The decision to award Igor Bezinović’s documentary Fiume o Morte! was made by a jury which consisted of all members of the FIPRESCI organisation, representing more than 50 national sections and individual members from more than 30 additional countries.

The Grand Prix win for Fiume o Morte! might come as a surprise, writes Deadline, although the title already took home the European Film Award for Best Documentary, as well as numerous other accolades across the world, including the FIPRESCI Award at the prestigious International Film Festival Rotterdam, where it also won the IFFR festival’s main prize. Fiume o Morte! was also Croatia’s Academy Award contender and a candidate for the Goya Award of the Spanish Academy of Film Arts and Sciences.

Fiume o Morte! won the FIPRESCI Documentary Grand Prix beating several rivalling titles, including 2000 Meters to Andriivka directed by Mstyslav Chernov, which was shortlisted for the Academy Award this year, as well as Orwell: 2+2=5 directed by Raoul Peck.

Among the documentaries also nominated for the FIPRESCI Documentary Grand Prix was David Borenstein and Pavel Talankin’s Mr. Nobody Against Putin, which won the Oscar this March, competing against Geeta Gandbhir’s The Perfect Neighbor, was also nominated for this award.

The Millennium Docs Against Gravity Film Festival is on the list of festivals qualifying for the Academy Awards in the Best Documentary Feature category and also recommends films for the European Film Awards.

Fiume o Morte! is produced by Restart, with producers Vanja Jambrović and Tibor Keser, and in co-production with Nosorogi from Slovenia (Marina Gumzi) and Videomante from Italy (Erica Barbiani).

Find out more about the FIPRESCI Grand Prix on the official website of the MDAG Festival.