Fantasy [+lee también:
crítica
tráiler
entrevista: Kukla
ficha de la película] by Slovenia’s Kukla is the winner of the Best Feature Film trophy, courtesy of the 37th edition of the Trieste Film Festival, Italy’s foremost event dedicated to Central and Eastern European cinema. The Slovenian filmmaker’s fiction feature film debut (partly shot in Trieste) charts the self-discovery of three rebellious young women caught between love and desire, sparked by their encounter with a transgender woman. The €5,000 prize was awarded by a jury composed of Rebecca De Pas, Reta Guetg and Mariette Rissenbeek who described Fantasy as: “A film that intertwines reality and fantasy with lightness and verve, telling a story that transports the audience. It employs precision, respect and empathy to explore the challenges involved in being a young woman in a deeply traditional environment.”

The Cineuropa Award also went to Fantasy, “for the delicate way in which the film depicts the passage from adolescence to adulthood, raising questions about dreams, friendship, love and intergenerational relationships, whilst presenting a Balkan mosaic of languages, religions and cultures in a modern yet nostalgic manner. For its bubbling, nonconformist and melancholic electronic score, which bolsters the film’s aesthetic sensibility. For the dreamlike cinematography accompanying the film with mysterious lights, fleeting framings, Orphic nights, gigantic moons and mystical golden birds. For the esoteric, libertarian thread intertwining death as a passage and gender transition. For the architectural locations presented as vivid characters in their own right.”

The jury also chose to award a Best Director Special Mention to Lithuania’s Vytautas Katkus for The Visitor [+lee también:
crítica
tráiler
entrevista: Vytautas Katkus
entrevista: Vytautas Katkus
ficha de la película].

The Alpe Adria Cinema Award for Best Documentary in Competition, meanwhile, went to Welded Together [+lee también:
crítica
ficha de la película] by Anastasija Mirošničenko, “a true cinematic masterclass telling a story stranger than fiction and populated by characters of extraordinary strength and presence”, as the jury enthused in their statement.

The panel also bestowed a Special Mention on Yulia Lokshina’s German film, Active Vocabulary [+lee también:
crítica
ficha de la película], which “tackles a wide range of themes - personal, anecdotal, social and universal – which might seem disconnected at first glance, but which come together to paint a portrait of Russia as a persistently totalitarian state, where those in power ignore the well-being of others”.

The TSFF Shorts Award, for its part, went to The Spectacle by Hungarian director Bálint Kenyeres, while Marian Fărcuț’s Romanian movie The Road Home received a Special Mention.

Audience awards for films presented in competition went to the Polish title Brother [+lee también:
crítica
ficha de la película] by Maciej Sobieszczański in the fiction feature category, to Militantropos [+lee también:
crítica
entrevista: Yelizaveta Smith, Alina Go…
ficha de la película] by Ukraine’s Tabor Collective, composed of Yelizaveta Smith, Alina Gorlova and Simon Mozgovyi, as Best Documentary, and to the Austrian production Found&Lost by Iranian director Reza Rasouli for Best Short Film.

The full list of awards is as follows:

Fiction Feature Film Competition

Trieste Award for Best Feature Film
Fantasy [+lee también:
crítica
tráiler
entrevista: Kukla
ficha de la película] – Kukla (Slovenia/North Macedonia)

Special Mention
The Visitor [+lee también:
crítica
tráiler
entrevista: Vytautas Katkus
entrevista: Vytautas Katkus
ficha de la película] - Vytautas Katkus (Lithuania/Norway/Sweden)

Documentary Feature Competition

Alpe Adria Cinema - Opificio Neirami Award
Welded Together [+lee también:
crítica
ficha de la película] - Anastasija Mirošničenko (France/Belgium)

Special Mention
Active Vocabulary [+lee también:
crítica
ficha de la película] - Yulia Lokshina (Germany)

Short Film Competition

TSFF Shorts Award - Fondazione Osiride Brovedani
The Spectacle - Bálint Kenyeres (Hungary/France)

Special Mention
The Road Home - Marian Fărcuț (Romania)

Other awards

Cineuropa Award
Fantasy – Kukla

Audience Awards
Best Fiction Feature
Brother [+lee también:
crítica
ficha de la película] - Maciej Sobieszczański (Poland)
Best Documentary Feature
Militantropos [+lee también:
crítica
entrevista: Yelizaveta Smith, Alina Go…
ficha de la película] - Yelizaveta Smith, Alina Gorlova, Simon Mozgovyi -Tabor Collective (Ukraine/Austria/France)
Best Short Film
Found&Lost - Reza Rasouli (Austria)

CEI (Central European Initiative) Award
Electing Ms Santa - Raisa Răzmeriță (Moldova)

Corso Salani Award
In the Penal Colony [+lee también:
crítica
ficha de la película] - Gaetano Crivaro, Alberto Diana, Silvia Perra, Ferruccio Goia (Italy)

Eastern Star Award
Ildikó Enyedi

2026 Cinema Warrior Award
U Cinemittu

In direzione Donna - G.O.A.P. Trieste Anti-Violence Centre
White Lies [+lee también:
crítica
ficha de la película] - Alba Zari (Italy/Belgium)

Osservatorio Balcani e Caucaso Transeuropa Award for Best Documentary
The Kartli Kingdom [+lee también:
crítica
entrevista: Tamar Kalandadze y Julien …
ficha de la película] - Tamar Kalandadze, Julien Pebrel (Georgia/France/Qatar)

PAG (Municipality of Trieste Youth Project) Youth Jury Award
Coldness - Lena Jaworska (Poland - short film)

Oubliette Magazine Award
White Lies - Alba Zari

SNCCI Critics’ Award for Best Film
One Battle After Another - Paul Thomas Anderson (USA)

SNCCI Award for Best Italian Film
The Last One for the Road [+lee también:
crítica
tráiler
entrevista: Francesco Sossai
ficha de la película] - Francesco Sossai (Italy/Germany)