The short documentary directed by Rebeka Bizubová stood out among 3,127 submitted films from 988 schools. In the Documentary category, it first advanced to the 14 semifinalists and eventually made it into the final trio of winners.
Bizubová, a graduate of the Department of Directing Documentary at the Film and Television Faculty of the Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava, and her team, along with the other winners, will find out their final placement (gold, silver, or bronze) on October 6, 2025, at the awards ceremony held during the New York Film Festival.
All winning films in each of the four Student Academy Awards categories (Alternative/Experimental, Animation, Documentary and Narrative) also automatically qualify to compete in their respective categories at the 98th Academy Awards, which will take place on March 15, 2026, in Los Angeles.
Confession has already been screened and awarded at several international festivals (FIPADOC, Zlín Film Festival, MakeDox) as well as domestic ones (Febiofest, Art Film, with Cinematik coming up). It is also the winner of the 2024 Sun in a Net Award in the category Best Short Fiction or Documentary Film.
The last time a Slovak film won a Student Academy Award was in 2010, when the short film The Lunch Box, produced at the Savannah College of Art and Design (Georgia, USA), directed by Slovak filmmaker Ľubomír M. Kocka, placed third (bronze) in the Narrative category. In 2000, director Michal Struss reached the finals at the Student Academy Awards in the Honorary Foreign Film Competition category with his short animated film In the Box, produced at the Film and Television Faculty of the Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava.
Director: Rebeka Bizubová
Production:Film and Television Faculty of the Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava
Producer: Emília Širotníková
Story and Screenplay:Rebeka Bizubová
Director of Photography:Tereza Havadejová
Editor:Peter Koška
Music:Rebeka Bizubová
Sound:Daniel Valovič
With: Rebeka Bizubová, Emília Širotníková, Ivana Ondovčíková, Pavlína Bizubová, Martin Bizub
The word trauma has many shades. The documentary Confession opens up the topic of sexual harassment in the church, which the director has experienced first-hand. She looks back at the world before the trauma, and searches for answers herself to the questions of whether she will be able to come out of it after some time, and whether she will find the courage to tell her parents about it.
