Organised by the non-profit organisation People in Peril, the 26th annual One World Slovakia International Documentary Film Festival (Jeden Svet), taking place from 21-26 October, has drawn to a close at Kino Lumiere in Bratislava, with the winners crowed during a ceremony. Festival director Eva Križková highlighted the event’s success despite the lack of funding from the Slovak Audiovisual Fund, owing to support and contributions from partners, experts and artists involved with the festival.

Martin Trabalík’s What About Petey? took home the festival’s Slovakia and Czechia for Human Rights Award in a competition of six films focused on a range of sociopolitical topics, including displacement due to conflict, grassroots community movements, ecological protection and more. The film centres on a widower father, Petr Jochec, who quit his job to care for his two teenage children, one of whom is the titular Petey, who has non-speaking autism. Despite the bureaucratic and personal challenges he faces, such as a frequent inability to understand much of his son’s idiosyncratic behaviour, he pushes forwards with love and care. The film premiered last March at the Thessaloniki International Documentary Film Festival.

The competition jury for this section consisted of Polish film critic and writer Jakub Socha, Czech photojournalist and documentary filmmaker Jarmila Štuková – who won the category last year for Is There Any Place for Me, Please? – and Cineuropa’s own Olivia Popp. In their statement on the winner, the jury praised the film’s ability to provide a “close look at the complexity of caretaking without a patronising gaze”.

The Slovakia and Czechia for Human Rights Special Mention went to Million Moments by Amálie Kovářová for evoking the spirit of Václav Havel and the Velvet Revolution, "reminding us that the fight for democracy never ends”. The film joins founders Mikuláš Minář and Benjamin Roll to reflect on the origins of the Milion chvilek pro demokracii (lit. "Million Moments for Democracy") movement, which initiated mass protests against Czech prime minister Andrej Babiš and his government. Million Moments also collected the DAFilms.sk Award, with the statement calling the film an "antidote against social lethargy".

The European Glitch jury comprising Slovak animation director and producer Ivana Laučíková, One World Prague head of programme Tomáš Poštulka and Home Game [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Lidija Zelovic
scheda film] director Lidija Zelovic selected Ketevan Vashagashvili’s 9-Month Contract [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] as the inaugural winner of the section. The new European Glitch competition aims to uplift films bringing a new perspective and creating a productive disruption in European identity and European documentary film. The jury called attention to the touching mother-daughter relationship and the film's ability to capture the current political context both in Georgia and in Europe more broadly with its subject of commercial surrogacy in Tbilisi.

Until 2 November, viewers in Slovakia are able to use the Cinepass platform to watch eight of the films from the festival’s overall programme, including the winners of the Slovakia and Czechia for Human Rights competition and the European Glitch competition.

Here is the full list of award winners:

Slovakia and Czechia for Human Rights Award
What About Petey? – Martin Trabalík (Czech Republic/Slovakia)
Special Mention
Million Moments – Amálie Kovářová (Czech Republic)

European Glitch Award
9-Month Contract [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] – Ketevan Vashagashvili (Georgia/Bulgaria/Germany)

DAFilms.sk Award
Million Moments – Amálie Kovářová

Another Gaze Award (student jury)
Militantropos [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Yelizaveta Smith, Alina Go…
scheda film] – Alina Gorlova, Simon Mozgovyi, Yelizaveta Smith (Ukraine/Austria/France)

Elena Lacková Award
Lucia Nogová and Mária Brdárska