• The Cineuropa Award is given to a film that besides having indisputable artistic qualities also brings out the idea of European dialogue and integration
• The Prize is given by one or more qualified editors or collaborators chosen by Cineuropa and present at the Festival
• The Prize is given to a film produced or co-produced by a country participating in the MEDIA Programme or member of Eurimages
• The Prize consists of promotion on the Cineuropa site, including a special newsletter dedicated to the film (including a review, an interview with the director, and trailers and excerpts), which will be sent to our mailing list of over 50,000 subscribers.

The Prize is awarded at the following partner festivals:

Trieste Film Festival
Mons International Love Film Festival
Vilnius Film Festival - Kino Pavasaris
Lecce European Film Festival
Cinema City International Film Festival
Sarajevo International Film Festival
Istanbul Film Festival
Brussels Mediterranean Film Festival
Les Arcs European Film Festival

Murina

Murina by Antoneta Alamat Kusijanovic, Brussels Mediterranean Film Festival 2021

Murina manages to convincingly tell of the daily violence within a family that is physically isolated. When you cannot compare your situation to anything else, you get used to violence and are unable to stop it. It’s just a part of your everyday life. The abuse becomes apparent when a foreigner arrives, and he provides the contrast, the mirror. This award is given for the delicacy with which the theme is addressed, for the performances of the actors and for the ever-present tension.

Hive

Hive by Blerta Basholli, Brussels Mediterranean Film Festival 2021

Hive is a first feature film that tells the story of a lady in a small town who faces prejudice and uncertainty as she inspires the women in her community to take control of their own fate. This award is given for the mastery with which the director shows her skill in forming the characters and working with the actors.

Only Human

Only Human by Igor Ivanov, Lecce European Film Festival 2021

Igor Ivanov's Only Human shows six faces, six episodes linked through a darkly comic thread. Lost characters meet sporadically in a modern metropolis in an overarching quest for a way to survive. Despite the tragedy, the film amuses us and gives us hope through the eyes of a child, when all seems lost.

Moon, 66 Questions

Moon, 66 Questions by Jacqueline Lentzou, Sarajevo Film Festival 2021

This Greek-French coproduction is a highly emotional tale about incommunicability and a father/daughter's estranged relationship, beautifully played by Sofia Kokkali and Lazaros Georgakopoulos. The film is a powerful call to accept diversity within our closest circle: family.

I Never Cry

I Never Cry by Piotr Domalewski, Mons International Love Film Festival 2021

A moving, dynamic film full of dark humour that follows Ola, a rebellious 17-year-old Polish teenager sent by her mother to Ireland in order to repatriate her father’s body, killed in an accident at work. While addressing the social reality of families separated by the economic migration of Poles to Ireland, director Piotr Domalewski paints with finesse and humour an explosive and selfish adolescence that this initiatory journey will open up to others.

Sweat

Sweat by Magnus von Horn, Trieste Film Festival 2021

Magnus von Horn's Sweat delivers a story you will first feel in your muscles and then in your head, as with the help of a tour-de-force performance from Magdalena Koleśnik it shows how to build – or break – an influencer. Depending on what is currently trending.

Shorta

Shorta by Frederik Louis Hviid and Anders Ølholm, Les Arcs Film Festival 2020

Frederik Louis Hviid's and Anders Ølholm's Shorta is based on a Danish case involving a far-left activist who was brutalized by three police officers on New Year's Eve 1992 and who suffered permanent brain damage. The film is further proof of the quality of Nordic crime cinema for a quarter of a century.

Open Door

Open Door by Florenc Papas, Lecce European Film Festival 2020

Florenc Papas's Open Door portrays the unmistakable social aspect of a patriarchal society of a poor country in transition, without forcing it beyond the needs of the screenplay, which is utterly economical. A film that is brilliantly played by the two lead actresses and that shows rural Albania in a particularly poetic way.

Exile

Exile by Visar Morina, Sarajevo Film Festival 2020

Visar Morina's Exile masterfully creates the sense of sweaty threat and unease, as in it, even a lethal combo of a dead rat and a stroller on fire proves to be the least of its protagonist’s worries. And it also shows how hard it is not to feel like “the other” sometimes – even in your own house.

Nova Lituania

Nova Lituania by Karolis Kaupinis, Vilnius International Film Festival - Kino Pavasaris 2020

Nova Lituania by Karolis Kaupinis is a film that gives an absurd yet elegant commentary on Europe’s colonial misadventures, showing the falsehood in the pretenses of colonizers as saviors or bringers of “civilization”, and how hard it is for a subaltern culture to keep its voice.