia/Croatia/Italy/Montenegro/North Macedonia).

An emotional moment at the gala occurred after the announcement of the Best Documentary Award, which went to Rehab Nazzal’s short doc Vibrations from Gaza. Both the director, in a recorded message, and the Palestinian ambassador in Montenegro, Rabii Al Hantouli, who came to pick up the award in person, urged the global audience to react against the Israeli genocide in Gaza.

The complete list of award winners is below:

Best Film
DJ Ahmet [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Georgi M Unkovski
film profile] - Georgi M Unkovski (North Macedonia/Czech Republic/Serbia/Croatia)

Best Director
Nikola Ležaić - How Come It's All Green Out Here? [+see also:
film review
interview: Nikola Ležaić
film profile] (Serbia/Croatia/Bulgaria)

Best Screenplay
Stefan Bošković - Otter [+see also:
film review
interview: Srđan Vuletić
film profile] (Montenegro/Bosnia and Herzegovina/Italy/Croatia/Kosovo)

Best Actor
Andrija Kuzmanović - Yugo Florida [+see also:
film review
interview: Vladimir Tagić
film profile] (Serbia/Montenegro/Bulgaria/Croatia)

Best Actress (ex aequo)
Anica Dobra, Lea Cok - Whites Wash at Ninety [+see also:
film review
film profile] (Slovenia/Serbia/Croatia/Italy/Montenegro/North Macedonia)

Special Jury Award
15 and a Half - Mišo Obradović (Montenegro)

Živko Nikolić Award for Special Contribution to Filmmaking
Wondrous Is the Silence of My Master [+see also:
film review
interview: Ivan Salatić
film profile] - Ivan Salatić (Montenegro/Italy/France/Croatia/Serbia)

Zoran Živković Award for Best Production
Tower of Strength [+see also:
film review
film profile] - Nikola Vukčević (Montenegro/Serbia/Croatia/Germany)

FEDEORA Award
Little Trouble Girls [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Urška Djukić
film profile] - Urška Djukić (Slovenia/Italy/Croatia/Serbia)

Best Documentary
Vibrations from Gaza – Rehab Nazzal (Palestine, short film)

Special Documentary Award
Autobiography of My Diabetes – Matthew Lancit (France/Canada, short film)
Lovely Duet – Azar Mehrabi (Iran, short film)

Best Student Film
Good Luck, Sara! – Isidora Ratković (Bosnia and Herzegovina, short film)