The Audience Award (People’s Choice Award) at Giornate degli Autori received 76% of the overall audience vote. The Carlo Lizzani Award is presented by Italy’s National Association of Film Authors (ANAC – Associazione Nazionale Autori Cinematografici).

Balcanica tells the story of Afghan refugees Jalil and his father Nazar, who travel the Balkan route towards Italy, in the hope of reaching a concert in a week’s time where they can play music again. Along the way, they are confronted with the choice of whether to give up or risk their lives in an attempt to cross the border.

The film was directed by Nicola Sorcinelli, who penned the screenplay with Andrea Brusa. The director of photography is Damjan Radovanović.

The film was produced by the Italian company Nightswim, in collaboration with co-production companies from Croatia and Serbia. The Croatian co-production company is Antitalent, with producers Katarina Prpić and Danijel Pek. The producers are Ines Vasiljević, Stefano Sardo, Sonia Rovai, and Ludovica Damiani. Snežana van Houwelingen also served as co-producer alongside Prpić and Pek.

The film was realised, among others, with the support of the Croatian Audiovisual Centre.

Giornate degli Autori, the Venice Film Festival’s parallel section, was established in 2004. This year’s edition is dedicated to its founder, Giorgio Gosetti. The programme featured 10 films in competition, one out-of-competition title, and two special sections: Special Events and Venice Nights.