23-11-2025

Blue Heron Wins 2025 LIFFe

By
    Producer of Blue Heron Gábor Osváth Producer of Blue Heron Gábor Osváth copyright: Barbara Reya / Mediaspeed / CD

    LJUBLJANA: Blue Heron, a Canadian/Hungarian debut feature by Sophy Romvari, received the Kingfisher Award at the 36th edition of Ljubljana International Film Festival (LIFFe) held 12 – 23 November 2025.

    The audience awarded A Sad and Beautiful World by Cyril Aris, based on the highest audience score.

    The festival screened 93 long films and three sections of short films from 58 countries.

    FULL LIST OF WINNERS:

    Kingfisher Award for the Best Film in the Perspectives Competition:
    Blue Heron (Canada, Hungary)
    Directed by Sophy Romvari
    Produced by Nine Behind Productions
    Coproduced by Boddah

    Special Mention in the Perspectives Competition:
    A Sad and Beautiful World (Lebanon, Germany, Qatar, USA, Saudi Arabia)
    Directed by Cyril Aris

    Best Short Film Award:
    An Orange from Jaffa (France, Poland, Palestine)
    Directed by Mohammed Almughanni

    Special Mention for a Short Film:
    Ceasefire / Prekid vatre (Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina)
    Directed by Jakob Krese

    FIPRESCI Prize:
    Ida Who Sang So Badly Even the Dead Rose Up and Joined Her in Song / Ida, ki je pela tako grdo, da so še mrtvi vstali od mrtvih in zapeli z njo (Slovenia, Croatia)
    Directed by Ester Ivakič
    Produced by Temporama
    Coproduced by RTV Slovenija, Gustav Film, Film Factory, Dinaridi Film
    Supported by the Slovenian Film Centre, with technical support provided by FS Viba

    Kinotrip Young Jury Prize:
    Sandbag Dam / Zečji nasip (Croatia, Slovenia, Lithuania)
    Directed by Čejen Černić
    Produced by Kinorama 
    Coproduced by Perfo Production, Tremora
    Supported by the Croatian Audiovisual Centre, the Lithuanian Film Centre, the Slovenian Film Centre, Creative Europe - MEDIA, the Croatian Radiotelevision

    AKMS - Slovenian Art Cinema Association Award:
    Two Prosecutors / Dva prokurora (Ukraine, Romania, Lithuania, Latvia, Germany, the Netherlands)
    Directed by Sergei Loznitsa
    Produced by SBS Productions
    Coproduced by LOOKS Filmproduktionen GmbH, Atoms, Void, Avanpost Media (avanpost.co), White Picture, Studio Uljana Kim

    Dragon Audience Award:
    A Sad and Beautiful World (Lebanon, Germany, Qatar, USA, Saudi Arabia)
    Directed by Cyril Aris

    Best Film of the Adriatic Festival Network:
    Maldoror (Belgium, France)
    Directed by Fabrice du Welz