As specified in its press release, the 40th edition of the Fribourg International Film Festival (FIFF) is wrapping with "new record attendance figures and over sixty packed out cinemas". The Fribourg Cinema Award was also introduced this year, rewarding filmmaking careers and winging its way to Tunisian director Kaouther Ben Hania on this occasion.

In terms of the winning movies, Divine Comedy by Iranian director Ali Asgari climbed to the highest step of the podium, walking away with the Grand Prize, while Akinola Davies Junior’s Nigerian work, My Father’s Shadow, bagged the Special Jury Award. With courage and great finesse, the former conveys the contradictions and insanity of bureaucracy and censorship in the director’s home country, Iran. The latter – a touching and uncompromising movie - might be described as a semi-autobiographical tale unfolding over the space of a day in Lagos.

On the subject of Divine Comedy, the International Feature Film Jury, composed of Argentine filmmaker Manuel Abramovich, Kenyan screenwriter Milcah Cherotich and Lebanese director and video-maker Ahmad Ghossein, stressed "the pertinence of this film, which has been banned by the Iranian Ministry of Culture, in a geopolitical context where repression and the erosion of civil liberties is worsening". The jury further added that "this film reminds us that artists must continue to create, express their malaise and resist". Regarding My Father’s Shadow, the jury was particularly moved by the film’s "genuine, understated emotion, which conveys grief, love and memory with extraordinary sensitivity".

Honeymoon by Ukrainian director Zhanna Ozima was the only film to win two awards, scooping the Critics’ Choice and Youth Jury trophies. The Critics’ Jury particularly admired "the decision to shoot on the ground in Ukraine and to use film as an expression of presence and engagement.

The Ecumenical Jury Award chose to single out a Chinese film which triumphed in Venice last year, The Sun Rises on Us All by Cai Shangjun, which dazzles for its "accuracy" and "sobriety". Last but not least, the Audience Award was won by Georgi M Unkovski’s DJ Ahmet.

In terms of short films, the Best International Short Film Award went to the Iranian film Prehistoric by Amin Eternadi, while Serbian director Stefan Ivančič nabbed the CH Cinema Network Award for his movie Upon Sunrise and Ukrainian director Mykola Zasieviev won the Seniors’ Jury over with Easter Day.

Swiss cinema was also placed centre stage, mainly by way of the line-up of short films hailing from five Swiss film schools, which were screened in the Swiss Passport section. The short films rewarded by the Foreign Visa Jury, which focuses on directors from Colombia selected in the New Territories line-up, are Recherche personne prête à tout contre somme considérable by Maéna Hirt (Foreign Visa Award), Eggshells by Beth Barnes (Special Emerging Talent Award) and Warten bis zum Ruck by Fynn Gröber (Röstigraben Prize).

The full list of winners is as follows:

International Feature Film Competition

Grand Prize
Divine Comedy - Ali Asgari (Iran/Italy/France/Germany/Turkey)

Special Jury Award
My Father’s Shadow - Akinola Davies Jr (UK/Ireland/Nigeria)

Audience Award
DJ Ahmet - Georgi M Unkovski (North Macedonia/Czech Republic/Serbia/Croatia)

Ecumenical Jury Award
The Sun Rises on Us All - Cai Shangjun (China)

Youth Jury Award
Honeymoon - Zhanna Ozirna (Ukraine)

Critics’ Choice Award
Honeymoon - Zhanna Ozirna

International Short Film Competition

Best International Short Film Award
Prehistoric - Armin Etemadi (Iran)

CH Cinema Network Award
Upon Sunrise - Stefan Ivančić (Serbia/Spain/Slovenia/Croatia)

Seniors’ Jury Award
Easter Day - Mykola Zasieiev (Ukraine/France)

Swiss Passport

Foreign Visa Award
Recherche personne prête à tout contre somme considérable - Maéna Hirt (Switzerland)

Special Emerging Talent Award
Eggshells - Beth Barnes (Switzerland)

Röstigraben Prize
Warten bis zum Ruck - Fynn Gröber (Switzerland)