Festivals

2023 in Locarno INTERFILM and SIGNIS celebrated the 50th anniversary of the first Ecumenical Jury. On this occasion, István Szabó received an Honorary Award.

Stefan Komandarev's film "Blaga's Lessons" is the big winner at Karlovy Vary 2023, taking the Crystal Globe and the Ecumenical Jury Award, and its lead actress Eli Skorcheva being honoured as Best Actress.

"Juniors" by French director Hugo Thomas is the winner of the Prize of the Ecumenical Jury in Zlín 2023. In addition, the jury awarded a Commendation to "Sweet As" by Jub Clerc from Australia which also won the Award of the Youth Jury for Best Feature Film in the Junior and Youth Category.

"Perfect Days" by Wim Wenders won the Prize of the Ecumenical Jury in Cannes. The Palme d'Or went to "Anatomie d'une chute" (Anatomy of a Fall) by Justine Triet.

In Oberhausen 2023, "Let's be friends" by Arno Coenen and Rodger Werdhoven won the Ecumenical Jury Prize in the International Competition, "Le jour de gloire" the Ecumenical Jury Prize in the Children's and Youth Film Competition. The Grand Prize of the City of Oberhausen went to "Chornobyl 22" by Oleksiy Radynski from Ukraine.

"Pure Unknown" by Valentina Cicogna and Mattia Colombo won the Prize of the Interreligious Jury in Nyon 2023. The Grand Prix in the International Competition was awarded by the international festival jury to "While the Green Grass Grows" by Peter Mettler.

The Malaysian film "Abang Adik" by Jin Ong won the Ecumenical Jury Prize and the Audience Award at Fribourg 2023. The Grand Prix of the Festival as well as the Critics' Choice Award went to "Plan 75" by Chie Hayakawa from Japan.

The Ecumenical Jury at the Berlinale 2023 has awarded its Prize in the International Competition to "Tótem" by Lila Avilès from Mexico. The Golden Bear was won by the French documentary "Sur l'Adamant" by Nicolas Philibert.

"Franky Five Star" by Birgit Möller won the Prize of the Ecumenical Jury at the Festival Max Ophuels Prize 2023. The Festival Prize for Best Feature Film went to "Alaska" by Max Gleschinski.

The Ecumenical Jury at the International Film Festival Mannheim-Heidelberg 2022 awarded its €2,500 prize to the Israeli-Ukrainian co-production "Valeria Is Getting Married" by Michal Vinik. The festival's International Newcomer Award was won by "You Won't Be Alone" by Goran Stolevski.

"Minsk", an Estonian film situated in the Ukraine, has won the Prize of the Ecumenical Jury at the 32nd FilmFestival Cottbus. The main prize of the festival for Best Direction went to "Safe Place", a Croatian-Slovenian co-production directed by Juraj Leroti?.

The Church Film Prize of the INTERFILM Jury at the Nordic Film Days 2023 went to "Boy From Heaven", directed by Tarik Saleh, which addresses the political influence and exploitation of religion. The film also won the main prize of the festival, the NDR Film Prize.

The Interreligious Jury at DOK Leipzig has awarded its prize to the Franco - Belgian film «A Family Like Any Other» (Une famille comme une autre) by Faustine Cros. The Golden Dove for Best Documentary Film went to «Anhell69» by Theo Montoya.

The Ecumenical Jury in Warsaw 2022 awarded its Prize to the Polish-Ukrainian film "Tata" (Dad) by Anna Maliszewska. The Warsaw Grand Prix went to "Praznik rada" (May Labor Day), a co-production by the successor states of Yugoslavia.

The Ecumenical Jury awarded its Prize to "La traversée" by Florence Miailhe from France and a Commendation to "Rhino" by Arturo Castro Godoy from Argentina. The top award of the festival, the Prize of the Sächsische Landesmedienanstalt (SLM), went to "A Second Life" by Anis Lassoued (Tunisia).

Founded in 2004, the festival since its beginnings has been directed by Tibor Biró. It has developed into one of the most important festivals in Hungary. Since 2011, the festival has been accompanied by an ecumenical jury.

"The Whale" by Darren Aronofsky (USA 2022) won the INTERFILM Prize for the Promotion of Interreligious Dialogue at the 79th Venice International Film Festival. The Golden Lion went to "All the Beauty and the Bloodshed" by Laura Poitras.

At the 75th Locarno Film Festival, the prizes were awarded. The Ecumenical Jury awarded its prize to "The Tale of the Purple House" by Abbas Fahdel and a Commendation to "Tengo sueños eléctricos" by Valentina Maurel.

In Karlovy Vary 2022 the Ecumenical Jury awarded the Bulgarian-German documentary "A Provincial Hospital", directed by Ilian Metev, Ivan Chertov, and Zlatina Teneva. The Crystal Globe went to "Summer with Hope", directed by Sadaf Foroughi (Canada, Iran, 2022).

On 1 June 2022, the 62nd International Film Festival for Children and Young People in Zlín ended with the award ceremony. The Ecumenical Jury awarded its Prize to the American production "Coast" by Jessica Hester and Derek Schweickart.

"Broker" by Hirokazu Kore-eda has won the Prize of the Ecumenical Jury at Cannes 2022. Its leading actor Song Kang-ho was honoured with the Best Actor Award of the International Festival Jury. The Palme d'Or went to "Triangle of Sadness" by Ruben Östlund.

The two Ecumenical Juries in Oberhausen awarded their prizes to "Odorless Blue Flowers Awake Prematurely" by Panos Aprahamian (International Competition) and to "37" by Meshy Koplevitch (International Online Competition). The Grand Prize of the City of Oberhausen went to "Weathering Heights" by Hannah Wiker Wikström, the Grand Online Prize to "Ava mocoi, os gêmeos" by Luiza Calagian and Vinicius Toro.

„Ma vie en papier“ (My Paper Life), a documentary by Iranian film director Vida Dena about Syrian refugees in Brussels, has won the prize of CHF 5.000.- of the Interreligious Jury in Nyon 2022. The Grand Prix of the festival went to „L‘?lot“ (Like an Island) by Tizian Büchi from Switzerland.

"La Civil" by Teodora Ana Mihai, a Belgian-Romanian-Mexican co-production, won the Prize of the Ecumenical Jury at Fribourg 2022. The Grand Prix of the Festival Jury went to the Ukrainian film "Klondike" by Maryna Er Gorbach.

"Un año, una noche" by Isaki Lacuesta has won the Prize of the Ecumenical Jury in the International Competition of the Berlinale 2022. In the Panorama, the jury awarded its prize to the Ukrainian film "Klondike" by Maryna Er Gorbach, in the Forum to "Geographies of Solitude" by Jacquelyn Mills from Canada.

The Ecumenical Jury at the Max Ophüls Prize 2022 has awarded its prize to "Moneyboys" by C.B. Yi. The film was also awarded Best Feature Film and the Fritz Raff Screenplay Award by the festival jury.

The Ecumenical Jury in Mannheim 2021 awarded its €2,500 prize to "Ma nuit" (My Night) by Antoinette Boulat. Michelangelo Frammartino from Italy won the International Newcomer Award for Best Director for his film "Il buco" (The Hole).

The INTERFILM Jury's Church Film Award in Lübeck 2021 was won by the Finnish-French-German co-production "The Gravedigger's Wife" by Khadar Ayderus Ahmed, whose film also received the NDR Feature Film Award.

"Brighton 4th" by Levan Koguashvili from Georgia won the Ecumenical Jury Prize in Cottbus 2021. The Lubina for Best Competition Film was awarded by the festival jury to "107 Mothers" (Cenzorka) by Peter Kerekes.

The Interreligious Jury at DOK Leipzig 2021 has awarded its Prize to the French film "Que Dieu te protège" (May God Be with You) by Cléo Cohen. The Golden Dove for Best Documentary Film went to the documentary "Father" by Wei Deng from China.