The feature film debut of the Slovenian director (shot, in part, in Trieste) tells the story of the self-discovery, between love and desire, of three rebellious young girls, starting from their encounter with a transgender woman.
The Best Documentary Award goes to “Welded together” by Anastasiya Miroshnichenko, a raw story on family and reconstructing your own past. The winner of the Short Film Competition is “The Spectacle” by Bálint Kenyeres, a portrayal of a young Roma boy searching for his spark.
‘Fantasy’ by the Slovenian director Kukla is the winner of the Trieste Award for the best feature film at the 37th edition of the Trieste Film Festival. ‘Fantasy’ is the journey of 3 girls, barely in their 20s, which explores the complexities of genre, desire and self-discovery, all starting from an encounter with a transgender woman. The film was shot, in part, in Trieste’s own Rozzol Melara, a brutalist neighbourhood in the Eastern part of the city. The victory was announced during the closing awards ceremony (on Saturday 24th at the Rossetti Theatre), which marks the end of this year’s edition of the most important Italian event dedicated to Central and Eastern European cinema.
The Trieste Award (5,000 euros), appointed by the jury composed of Rebecca De Pas, Reta Guetg and Mariëtte Rissenbeek, was given to “FANTASY” (Slovenia, North Macedonia, 2025) with the following motivation:
A film that weaves reality and imagination with a sense of lightness and playfulness, and tells a story that carries the audience away. With precision, respect, and empathy, it explores the challenges of being a young woman in a deeply traditional environment.
The jury decided to award a special mention for best directing to Vytautas Katkus for “THE VISITOR” (Lithuania, Norway, Sweden, 2025): This film takes us on a cinematic journey back to where we come from. Its delicate pace gives us time to go through the experience of the protagonist and explore his questions on life.
Il Premio Trieste (euro 5.000) assegnato dalla giuria composta da Rebecca De Pas, Reta Guetg e Mariëtte Rissenbeek è stato assegnato a “FANTASY” (Slovenia, Macedonia del Nord, 2025) con la seguente motivazione: “Un film che intreccia realtà e fantasia con leggerezza e vivacità, che racconta una storia che trasporta il pubblico. Con accuratezza, rispetto ed empatia, esplora le sfide di essere una giovane donna in un ambiente profondamente tradizionale.”
The jury decided to award a special mention for best director to Vytautas Katkus for “THE VISITOR” (Lithuania, Norway, Sweden, 2025): “This film is a cinematic journey that takes us back to where we came from. Its gentle pace leaves us time to experience the protagonist’s experiences and explore his questions about life.”
Il Premio Alpe Adria Cinema al Miglior Documentario in concorso offerto dall’Opificio Neirami (euro 2.500), assegnato dalla giuria composta da Davide Abbatescianni, Vanja Jambrović e Marko Stojiljković, va a “WELDED TOGETHER” di Anastasija Mirošničenko (Francia, Belgio, 2025) con la seguente motivazione: ”The award goes to a true cinematic lectio, capable of telling a story stranger than fiction, inhabited by characters of extraordinary strength and presence. Through an observational documentary approach, and made independently without state funding, this film stands out as a unique, engaging and deeply moving work. With this film, Anastasiya Miroshnichenko establishes herself as a new voice to be followed closely in the future.”
The jury also awarded a special mention to “ACTIVE VOCABULARY” by Yulia Lokshina (Germany, 2025) with the following motivation: “Yulia Loshkina deals with a wide range of themes-personal, anecdotal, social and universal-that at first reading may seem disconnected from each other, but which together compose a portrait of Russia as a persistent totalitarian state, in which those in power ignore the welfare of others. The film-essay form allows the director to interweave these different levels, while the use of experimental techniques constantly keeps the viewer’s attention.”
The TSFF Corti Prize (2,000 euros) offered by the Osiris Brovedani Foundation and awarded by the jury composed of Silvia Carobbio, Oana Ghera and Eléna Laquatra goes to “THE SPECTACLE” by Bálint Kenyeres (Hungary, France, 2025) with the following motivation: “A silent miracle in an isolated Roma community opens a reflection on visibility and disbelief in a world where technology has broken the ontological link between image and reality. Inspired by the sense of magic proper to early cinema, the director does not explain the marvelous, but creates it, frame by frame. By laying bare the exceptional, the film reminds us that cinema can still make us believe. Seeing thus becomes a fragile act of caring for the lives that remain at the margins of the gaze.”
The jury awarded the special mention to “THE ROAD HOME” by Marian Fărcuț (Romania, 2025) with the following motivation: “Two solitudes meet and a bizarre odyssey through rural Transylvania takes shape, laying bare the contradictions of existence. While recounting specificities of the Hungarian minority in Romania, the film transcends its geographical and historical perimeter, transforming a local condition into a universal experience: that of those who live on the margins, suspended between identities, borders and silences.”
Among the films presented in competition, the Trieste Film Festival audience decreed winners of the Audience Awards:
Best Feature Film: BRAT / BROTHER, Maciej Sobieszczański (PL, 2025)
Best Documentary Film: MILITANTROPOS, Yelizaveta Smith, Alina Gorlova, Simon Mozgovyi (Tabor Collective / Collettivo Tabor) (UA – AT – F, 2025)
Best Short Film: FOUND&LOST, Reza Rasouli (AT, 2025)
Below, 37 other awards. Trieste Film Festival:
The CEI (Central European Initiative) Award, given to the film that best interprets contemporary reality and dialogue between cultures (€3,000) goes to “ELECTING MS SANTA” by Raisa Răzmeriță (Moldova, 2025) with motivation: “At once intimate and universal, Electing Ms Santa is an exciting exploration of identity, ambition, self-discovery and female empowerment. Set in rural Moldova, director Raisa Răzmeriță’s debut film is a testimony based on patient and prolonged observation, investigating the gender roles and humanity of everyday heroes committed to transforming their communities.”
The Corso Salani 2026 Prize (2,000 euros) awarded by the jury composed of Maurizio Di Rienzo, Renata Santoro and Giuditta Tarantelli to the best film of the section was given to “NELLA COLONIA PENALE” by Gaetano Crivaro, Alberto Diana, Silvia Perra, Ferruccio Goia (Italy, 2025) with these words: “For more than formal rigor in giving a sense of actuality to the tale of prison places legacies of the past where inmates work with land and animals, framed without dramatic forcing, indeed with moments of paradoxical irony. Remarkable impact of sound and photography.”
The Eastern Star Award 2026 recognizes a personality in the film world whose work has contributed, much like the Trieste Film Festival, to bridging Eastern and Western Europe. This edition honors Hungarian filmmaker Ildikó Enyedi, a guest of the festival. “Ildikó Enyedi is one of the most original voices in contemporary Hungarian cinema, and since her debut she has investigated the place of women in the world, combining science, history, art and feminism to take us on a journey to the dawn of modernism,” said Nicoletta Romeo, artistic director of the festival.
The Cinema Warrior 2026 Award was given to U Cinemittu, the smallest cinema in Italy: the award recognizes the persistence, sacrifice and madness of those “warriors” whether individuals, associations or festivals who work – or rather: fight – behind the scenes for Cinema.
In the Direction of Women (2,000 euros), the prize awarded by the G.O.A.P Anti-Violence Center of Trieste to a film that gives voice to women, transforms the gaze and reshapes the contemporary imagination (2,000 euros), goes to “WHITE LIES” by Alba Zari (Italy, Belgium, 2025) “For being able to recount intimate and personal experiences while leading the viewer, with a non-didactic cinematic language, to emotionally perceive the profound consequences of social judgment on women’s choices, whether they are oriented toward the assertion of their freedom or the desire to belong to a traditional family model. It is a story of acceptance and resilience, in which the saving grace is the gaze of a conscious, courageous and free woman. The film delicately and powerfully renders the nuances of relationships and emotional conflicts, recounting bonds between women that are painful but traversed by tenderness and deep love, and showing subtle and pervasive gender violence that is often invisible but faced daily by anti-violence centers.”
The Transeuropa Balkans and Caucasus Observatory Prize for the best documentary in competition was awarded to “THE KARTLI KINGDOM” by Tamar Kalandadze and Julien Pebrel (Georgia, France, Qatar, 2025) “Because by focusing on the story of a small community left to its own devices for 30 years, it turns into a denunciation of the increasingly authoritarian political regime that has made it invisible. Because, by interweaving memory and resistance, it reminds us that nationalism worships the heroes but forgets the survivors. Because it shows us that war remains within people and trauma resurfaces even in the face of others’ suffering. But mostly because, while it tells us the bitterness of those who live suspended in waiting, it reveals a story of hope and struggle and shows us how, even under conditions of marginalization, by building bonds of solidarity, it is possible to be happy. “
The Cineuropa Prize, awarded by a jury of Cineuropa, Europe’s first 4-language film and audiovisual portal, to the best feature film in competition goes to “FANTASY” by Kukla (Slovenia, North Macedonia, 2025), with these words: “For the delicate way in which the film depicts the transition from adolescence to adulthood, with questions concerning dreams, friendship, love, and intergenerational relationships, while presenting a Balkan mosaic of languages, religions, and cultures in a modern and nostalgic way. For the bubbling, offbeat, melancholy electronic music, which reinforces the aesthetic sense of the film. For the dreamlike cinematography, which accompanies the film with mysterious lights, fleeting shots, orphic nights, giant moons, mystical golden birds. For the esoteric and libertarian relationship that weaves death as passage and gender transition. For the architectural locations presented as vivid characters in their own right.”
The PAG Youth Jury Prize – Progetto Area Giovani del Comune di Trieste awarded by a jury of young people between the ages of 18 and 35 representing youth associations to the best short film in competition goes to “COLDNESS” by Lena Jaworska (Poland, 2025) “for its directorial and emotional maturity in dealing, with a careful gaze, with current social issues, and the cohesion between the creative and narrative plan.”
The Oubliette Magazine Award given by the editors to the best film in the Corso Salani Award was given to “WHITE LIES” by Alba Zari (Italy, Belgium, 2025).
The SNCCI Award for Best Critics’ Film 2025 goes to Paul Thomas Anderson’s “ONE BATTLE AFTER THE OTHER,” while the SNCCI Award for Best Italian Film 2025 goes to Francesco Sossai’s “THE CITIES OF THE PLAINS.”
This is it is the section dedicated to fiction features and hybrid works with a strong visual and creative approach in post production produced or co-produced in majority or minority share by Italian production companies. The international jury composed of Amaury Auge, Sabrina Baracetti and Núria Palenzuela Camon awarded the Laser Film Award (10,000 euros) to “DEATH HAS NO MASTER” by Jorge Thielen Armand (Venezuela, Canada, Italy, Luxembourg) “for creating picturesque images and combining political current events with a genre approach.” TheM74 Award, on the other hand, goes to Sandra Wollner’s “EVERYTIME” (Austria, Germany) “for its extraordinary ability to drag us, with a very long sequence plan, into a world of desperate vitality, of lost youth, of flights and falls, of shattered young lives.” The jury decided to give a special mention to “BEFORE THE WAR” by Tommaso Usberti (France, Italy) for “a bold and alarming representation of masculinity and violence.”
The international jury of Last Stop Trieste, a section dedicated to rough cut documentaries, composed of Marko Eraković, Anne-Laure Negrin and Meike Statema awarded the Film Centre of Montenegro Award (euro 2,000) to “SACRED SONGS” by Nona Giunashvili, Mariam Bitsadze (Georgia) with the following motivation: “a project that captivated us all with its visual language both powerful and contained. We felt privileged to witness a world on the verge of disappearing. We admire the director’s efforts to preserve the echo of these voices in our minds.” . And theHBO Europe Award (euro 1,000) to “BIRDIE” by Aneta Ptak (Poland) with the following motivation: “we want to award this project for her courageous decision to turn the camera inward and turn vulnerability into strength. Thanks to her narrative talent, the director presents to us what she has shot in an authentic and honest way.”
