07/11/2025 - Birgitte Stærmose’s movie scooped the biggest prize of the festival while Teona Strugar Mitevska won Best Director for Mother and the Cineuropa Prize went to Dwelling Among the Gods

Afterwar [+see also:
film review
interview: Birgitte Stærmose
film profile] by Birgitte Stærmose was named Best Film at the eighth edition of the Euro Balkan Film Festival in Rome, an event celebrating films from the Balkans and co-productions with Western Europe, which is headed up by former ambassador Mario Bova (read our interview) and which wrapped with an awards ceremony last night in Troisi Cinema. At the end of a week packed full of screenings (with films from 12 Balkan countries and 6 Italian-Balkan co-productions), meetings, workshops and huge guests, including Emir Kusturica and Radu Jude, the jury led by writer Tahar Ben Jelloun decided to single out the Danish filmmaker’s movie, describing it as “an extraordinary example of cinema which gets under the skin and inside the bodies of human beings, filmed 15 years on - shortly after the war in Kosovo and then again in the present day - in order to depict on screen the ability to testify and to stand strong”.

The title of Best Director went to Macedonia’s Teona Strugar Mitevska for her movie about Mother Teresa, Mother [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Teona Strugar Mitevska
film profile], in which “the particular medium of the biopic morphs into an epic story about motherhood” where the protagonist “devotes herself to the incredibly human vocation of charity, understood as light - first and foremost cinematographic, in this instance - and which is of clear artistic and moral value”.

The acting trophies were claimed by Romania’s Adrian Vancică for his part in The New Year That Never Came [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Bogdan Mureşanu
film profile] by Bogdan Mureşanu (“Through subtle gestures and contained intensity, he captures the fear, love and moral courage of everyday people living under a dictatorship […] His presence lends the film truth, empathy and rare authenticity”) and Afghan-Iranian actress Fereshteh Hosseini, the intense protagonist of Dwelling Among the Gods [+see also:
film review
interview: Vuk Ršumović and Fereshteh …
film profile] by Vuk Ršumović (“Through her portrayal of a refugee woman dealing with loss, Hosseini reveals the silent power of perseverance and the profound beauty of resilience. Every gesture and every look bears the burden of survival and a desire for dignity”).

Dwelling Among the Gods also walked away with the Cineuropa Prize, “for depicting the courage of a woman fleeing war and her determination to help a brother who died while seeking out a better life, to recover his dignity; for creating a complex and layered character, wrestling with doubts, anxieties and difficulties in the face of dehumanising bureaucracy; and for emphasising, despite everything, the value of connection and understanding between human beings, extending beyond borders”. Fereshteh Hosseini also earned a Special Mention for Best Actor/Actress from the Youth Jury.

The award for Best Italian-Balkan co-production went to production company Disparte for Pavel G Vesnakov’s Windless [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Pavel G Vesnakov
film profile] (“This young Italian firm stood out for its ability to support its Bulgarian partner, ensuring editorial solidity and European visibility for a work which reflects upon the themes of memory, return and transformation with sensitivity and formal precision”). The Bulgarian director’s film also nabbed a Special Mention for Best Photography from the Youth Jury. Composed of 18 boys and girls, the latter named The New Year That Never Came as Best Film and awarded Best Director to Little Trouble Girls [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Urška Djukić
film profile] by Urška Djukić.

Last but not least, Fiume o morte! [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Igor Bezinović scooped the Young Perspective Feature Film Prize, courtesy of the RadUni University Radio Jury.

The full list of awards:

Best Film
Afterwar [+see also:
film review
interview: Birgitte Stærmose
film profile] - Birgitte Stærmose (Denmark/Kosovo/Sweden/Finland)

Best Director
Teona Strugar Mitevska - Mother [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Teona Strugar Mitevska
film profile] (Belgium/North Macedonia/Sweden/Denmark/Bosnia-Herzegovina/India)

Best Actor
Adrian Vancică - The New Year That Never Came [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Bogdan Mureşanu
film profile] (Romania/Serbia)

Best Actress
Fereshteh Hosseini – Dwelling Among the Gods [+see also:
film review
interview: Vuk Ršumović and Fereshteh …
film profile] (Serbia/Italy/Croatia)

Other awards

Cineuropa Prize
Dwelling Among the Gods - Vuk Ršumović

Best Italian-Balkan Co-Production
Windless [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Pavel G Vesnakov
film profile] - Pavel G Vesnakov (Bulgaria/Italy)

Youth Jury Prizes - Feature Films

Best Film
The New Year That Never Came - Bogdan Muresanu

Best Director
Urška Djukić – Little Trouble Girls [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Urška Djukić
film profile] (Slovenia/Italy/Croatia/Serbia)

Special Mention for Best Actor/Actress
Fereshteh Hosseini – Dwelling Among the Gods

Special Mention for Best Photography
Windless - Pavel G Vesnakov

Youth Jury Film Critics Awards – Short Films

Best Short
Balkan, Baby - Boris Gavrilović

Best Director
Majonezë - Giulia Grandinetti

First Special Mention
Strangers in the Night - Vangelis Chatzopoulos (Iceland/Albania)

Second Special Mention
Eraserhead in a Knitted Shopping Bag - Lili Koss

Special awards

Young Perspective Award – Feature Films
Fiume o morte! [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] - Igor Bezinović (Croatia/Italy/Slovenia)
Mention
Little Trouble Girls - Urška Djukić

Best Score
The New Year That Never Came - Bogdan Mureşanu
Mention
Mother - Teona Strugar Mitevska

Young Perspective Award – Short Films
Eraserhead in a Knitted Shopping Bag - Lili Koss (Bulgaria)
Mention
Unspoken - Damian Walshe-Howling (Australia)

Best Score – Short Films
Balkan, Baby - Boris Gavrilović (Germany)
Special Mention
Majonezë - Giulia Grandinetti (Italy)

(Translated from Italian)