AUTONOMOUS PROVINCE OF BOZEN/BOLZANO AWARD FOR THE BEST FILM in the Competition BFFB39 | 5,000 euros
THE LONELIEST MAN IN TOWN by Tizza Covi and Rainer Frimmel (AUT 2026)
Reasoning: The Province of Bolzano Award for Best Film goes to a work that views human beings with profound empathy and explores their complexity without succumbing to sentimentality. With finely textured imagery and a gaze of particular tenderness towards the main character, the film paints a vivid portrait of universal significance. In a constant dialogue between past and present, the work makes clear how the traces of memory exert a gentle yet powerful influence on the brutality of the present. With a style that is both restrained and powerful, the film creates a world rich in detail that contributes to the characterisation of the protagonist. Thanks to its consistent artistic approach, the respect it shows its protagonist, and its ability to tell the big story through the small details, the film resonates deeply and impresses with its remarkable sensitivity.
SPECIAL JURY PRIZE FONDAZIONE CASSA DI RISPARMIO OF BOLZANO from the films in the Competition BFFB39 | 3,000 euros
SEHNSUCHT IN SANGERHAUSEN by Julian Radlmaier (GER 2025)
Reasoning: The Special Jury Prize from the Südtiroler Sparkasse Bozen Foundation goes to a film that is deeply political yet told with great lightness. Set in a small town in eastern Germany, it condenses the present and romantic motifs into a juxtaposition in which historical figures and ideas remain present as enduring spaces of thought and emotion. Its precision is evident in its concise dialogue and casual situations. It becomes clear how strongly social background and gender determine the characters’ scope for action – not as a thesis, but inscribed in their behaviour, their possibilities and the way they regard one another. At the same time, the film displays a distinct joy in cinema – in its references, its visual composition and its conscious allusion to cinematic traditions.
DISTRIBUTION SUPPORT AWARD OF THE AUTONOMOUS REGION OF TRENTINO-SOUTH TYROL to a film from the Competition BFFB39 or the RealeNonReale section | 10,000 euros
17 by Kosara Mitic (MKD/SRB/SVN 2025)
Reasoning: The Autonomous Region of Trentino-South Tyrol’s Distribution Promotion Prize goes to a compelling feature film debut by a young female director. A powerful and intense film that leaves the viewer no choice but to keep watching. Set against the backdrop of a nationalistic and patriarchal society, it paints a precise portrait of a world in which men are shaped by a deep-rooted sense of privilege and in which violence, including against women, is part of everyday life. The director’s gaze is fixed on the protagonist’s face: her performance carries the film with a raw and sustained emotional intensity.
We are honouring this work for its formal precision and its urgent political relevance. It is a film that must be seen, particularly by young audiences across Europe, as it addresses realities that, whilst location-specific, are nonetheless extremely familiar.
The International Jury also awards the following HONOURABLE MENTION.
DRY LEAF by Alexandre Koberidze (GER 2025)
Reasoning: The Special Mention goes to an aesthetically daring film that stays with you – unhurried and haunting. Through the – at first glance – simple images of football, goals and streets, it becomes a poetic reflection on community and connection. Here, life is an eternal journey, and the streets and goals become archetypes that define what it means to be human.
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AUDIENCE AWARD OF THE CITY OF BOLZANO to the film from the Competition BFFB39 or the RealeNonReale section that received the most votes from the audience | 2,000 euros
ELON MUSK UNVEILED - THE TESLA EXPERIMENT by Andreas Pichler (GER 2025)
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The FILMCLUB JURY, comprising Chiara Del Favero, Carmelo Ferreri, Josephine Kauschke, Stefano Riba, Jonas Reisigl, Cecilia Stefanelli and Jana Weissteiner, awards the following prizes:
IDM FILM & MUSIC COMMISSION SOUTH TYROL AWARD FOR THE BEST FEATURE FILM FROM THE EUREGIO REGION | 2,000 euros and a certificate
NON C’È CASA IN PARADISO by Federico Scienza and Mauela Boezio (ITA 2026)
Reasoning: Observing the environment in which one feels at home. Recognising its contradictions. Asking questions and prompting the audience to do the same. This film is a true local hero and, for us, both an urgent and necessary work. It focuses on the most vulnerable members of our society – unpretentious, honest and empathetic, without excessive pathos or frills. It follows those people who are indispensable to the functioning of our economy and our daily lives – those who help ensure that this country can be called a ‘paradise’. Yet paradise is not always paradisiacal – or at least not for everyone. The film is raw, just like the realities it depicts, just like the stories that often remain unseen. It lends them dignity and urges us to look – and perhaps even to act.
IDM FILM & MUSIC COMMISSION SOUTH TYROL AWARD FOR THE BEST SHORT FILM FROM THE EUREGIO REGION | 1,000 euros
FAR FINTA CHE by Anna Ciju (ITA 2025)
Reasoning: A film that takes play seriously and discovers its own form of cinema within it. With great confidence, it opens up a space in which seemingly simple means lead to surprising diversity: improvised genres, shifted standards, a joy in invention that is guided not by the logic of realism, but by that of play.
The result is a humorous yet deeply honest reflection on filmmaking itself. The film observes where stories first emerge, how roles are taken on, and how images acquire meaning. An idiosyncratic, clever and very lively work that reminds us that cinema also begins – or perhaps begins precisely – where rules are first invented. We can hardly wait to see another film of this kind.
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SPECIAL AWARD ‘DOLOMITES UNESCO WORLD HERITAGE’ to the film that best represents the values of the Dolomiti UNESCO Foundation | 1,000 euros
The jury, consisting of Leo Hilpold (Director of the Provincial Office for Nature), Volkmar Mair (Provincial Geologist), Thomas Streifeneder (Scientific Advisory Board of the Dolomiti UNESCO Foundation) and Dorothea Vieider (former President of the Bolzano Film Club) awarded the prize, following in-depth discussion, to the film Melt (2025) by Nikolaus Geyrhalter.
MELT by Nikolaus Geyrhalter (AUT 2025)
Reasoning: The documentary film MELT transports viewers into a seemingly endless white world of snow and ice. Through calm, sweeping shots, the filmmaker first allows landscapes from various parts of the world to make an impression on the viewer, before turning the focus to those people who live and work with snow, cold and ice on a daily basis – indeed, who earn their living from it.
Through striking images and interviews, MELT explores the relationship with snow from very different perspectives: rural traditions and millennia-old survival strategies with a deep emotional connection to the snow; tourists who enjoy themselves in the snow, savour the landscape and experience it as a wonderland – often without realising it is a Disneyland specially created for them; resource-intensive, artificially sustained winter tourism stands in stark contrast to the findings of climate researchers in Antarctica!
What all places and people have in common is that the white façade is beginning to crumble. Everywhere, the protagonists report on the tangible consequences of climate change in everyday life. Extreme weather events are on the rise. It snows differently than it used to: intensity, duration and reliability have changed. And glaciers are melting. The film MELT shows that no place and no person is exempt from this!
In the end, it becomes clear: our planet is the true world heritage. Nature and landscapes such as the Dolomites are not an isolated backdrop, but part of a global world heritage for whose preservation we share responsibility.
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EUREGIO YOUNG JURY AWARD FOR BEST FILM | 1,000 euros
The award, presented by the student jury comprising Leni Innerbichler, Paula Jähnig, Sarah Wagner, Alice Angeli, Camila Gadler, Tobia Mazzonelli, Alessandro Comina, Jonas Gluderer and Arthur Unterpertinger Cariolato, goes to:
ROMERÍA by Carla Simón (ESP/DEU 2025)
Reasoning: A pilgrimage to oneself. With great sensitivity, the film we are honoured to award as the Euregio Young Jury 2026 addresses themes such as identity, family, drug addiction and the stigmatisation of AIDS.
A mosaic of memories. Armed with a handheld camera, the lead actress makes her way back to her roots. The subjective camera makes her experience feel far more authentic. You are drawn in. The stylistic framework underscores her journey to herself.
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ZELIG FILM SCHOOL BOLZANO AWARD for feature films with documentary elements from the sections Competition BFFB39, RealeNonReale, BFFB Special, Focus and Minor Languages DOC | 1,000 euros
The prize, awarded by the student jury of the ZeLIG Film School Bolzano, comprising Valeria Buffa, Luca Firmian, Zoé Maelle Bromma, Alma Günther, Sebastiano Scapinello, Vita La Maida and Meriam Jarboua, goes to:
THE LONELIEST MAN IN TOWN by Tizza Covi and Rainer Frimmel (AUT 2026)
Reasoning: We chose this film for its flawless, elegant and stylish visual language, which blends fiction and documentary in a very natural way. It is a political testimony to the complex dynamics of our times. It lovingly tells the story of a vanishing world, impressively portrayed through the protagonist and the composition of the images. We appreciate its ability to combine a rigorous formal approach with insights into human moments such as melancholy, nostalgia and the ironic absurdity of life.
The unique perspective on a universal theme such as urban loneliness led us to THE LONELIEST MAN IN TOWN as the winner.
It was not an easy decision, as there was another film that the jury held in high regard. Due to its willingness to take risks in order to achieve an emotional and sensory narrative, we have decided to award TRISTAN FOREVER by Tobias Nölle and Loran Bonnardot (CHE 2026) an honourable mention.
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HONORARY LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS 2026
In collaboration with the Bolzano Tourist Board, the two awards were presented during the festival to Ottavia Piccolo and Ulrike Ottinger.
