The 21st edition of the Crossing Europe Filmfestival Linz may have run until Sunday 5 May, but this year, the formal part came to a close one day earlier, on Saturday 4 May, with the award ceremony. 144 feature films, documentaries and short films from 41 countries were screened to local and international audiences. Among the works shown were world premieres as well as internationally acclaimed having their Austrian premiere.

Screenings eligible for awards took place across the four competition sections, namely the Fiction Competition, the Documentary Competition, the YAAAS! Competition and the Local Artists Competition. This year's special guest was the Dutch documentary filmmaker Aliona van der Horst, to whom a retrospective was dedicated. In terms of gender representation, about 47% of films were directed by women, 38% by men and 14% either by mixed-gender teams, non-binary, diverse directors or ones without gender definition. Crossing Europe also once again received the "GreenEvent Upper Austria" label. Furthermore, with 14,500 visitors, the level of the previous year was almost maintained, even though the supporting programme had been reduced and summery temperatures were prevalent, compared to last year’s rainy festival run.

Taking the top prize in the Fiction Competition was Stefanie Kolk’s Milk [+lee también:
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entrevista: Stefanie Kolk
ficha de la película]. The jury called it “moderate in its ambience, minimalist in style, sober in its presentation and plot and rather quiet throughout - this film touched us as if unconsciously”. It scooped up a €5,000 cash prize, provided by the Culture Department of Linz. The Human Hibernation [+lee también:
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entrevista: Anna Cornudella
ficha de la película] by Anna Cornudella Castro got a Special Mention. In the documentary department, Fairy Garden [+lee también:
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ficha de la película] by Gergő Somogyvári, a Hungarian-Romanian-Croatian co-production, won the top prize. Set against a backdrop of systemic violence and state oppression, it reminded the jury “that our common humanity will always outlast the social structures that fail us”. The award also came with a sum of € 5,000, provided by Gutenberg-Werbering and Crossing Europe.

The YAAAS! Competition, a section aimed at showing the realities of young Europeans, honoured the LGBTQ coming-of-age film Light Light Light [+lee también:
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ficha de la película] by Inari Niemi and gave a Special Mention to Rivière [+lee también:
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entrevista: Hugues Hariche
ficha de la película] by Hugues Hariche. The Local Artist Competition gave out two awards, namely a cash prize awarded by the culture department of Upper Austria worth €5,000, and a non-cash prize in the form of a € 2,000 voucher by The Grand Post - Post Production Houses. The former went to medium-length film Marlene by Daniel Kalkhofer, with a Special Mention for the short film In Their Dreams All Jellyfish Are Wet by Marie Luise Lehner, and the latter went to the short film The Electric Kiss by Rainer Kohlberger.

The MIOB New Vision Award for the first or second feature went to Marija Kavtaradze’s Slow [+lee también:
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entrevista: Marija Kavtaradze
ficha de la película]. Last but not least, the audience got their say too and gave Ernst De Greer’s The Hypnosis [+lee también:
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entrevista: Asta Kamma August
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The awards:

Fiction Competition

Best Fiction Film
Milk [+lee también:
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entrevista: Stefanie Kolk
ficha de la película] - Stefanie Kolk (Netherlands)
Special Mention
The Human Hibernation [+lee también:
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entrevista: Anna Cornudella
ficha de la película] - Anna Cornudella Castro (Spain)

Audience Award - Best Fiction Film
The Hypnosis [+lee también:
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entrevista: Asta Kamma August
entrevista: Ernst De Geer
ficha de la película] - Ernst De Geer (Sweden/Norway/France)

Documentary Competition

Social Awareness Award - Best Documentary
Fairy Garden [+lee también:
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YAAAS! Competition

YAAAS! Youth Jury
Light Light Light [+lee también:
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ficha de la película] - Inari Niemi (Finland)
Special Mention
Rivière [+lee también:
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entrevista: Hugues Hariche
ficha de la película] - Hugues Hariche (Switzerland/France)

Local Artists Competition

Local Artists Award (cash prize)
Marlene - Daniel Kalkhofer (Austria) (medium-length film)
Special Mention
In Their Dreams All Jellyfish Are Wet - Marie Luise Lehner (Austria) (short film)

Local Artists Award (non-cash prize)
The Electric Kiss - Rainer Kohlberger (Austria/Germany) (short film)

Innovation Award
Laute Stille - Lisa Bayr, Lukas Brandstetter, Katharina Arbeithuber (Austria) (short film)

Other awards

Creative Region Music Video Award
Don't Worry (Franz Pop Collective) - Gloria Gammer (Austria)

MIOB New Vision Award
Slow [+lee también:
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entrevista: Marija Kavtaradze
ficha de la película] - Marija Kavtaradze (Lithuania/Spain/Sweden)