A Sad and Beautiful World triumphs at the 36th Tromsø International Film Festival
by Olivia Popp
- Other feature-length prizewinners of the evening included Broken Voices, Little Trouble Girls, It Was Just an Accident and The Ground Beneath Our Feet
A glistening snowy Saturday evening was the setting for the closing ceremony of the 36th Tromsø International Film Festival, hosted by Norwegian actor and festival board member Sigurd Lakseide. While the ceremony rounded off over six full days of screenings, talks, special events – including the gathering’s iconic Silent Film Concerts and inaugural Culinary Cinema programme – and industry sidebars, encore screenings continue over the next few days.
The festival’s main award, the Aurora Prize, went to A Sad and Beautiful World [+see also:
film review
interview: Cyril Aris
film profile] by Cyril Aris, as selected by a jury composed of director-producer Eliza Hittmann (USA), filmmaker Johannes Vang (Norway) and Gaia Furrer, producer and artistic director of the Venice Film Festival’s Giornate degli Autori. All 12 films in Tromsø’s main competition, ten of which were European co-productions, enjoyed their Norwegian premiere at the Arctic festival.
Following two childhood sweethearts who meet later in life in the midst of renewed political turmoil and physical conflict, Aris’s film was Lebanon’s Oscars submission for 2025 and originally premiered in the Giornate degli Autori in 2025. The awards statement praised the film, which “captured the jury’s hearts”, and spoke to love and emotions against the “backdrop of uncertain and unpredictable futures”. This award includes a cash prize of €5,000 for Aris.
The FIPRESCI Prize went to Ondřej Provazník’s Broken Voices [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Ondřej Provazník
film profile], which premiered at Karlovy Vary in 2025 and is inspired by a real-life case surrounding abuse of power over a choir made up of girls. This year’s jury consisted of Ida Madsen Hestman (Norway), Sarah-Louise Pelletier-Morin (Canada/Québec) and Tadeusz Szczepański (Poland), who highlighted its “strong performances and striking 16 mm cinematography”.
The Norwegian Peace Film Award, presented in collaboration with the Centre for Peace Studies at UiT The Arctic University of Norway and the Student Network for Peace, went to Jafar Panahi’s It Was Just an Accident [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Jafar Panahi
film profile]. The jury of the award highlighted Panahi’s reflection “on the profound moral dilemma between revenge and forgiveness”, and his shrewd use of humour to interrogate its complex themes.
Two Tromsø Palm prizes, one for a feature and one for a short under 60 minutes, went to works in the festival’s main sidebar, Films from the North. The Best Feature Film Award and a prize of €5,000 went to Yrsa Roca Fannberg’s The Ground Beneath Our Feet [+see also:
trailer
film profile], a moving Icelandic-language documentary that world-premiered at CPH:DOX and follows life in a Reykjavík retirement home. The Tromsø Palm short-film winner was Johannes Vang – mentioned previously as a juror for the Aurora Prize this year – for his film Borderline, receiving €5,000 awarded by the film centres of the Barents Region.
The Faith in Film Award went to Urška Djukić’s Slovenian Oscars entry Little Trouble Girls [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Urška Djukić
film profile], with a Special Mention going to Hafsia Herzi’s The Little Sister [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Hafsia Herzi
film profile]. This unique award highlights films “that invite reflection on religion, belief and spirituality while maintaining high artistic quality” and comes in the form of an icon painted at the Carmelite Monastery in Tromsø. Both films reflect on a young woman on the cusp of adulthood, raised in a traditional environment while experiencing simultaneous fluctuations in her faith and sexual identity. The former is set in a Catholic environment in Slovenia, the latter in the context of a diasporic Algerian Muslim household in France.
Here is the full list of award winners:
Aurora Prize – Best Film
A Sad and Beautiful World [+see also:
film review
interview: Cyril Aris
film profile] – Cyril Aris (Lebanon/USA/Germany/Saudi Arabia/Qatar)
FIPRESCI Prize
Broken Voices [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Ondřej Provazník
film profile] – Ondřej Provazník (Czech Republic/Slovakia)
Norwegian Peace Film Award
It Was Just an Accident [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Jafar Panahi
film profile] – Jafar Panahi (France/Luxembourg/Iran)
Films from the North – Tromsø Palm for Best Short Film
Borderline – Johannes Vang (Norway/Finland/Sweden)
Films from the North – Tromsø Palm for Best Feature Film
The Ground Beneath Our Feet [+see also:
trailer
film profile] – Yrsa Roca Fannberg (Iceland/Poland)
Faith in Film Award
Little Trouble Girls [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Urška Djukić
film profile] – Urška Djukić (Slovenia/Italy/Croatia/Serbia)
Faith in Film Special Mention
The Little Sister [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Hafsia Herzi
film profile] – Hafsia Herzi (France/Germany)
Arctic Film – Young Directors Award
Woolgod / Ullguden – Sirin Sponga (Norway/Sweden, short film)
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