Best Film Award | International Competition | Biografilm 2025
Jury award to the best film in the International Competition.
GIRLS & GODS
by Arash T. Riahi, Verena Soltiz
Motivation:
I give this prize to Girls & Gods for its poetic and powerful portrayal of female resistance. Inna Shevchenko’s fearless presence and Arash Riahi’s sensitive direction create a film that speaks directly to our time. As Iranian women and others around the world fight for freedom, this story becomes a mirror and a call. Rooted in the spirit of “Woman, Life, Freedom,” the film is urgent, human, and profoundly moving.
Special Mention | International Competition | Biografilm 2025
THE LAST AMBASSADOR
by Natalie Halla
Motivation:
We award a Jury Mention to The Last Ambassador for its profound emotional resonance and powerful testimony of exile, identity, and the cost of war. Directed with clarity and sensitivity by Natalie Halla, the film follows Manizha Bakhtiyari—a former Afghan diplomat and one of the few women in such a position—as she navigates displacement and the collapse of her homeland. In one unforgettable moment, Manizha films herself at the border of Afghanistan. Her voice trembling, she says she is “so close, yet so far and so impossible ”—like a mahe shabe 14, the full moon of the 14th, big, close, bright, but far...
مثل ماه شب ۱۴...بزرگ در آسمان، روشن، نزدیک، و همان قدر دور و دست نیافتنی...
This single moment speaks volumes. It captures the heartbreak of separation, the pain of witnessing from the outside, and the beauty of resilience. We recognize The Last Ambassador as a work of human courage, crafted with compassion and poetic strength. It gives voice to those silenced, and memory to what history often forgets.
Hera “Nuovi Talenti” Award | International Competition | Biografilm 2025
Jury award to the best first or second film in the International Competition.
FLOPHOUSE AMERICA
by Monica Strømdahl
Motivation:
We were both shaken and deeply moved by the direct yet compassionate gaze Monica Strømdahl sets on young Mikal and his parents, showing us the truth about social outcasts in today’s America. “Flophouse America” touched us also as a universal cry for child protection.
Special Mention Hera “Nuovi Talenti” | International Competition | Biografilm 2025
BALOMANÍA
by Sissel Morell Dargis
Motivation:
Balomanía offers a rare and immersive look into the hidden world of Brazil’s balloon-makers, revealing a tradition rich in beauty, passion, and community. With a compassionate and non-judgmental gaze, the film explores how an illegal practice becomes an act of cultural resistance and belonging. The jury was struck by its delicate portrayal of the need for expression and freedom, and by its ability to shed light on a misunderstood world with both urgency and grace.
Best Film BPER Award | Biografilm Italia 2025
Jury award to the best film in the Biografilm Italia Competition.
IL PILASTRO
by Roberto Beani
Motivation:
A local story that becomes universal thanks to the use of rich and varied archive material. Il Pilastro tells the story of our country, highlighting fascinating and in-depth research and the key figures in the life of the neighbourhood.
Special Mention BPER | Biografilm Italia 2025
A LUCI SPENTE
by Mattia Epifani
Motivation:
An honest film that does not try to transform its protagonist into something he is not, does not smooth out his rough edges but emphasises his fragility. The images manage to portray a character suspended at the height of his career in a match he failed to win but continues to fight.
Hera “Nuovi Talenti” Award | Biografilm Italia 2025
Jury award to the best first or second film in the Biografilm Italia Competition.
RADIO SOLAIRE - RADIO DIFFUSION RURALE
by Federico Bacci, Francesco Eppesteingher
Motivation:
Radio Solaire is the kind of cinema that reminds us of the importance of films in enriching our memory with stories that would otherwise be lost. The film is faithful to its protagonist, who never puts himself at the centre but is at the service of the communities whose voices he has amplified. Giorgio Lolli's work was a work of revolution yesterday, and a lesson today.
Special Mention Hera “Nuovi Talenti” | Biografilm Italia 2025
DESPITE THE SCARS
by Felix Rier
Motivation:
Without being consolatory, the film focuses on Thea, allowing her to deal with her trauma in her own time and in her own way. ‘Despite the scars’ shows a world that accompanies and supports the protagonist on her journey of healing without demanding a narrative conclusion.
Manifesto Award | Biografilm Contemporary Lives 2025
Prize awarded by a jury composed of representatives of some realities of the territory that stand out for the value of their projects, to the best social impact film in Contemporary Lives.
DE LA GUERRE FROIDE À LA GUERRE VERTE (GREEN IS THE NEW RED)
by Anna Recalde Miranda
Motivation:
The ability to narrate the intersectional character of contemporary struggles starting from the activation of the criminalisation of ecological activism in Latin America. A testimony that transforms from a personal dimension into a collective narrative, stimulating reflections on how national borders do not exist in capitalist exploitation and on the need to rethink the categories of thought with which we experience the contemporary.
Young Critics Award | Biografilm 2025
Prize awarded by a young jury composed of students from the CITEM and DAMS degree programs of the University of Bologna to the best film in the International Competition.
HOME GAME
by Lidija Zelovic
Motivation:
A documentary work that represents a personal identity crisis deeply intertwined with the collective crisis experienced by the people of Yugoslavia at the time of its break-up. A representation capable of giving the viewer not only a staging that is as far removed as possible from being descriptive and objective, but also the extraordinary evolution of the cinematographic-technological medium through the evolution of history itself. For its ability to resurrect in our generation the forgotten collective memory of the dissolution of Yugoslavia and its subsequent social, political and economic effects; for its being a warning to contemporary Europe about the metastatic nature of all forms of nationalism and the constant risk for our society of forgetting history; finally, for its moving affinity with the socio-political ideals that have permeated the soul of Biografilm Festival since its inception, we, the students of the Young Critics Jury, have decided to award the prize for best film in the International Competition section to Home Game by Lidija Zelovic.
Tutta un’altra storia Pratello Award | Biografilm 2025
Prize awarded by a young jury composed of a group of boys from the “Pietro Siciliani” Juvenile Jail in Bologna to the best film out of a selection from the program.
IL CASTELLO INDISTRUTTIBILE
by Danny Biancardi, Stefano La Rosa, Virginia Nardelli
Motivation:
We chose this film because it's connected to our lives and because the children protagonists have the power to transform an abandoned kindergarten into a castle. We were impressed by how the children cleaned it up to create a place of fantasy, but real. The key words are: strength, love, fantasy and transformation.
Tutta un’altra storia 2 agosto Award | Biografilm 2025
Prize awarded by a young jury composed of a group of girls from the educational communities Oikos and Towanda in Bologna to the best film out of a selection from the program.
DEAR AUDIENCE
by Enrico Baraldi
Motivation:
We decided to give the award to the film Dear Audience to give visibility to people who are unfortunately in war situations and to those who tell their stories. We know that this film will send a message of strength and resilience to all those who are in difficult situations. It will do so because we know that art and culture always save and this film is the perfect example.
Special Mention Tutta un’altra storia 2 agosto | Biografilm 2025
HOME GAME
by Lidija Zelovic
Motivation:
We give a special mention to the characters of director Lidjia and her son Sergej, for their courage in sharing their intimacy and for their ability to create a film with their own private story that speaks to everyone.
Ucca Award - l’Italia che non si vede | Biografilm Italia 2025
Distribution award “L’Italia che non si vede. Rassegna Itinerante di Cinema del Reale” and 1000 € to the best film in the Biografilm Italia Competition awarded by a special jury of Arci Ucca.
DESPITE THE SCARS
by Felix Rier
Motivation:
For courageously and sensitively tackling the theme of sexual violence, Despite the Scars is an intense work that recounts a path of personal and collective rebirth. With an empathetic and respectful gaze, the film focuses on the body as a place of suffering but also of redemption, showing the transformative power of art, love and sharing. A powerful example of social cinema that breaks the silence, invites cultural change and promotes responsibility and hope.
TOP DOC Award - The Beauty of Documentary | Biografilm Italia 2025
12 months digital distribution award on TOP DOC Prime Video Channel, awarded to the best film in the Biografilm Italia Competition by a special TOP DOC jury, composed of content creators.
RADIO SOLAIRE - RADIO DIFFUSION RURALE
by Federico Bacci, Francesco Eppesteingher
Motivation:
For the skilful use of archive material and editing, which powerfully restores radio as an instrument of aggregation, revolution and free thought. A heartfelt and necessary homage to a charismatic and surprisingly little-known protagonist, through a story that celebrates collectivity as a profound expression of humanity.
Special Mention TOP DOC - The Beauty of Documentary | Biografilm Italia 2025
CLAUDIA FA BRUTTI SOGNI
by Eleonora Sardo, Marco Zenoni
Motivation:
For the strength of an authentic, intense and deeply human narrative. Claudia and Eleonora's story strikes for its courage, sincerity and ability to recount, without filters, family complexities. An essential but powerful film, where the roles of director and protagonist merge in a double biographical portrait, capable of moving with the sole force of feelings.
DocPoint Helsinki Award | Biografilm Italia 2025
Selection of a film from the Biografilm Italia section to be included in the program of the 2026 edition of DocPoint Helsinki Documentary Film Festival.
DocPoint Helsinki Award | Biografilm Italia 2025
CLAUDIA FA BRUTTI SOGNI
by Eleonora Sardo, Marco Zenoni
Motivation:
A complex story told through the compact but meaningful metaphor of a pilgrimage, this film shows how difficult it is for family members to lose a loved one to addiction. We can't wait to share this universally moving, raw and intimate film with the Finnish audiences: Claudia Has Bad Dreams.
