Director Ivona Juka has been awarded the Main Prize of the 35th FilmFestival Cottbus. Her Croatian production BEAUTIFUL EVENING, BEAUTIFUL DAY received the main award worth €15,000. The film impressed the International Festival Jury for its courage “to address untold stories, to open dialogue, to look at old wounds with honesty, and to think bravely about ways forward.” The Main Prize for Best Feature Film is sponsored by Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg.
The Special Prize for Best Director, endowed with €7,500 and sponsored by rbb (Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg), goes to Goran Stanković for OUR FATHER (RS/IT/HR/MK/ME/BA, 2025). With his drama about a Christian Orthodox rehabilitation center where labor, obedience, and prayer replace addiction, Stanković opens, according to the jury, “an unguarded, raw, and uncompromisingly honest window into the lives of his characters.”
Actor Emir Hadžihafizbegović receives the Award for Outstanding Individual Performance, endowed with €5,000. In BEAUTIFUL EVENING, BEAUTIFUL DAY, he impressed the jury with a performance that was “courageous in its uncertainty, powerful in its restraint, and unforgettable in its authenticity.”
All three award winners also receive the festival’s coveted glass trophy, the Lubina.
In the Short Film Competition, the Main Prize goes to PEOPLE & THINGS by Damian Kosowski. The Polish production was, in the words of the jury, “a metaphorical slap in the face — a very powerful and deeply moving portrayal of what reality might look like.” The Special Prize for Best Director is awarded to Claudiu Mitcu for LOVE IS IN THE AIR, praised for its “excellent acting and an outstanding sense of timing and subtlety.”
The U18 Youth Film Competition was won by PROMISE, I’LL BE FINE (SK/CZ, 2024) by Katarína Gramatová. The film tells a quiet, moving story about the fragility of youth and the emotional toll of labor migration. The youth jury – composed of students from Ludwig-Leichhart-Gymnasium Cottbus, V. Lyceum Zielona Góra, and Gymnázium Teplice – praised the film’s “natural and realistic tone, effortless authenticity, and sensitive portrayal of growing up in an Eastern European environment.”
The Audience Award of the 35th FFC, sponsored by the Lausitzer Rundschau and endowed with €3,000, goes to BEAUTIFUL EVENING, BEAUTIFUL DAY as well.
The Promotional Award of the Foundation for the Sorbian People, endowed with €3,000, was presented to Roman Pernack. The filmmaker was recognized for his documentary work, in which he “masterfully approaches people with honesty, openness, and empathy — whether in his Berlin neighborhood of Wrangelkiez, in Egypt, or here in Lusatia.”
Further prizes were awarded to:
DIALOGUE Award for Intercultural Understanding - HOW COME IT’S ALL GREEN OUT HERE? (Nikola Ležaić, RS/HR/BG, 2025, 114 min)
Prize for the Best Debut - PROMISE, I’LL BE FINE (Katarína Gramatová, SK/CZ, 2024, 92 min)
FIPRESCI Awardof the Fédération Internationale de la Presse Cinématographique - WROOKLYN ZOO (Krzysztof Skonieczny, PL/US, 2024, 128 min)
Award of the Ecumenical Jurysponsored by SIGNIS and INTERFILM - MAYFLIES (Emília Goldberg, HU, 2025, 90 min)
Honorable Mention of the Ecumenical Jury - IDA WHO SANG SO BADLY EVEN THE DEAD ROSE UP AND JOINED HER IN SONG (Ester Ivakič, SI/HR, 2025, 109 min)
MIOB in Shorts Award - LAND DER BERGE (Olga Kosanović, AT/DE 2023, 28 min)
PICKASTORY – Audience Logline Award - Branko Tomović