At the 2026 edition of When East Meets West (WEMW) in Trieste, the Co-Production Forum once again confirmed its role as a key meeting point for emerging and established filmmakers from Europe and beyond (see the news). With a selection spanning politically engaged documentaries, dystopian fiction and socially grounded dramas, the platform showcased projects firmly anchored in contemporary realities while eyeing wide international circulation.

This year’s jury – composed of Katharina Boendel (Shellac), Daniela Persico (Locarno Film Festival), Sonja Prosenc (MONOO) and Marija Razgutė (M-Films) – awarded a number of prizes to projects that demonstrated a clear artistic vision alongside strong production strategies and cross-border appeal. In addition, several independent awards and residencies were granted through WEMW’s network of industry partners.

Below, we take a closer look at some of the main award-winning projects.

Film Center Serbia Award (€5,000) / Taskovski #DocsConnect Award
Going Underground – Armands Začs (Latvia/Estonia/Finland)
Producers: Gints Grūbe, Dārta Vijgrieze (Mistrus Media), Allfilm, Making Movies
Going Underground explores how rising geopolitical tension on NATO’s eastern frontier quietly permeates everyday life. Set against the backdrop of Russia’s ongoing war in Ukraine, the film follows Veronika, a young Latvian civil defence architect tasked with inspecting underground bomb shelters in preparation for a potential military conflict. What begins as a professional assignment gradually becomes a psychological journey, as the physical spaces she encounters start to mirror her growing anxiety and exhaustion.

Conceived as a character-driven documentary, the project aims to blend intimate observation with a broader geopolitical perspective. Through Veronika’s work, the film plans to move across Latvia, Finland, Estonia, Switzerland and Norway, encountering individuals who respond to the same sense of looming threat in markedly different ways. Začs is an established editor whose work has screened at Karlovy Vary, Sheffield Doc/Fest and Tallinn Black Nights. His most recent documentary, co-directed by Ivars Seleckis, To Be Continued. Teenhood [+leggi anche:
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scheda film], premiered at IDFA in 2024, and his first feature-length drama, Youth Eternal, premiered last year.

Produced by Latvian outfit Mistrus Media, known for internationally acclaimed co-productions such as Natural Light [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Dénes Nagy
scheda film] and Maria’s Silence [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Dāvis Sīmanis
scheda film], the project is currently at the financing stage. The team is seeking additional co-producers, financing partners, sales representation and festival support.

The Last Dog on Earth by Nina Kopko

Ciclic WEMW Award (€5,000) / EWA Network Award for Equality & Inclusion / Pop Up Film Residency Award
The Last Dog on Earth – Nina Kopko (Brazil)
Producer: Leticia Friedrich (Vitrine Filmes, Boulevard Filmes)
Set in a near-future São Paulo, where domestic mammals have been eradicated after a virus turned them into lethal carriers, The Last Dog on Earth follows Luana, a weary rideshare driver who is one fare away from being able to afford her planned assisted suicide. Her final passenger, however, leaves her with an unexpected responsibility: a living dog named Laika, an animal believed to be extinct. The encounter disrupts Luana’s carefully planned exit and forces her into a night-long journey through a city shaped by exhaustion, isolation and quiet despair.

Blending dystopian speculation with grounded social realism, the project approaches its science-fiction premise not as spectacle, but as an extension of contemporary anxieties around loneliness, care and the erosion of empathy. In her debut, Kopko, whose background spans directing, casting and acting coaching, draws on personal experience to construct an intimate character study. Kopko conceives the film as an intimate road narrative, where companionship becomes a fragile form of resistance, rather than a redemptive arc. Humour is intended to coexist with emotional gravity, allowing moments of tenderness to emerge within an otherwise bleak social landscape.

Produced by Vitrine Filmes, a key player in Brazilian independent cinema, boasting an extensive international track record (Bacurau [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Kleber Mendonça Filho, Jul…
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scheda film], The Secret Agent [+leggi anche:
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scheda film]), the project is currently in early financing. The team is seeking international co-producers, additional financing and sales representation.

What Kind of People Are You by Lina Lužytė

GoGo2025 Residency Award
What Kind of People Are You – Lina Lužytė (Lithuania/Estonia)
Producers: Dagne Vildžiūnaitė (Just A Moment), Johanna Maria Tamm (Stellar Film)
In What Kind of People Are You, a seemingly minor traffic incident involving a 75-year-old woman escalates into a chilling exercise in social coercion and psychological abuse. After Ona narrowly avoids being hit by a speeding car, the wealthy driver, Giedrius, pressures her into paying for damages she cannot afford, exploiting her vulnerability and social invisibility. What begins as a dispute over a side-view mirror gradually reveals itself as a broader portrait of everyday class violence.

The project is conceived with a rigorously restrained visual approach, favouring static compositions, frontal framing and carefully constructed silences. Lužytė (Together For Ever [+leggi anche:
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scheda film], Jōhatsu [+leggi anche:
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scheda film]) plans to combine an austere aesthetic with a dark, awkward sense of humour, allowing banality and repetition to expose underlying moral tensions.

Developed by Vilnius-based company Just A Moment, in co-production with Estonia’s Stellar Film, the project builds on the producers’ experience in internationally orientated auteur cinema, with previous titles presented at festivals such as IFFR, Visions du Réel, Hot Docs and Tallinn Black Nights. What Kind of People Are You is currently at the financing stage, and is seeking additional international co-producers, financial partners and a sales agent.