“A short but intense sequence that captures the viewer’s soul through profound glances and paints a conflicting paternal relationship in a gripping climax, in the silence of the abuse that too often drowns in the sea,” said the statement of the PAG Jury Award presented by the youth platform PAG (Progetto Area Giovani del Comune di Trieste), deciding on minority Croatian co-production The Sea in Between by Slovenian director Lun Sevnik as the best short film of the festival. The film is a Slovenian-Croatian-Czech co-production.

The Sea in Between, shot entirely on the island of Pag, stars Leon Lučev and Bruno Mihanović. The producers are Rok Biček for Cvinger Film, Ira Cecić and Tonči Bakotin of the Sensoria Society, Radovan Sibrt and Karel Poupe for Pink Productions and Ondrej Šejnoha from Studio FAMU. The screening at Trieste FF was its world debut, while presenting the film were director Lun Sevnik, producer Rok Biček, co-producer Ira Cecić and actor Bruno Mihanović from the Croatian portion of the crew.

Vlad Petri’s documentary feature Between Revolutions was also awarded in Trieste, receiving the media platform Osservatorio Balcani e Caucaso Transeuropa Award for Best Documentary of the festival. In its statement, the jury highlighted that this intimate and political documentary intertwines the histories of two countries that rarely see eye to eye and the lives of two women resisting oppressive regimes.

“An intimate and political documentary that weaves together the great history of two countries rarely united, and the lives of two women resisting oppressive regimes and challenging patriarchal societies through the power of their desire. By juxtaposing unusual archive images from two distant political and cultural contexts, the film brings us closer to exciting moments of courage and fear, hope and disappointment that accompany revolutions, and places Eastern Europe and the Middle East at the centre of the great events that marked the 20th century”, concluded the jury.

The film is a Romanian company Activ Docs production, co-produced by Restart from Croatian and undisclosed from Iran. Croatian co-producer is Oliver Sertić.

In addition, Serbian actor Jovan Ginić won a Special Mention for his role in director Vladimir Perišić’s fiction feature Lost Country featured in the main competition programme. The film’s Croatian co-producer is Ankica Jurić Tilić (Kinorama). 

Ukrainian director Lesia Diak’s project Dad’s Lullaby, a co-production between Ukrainian company DramaFree, Romanian Filmways and Croatian 15th Art, was awarded in the industry section of the festival.

This year’s 25th Trieste Film Festival took place 19th – 27th January, while more details about the award-winning titles are available on this link. 

Cover photographs: The Sea in Between film crew attending the premiere in Trieste (photographs courtesy of: Alenka Peterlin); scene from Between Revolutions