MEDFILM FESTIVAL — 31ST EDITION
MEDITERRANEAN CINEMA IN ROME
NOVEMBER 6 – 16, 2025
A crowded hall and an intense, lively evening at the Awards Ceremony for the 31st edition of the MedFilm Festival at The Space Cinema Moderno. The event dedicated to Mediterranean cinema brought 83 films from 33 countries, 60 guests, special events, industry meetings, literary gatherings and masterclasses to locations throughout Rome.
Below are all the winners of the 31st edition of the MedFilm Festival:
OFFICIAL FEATURE FILM COMPETITION
The Jury of the Official Competition, composed of Daria D’Antonio, Gianluca Guzzo, Laika, Donatella Palermo, and Antonio Piazza, has decided:
❯ LOVE AND PSYCHE AWARD FOR THE BEST FILM:
THE EAGLES OF THE REPUBLIC
by TARIK SALEH (Sweden/France, 2025, 129’)
A film that blends satire and political tragedy in a tale of irresistible moral ambiguity. Reflecting on power, image manipulation and the relationship between cinema and the regime, the film maintains a tense pace alternating irony and apprehension without ever losing its dramatic precision. A courageous work that reveals the mechanism of every system in which individuals are forced to choose between truth and survival.
❯ SPECIAL JURY PRIZE:
A SAD AND BEAUTIFUL WORLD
by CYRIL ARIS (Lebanon/United States/Germany/Saudi Arabia/Qatar, 2025, 106’) – We are glad to announce that the film will soon be released in cinemas by Cineclub Internazionale Distribuzione.
A film that impresses with its remarkable ability to intertwine romantic comedy with historical and social narrative, transforming the protagonists’ love story into a vivid portrait of Beirut.
❯ ARTISTIC EXPRESSION AWARD:
A WOMAN AND A CHILD
by SAEED ROUSTAEE (Iran/France, 2025, 131’) – We are glad to announce that the film will be in cinemas from 12 March with Movies Inspired.
A film that finds its truth in the splendid performance of the lead actress Parinaz Izadyar and the entire cast, whose talent brings this painful story of female resistance to the heart of the audience.
OFFICIAL SHORT FILM COMPETITION
The Jury of the International Short Film Competition, composed of Anny Potamiti, Carlotta Venturini, Ayesha Salam Khan, Valentina Pischedda, Pietro Macaione, Omar Zaafaoui, Tullio Edoardo Rocca, Fran Moreno Blanco, Santi Pujol Amat, Lidiya Mitiku, Letizia Zatti, Hazem Shaheen, Gauthier Gervaise and a group of inmates from the Rome Rebibbia Prison, Rome Rebibbia Women’s Prison, Rome Rebibbia New Complex Prison, and Rome Rebibbia III Prison, awards:
❯ METHEXIS AWARD FOR BEST SHORT FILM
WALUD
by DAOOD ALABDULAA and LOUISE ZENKER (Syria/Germany, 2024, 25′)
A woman forced into silence who faces every difficulty, yet finds the courage to help others, even if it will mean to put her own life at risk. A mature film that chooses actions instead of words, glances instead of dialogues, and a setting that perfectly reflects what it means to be isolated from the world. This sentiment was deeply felt by the prisoners who made up the other half of the jury, who recognised the power and authenticity of the reality depicted in this moving, human and extraordinarily topical story.
❯ CERVANTES AWARD ROME FOR THE MOST CREATIVE SHORT FILM
MELANOCHAITA
by NIKO AVGOUSTIDI (Greece, 2025, 17’)
A film that, through a simple but effective narrative device, invites us to reflect on human nature and contemporary society. With lightness, irony and effective comic language, it manages to address important issues such as the information overload we suffer every day and the transformation of our cities into concrete jungles, cages in which we humans are the real beasts. A short film that devours its 17 minutes, that sticks with you, accessible to everyone thanks to the language it uses to tell its story.
❯ SPECIAL MENTION:
CONTROL ANATOMY
by MAHMOUD ALHAJ (Palestine, 2025, 17’)
The film uses experimental language to convey a new perspective on war, that of technology in relation to bodies, memory and death, posing a fundamental question: where does the human component fit into all this? In the finale, a bomb that explodes in reverse does what only cinema and art can do: rewrite history, a poetic and radical gesture with which the author attempts to heal the wounds of war and give humanity the chance for a new beginning.
VALENTINA PEDICINI AWARD – BEST FIRST AND SECOND WORK
The jury of the Valentina Pedicini Award, composed of Alessandro Cassigoli, Guendalina Folador, Lino Musella, has decided:
❯ BEST FILM:
MY FATHER AND GHEDDAFI
by JIHAN K (USA/Libya, 2025, 88’)
For its ability to draw the audience into the intimacy of his personal story through the narration of a violent and powerful historical context in Libya, but also in Italy and worldwide, combined with the use of archival and journalistic material capable of tracing the nuances of terror that could be instilled on the one hand by the sudden loss of his father and on the other hand by the increasingly violent and dictatorial takeover of power by Gaddafi’s regime. For the melancholic tenderness with which he searches, through historical traces, for the lines that composed the strong and fearless profile of his father, who did not bow down before certain death. Because it teaches us all how our lives can be an experience and testimony of revolution.
❯ SPECIAL MENTION:
PORTUALI
by PERLA SARDELLA (Italy, 2024, 81’)
For its ability to recount contemporary events, creating a fundamental historical document that provides a snapshot of today’s society, in which collective struggle accompanies the regime’s repression of free speech.
BEST EUROMEDITERRANEAN CO-PRODUCTION AWARD in collaboration with the European Commission Representation in Italy
The jury for the award, composed of Massimo Pronio, Ado Hasanovic, and Stefania Ulivi, has decided:
❯ BEST FILM:
CALLE MALAGA
by MARYAM TOUZANI (Morocco/France/Spain, 2025, 116′) – We are glad to announce that the film will be in cinemas from 26 March with Movies Inspired.
A film that manages to portray characters and events, usually left on the margins of the story, with an authentic and original perspective. Tragedy and comedy are kept in solid balance thanks to an excellent script rich in nuances, which powerfully highlights the richness of cultural coexistence. The lead actress, Carmen Maura, offers a new, intense and profound interpretation, capable of breathing life into the story. A contemporary work that stands out for its Euro-Mediterranean soul, reflecting a significant co-production effort that brings Europe and Morocco together in a rich cultural dialogue.
❯ SPECIAL MENTION:
WITH HASAN IN GAZA
by KAMAL ALJAFARI(Germany/Palestine/France/Qatar, 2025, 106’)
For the quiet strength with which it turns a personal journey into an act of collective memory. Through fragile and real images, the film recreates the Gaza of a bygone era, making visible what has now disappeared. A simple but necessary gesture that becomes testimony and resistance. And it acquires the value of sharing thanks to the joint effort of co-production between Palestine, France, Switzerland, Germany and Qatar.
ECUMENICAL AWARD in collaboration with Institut Français Centre Saint-Louis
The jury, composed of Sister Mary Lembo, Father Michel Kubler, and Alexey Vozniuk, has decided:
❯ BEST FILM:
PROMISED SKY
by ERIGE SEHIRI(France/Tunisia/Qatar, 2025, 95’)
This story of four African women – three adults and one child – who have arrived in Tunisia but are still searching for “salvation” in the form of freedom and peace, highlights the authenticity of each of them, with the complexity of their aspirations and fragility. One is an evangelical pastor, devoted to her community but eager to bond with the child without a family; another is undocumented, but not without the will to make it, even if it means resorting to illegality; a third is an ambitious student who, however, comes up against racism and the arbitrariness of the country that welcomes her – not to mention the silent and innocent hope of the little orphan. Their journeys, united by unwavering solidarity, weave a film of great moral and aesthetic richness, which deserves a wide audience. – Italian preview in collaboration with FESCAAL – MILAN
MEDFILM WORKS IN PROGRESS
The MedFilm Works in Progress Jury, composed of Sara Fgaier, Maria Teresa Cavina, and Antonio Badalamenti, has decided:
Oim Prize (€10.000) to IN A MANNER OF SPEAKING by VAL JASHARI (Kosovo), produced by Valmira Hyseni.
Stadion Video Award (€3.500) to HALIMA by YASSINE EL IDRISSI (Morocco), produced by Yassine el Idrissi
Fm Records Award (€1.000) for the production of the original soundtrack and free licensing of the FM Records catalogue for use in the film WHERE I END AND YOU BEGIN by David Power (Italy/Romania), produced by Raffaella Pontarelli.
The professionals participating in MedPitching have decided:
Medpitching Prize (€1.000) a EL BASTARDIYA (ONCE UPON A TIME IN TRIPOLI) by ABDULLAH AL-GHALY (Egypt/Libya), produced by Hala Lotfy
AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS AWARD
Amnesty International has awarded the Amnesty International Human Rights Award at the 31st edition of the MedFilm Festival to:
WITH HASAN IN GAZA by KAMAL AL JAFARI (Germany/Palestine/France/Qatar, 2025, 106’)
This film is a poignant testimony to a reality that can never be recovered. Everything we see in the film does not exist anymore: the houses, the croplands, the roads, the universities are now rubble, and almost certainly most of the people filmed at the time are no longer alive due to subsequent conflicts and the ongoing genocide. Images shot two decades ago unexpectedly become a denunciation and convey the need to continue talking about Gaza, about the life that existed then and no longer exists now, about the human rights violations that have never ceased.
WWF MEDFILM AWARD
The Award is given to the film that is most “capable of portraying, against the backdrop and with an original and effective narrative, the increasingly close connection between environmental conditions and the lives of communities and individuals living in the Mediterranean region”. The jury of the WWF MedFilm Award, composed of Paola Di Mitri, Stefano Liberti, and Elisabetta Pellini, awarded the WWF MEDFILM AWARD (€1,000) to
CIUDAD SIN SUEÑO by GUILLERMO GALOE (Spain/France, 2025, 97′)
The film offers an incisive look at one of Europe’s largest illegal shanty towns — inhabited by families involved in the scrap metal trade and forced to choose between their land and an uncertain future. In this context, the environmental dimension emerges strongly: the earth as a resource of identity and material, the tools of demolition that destroy not only housing but also the balance with the territory, and scrapping itself as a metaphor for the production cycle and urban-environmental degradation. With essential visual language and a narrative that combines real and symbolic dimensions, the film invites the audience to reflect on how the environmental crisis also involves the loss of place, land and social fabric. The jury is delighted to award him the prize for his ability to represent, with strength and poetry, the intersection between the environment, territory and social justice.
MEDFILM FESTIVAL XXXI — COLLATERAL AWARDS
UNIVERSITY JURY AWARD
The University Jury consists of two parallel and independent juries, one for each Competition (Feature Films and Short Films), and is composed of students from the ISO Italian Institute of Oriental Studies, Faculty of Arts and Philosophy, La Sapienza University of Rome, Department of Philosophy, Faculty of Arts and Philosophy, La Sapienza University of Rome, Department of History, Anthropology, Religions, Art and Entertainment, Faculty of Arts and Philosophy, La Sapienza University of Rome, Macroarea of Arts and Philosophy, Department of History, Cultural Heritage, Education and Society, Tor Vergata University of Rome, Department of Philosophy, Communication and Performing Arts, Roma Tre University, UNINT University of International Studies, UNIMED – Union of Mediterranean Universities, Luiss Business School – Writing School for Cinema and Television, Major – Master’s Degree in Media and Entertainment, John Cabot University.
❯ BEST FEATURE FILM AWARD
A SAD AND BEAUTIFUL WORLD by CYRIL ARIS (Lebanon/United States/Germany/Saudi Arabia/Qatar, 2025, 106’)
❯ SPECIAL MENTION:
CIUDAD SIN SUEÑO by GUILLERMO GALOE (Spain/France, 2025, 97’)
For courageously telling the stories of people on the margins of society and the right to housing in all its forms, issues that are still taboo today. Through masterful cinematic awareness and technique, capable of representing with palpable authenticity a microcosm steeped in conjecture and prejudice.
❯ BEST SHORT FILM AWARD:
WHAT IF THEY BOMB HERE TONIGHT? by SAMIR SYRIANI (Lebanon, 2025, 17’)
The winning short film strikes a perfect balance between comedy and suspense. With dark humour, it conveys a sense of anxiety in a context of conflict or war, even to those who are not experiencing it. The shots take us into the characters’ psychology, in an apartment that becomes claustrophobic, where mundane, everyday objects are transformed into signs of violence.
❯ SPECIAL MENTION SHORT FILMS:
THE DEVIL AND THE BICYCLE by SHARON HAKIM (France/Lebanon, 2025, 24′)
For bringing visibility to the discovery of female pleasure through Yasma’s eyes. The subject, still considered taboo today, is addressed with irony and lightness, including through criticism of a religious and cultural context that inhibits women’s self-determination.
PIUCULTURE JURY
The Piuculture jury, composed of Gao Chuanyan, Hana Beraki Ghebresilasie, William Mbiena, Klein Marvin Mendiola, Serena Osma, has decided:
❯ BEST FILM:
PROMISED SKY by ERIGE SEHIRI (France/Tunisia/Qatar, 2025, 95’) – Italian premiere in collaboration with FESCAAL – MILAN
A film that finally gives us a glimpse into everyday life on the other side of the Mediterranean, before the crossing, but from a different perspective, one that appears “normal” but reflects the same dynamics of migration: separation, distance, homesickness, precariousness. A “different” narrative that nevertheless highlights the contradictions of complexity where Christian minorities in Muslim lands, sub-Saharans versus North Africans and Maghrebians intersect, but restoring those universal values that make us human: solidarity, altruism, faith and, above all, HOPE, expressed in various ways. Because, in the end, we all live under the same sky.
❯ KOINÈ AWARD 2025:
Awarded to AYA ASHOUR, FATENA MOHANNA AND ALHASSAN SELMI
For defending, with the power of truth and words, the right to information and education, telling the world what it means to live in Gaza today and becoming a symbol of courage, the will to live and commitment to the truth. In a Strip closed to the international press for over two years, Aya Ashour – a 24 year-old journalist and researcher with a degree in international law and a thesis on the role of women in security and peace – narrated with lucidity and profound dignity the horrors of war and the resilience of her people, continuing to bear witness even under the bombs to the reality of her family and civilians trapped in the conflict. A humanitarian worker with Save the Children and Médecins du Monde – Switzerland, and journalist for Il Fatto Quotidiano, Aya Ashour was able to come to Siena as a visiting scholar to participate in the study and research activities of the University for Foreigners. As a “witness to genocide”, as she describes herself, she will be able to continue her work in Italy studying and researching the trauma and damage suffered by the Palestinian people from a gender perspective. “We cannot afford the luxury of forgetting. I want to write, speak, and give a voice to women who have endured displacement and trauma but have continued to move forward. Perhaps the world was never ready to protect us. But we will continue to protect our memory, turning pain into History that no tyrant or fascist will ever be able to erase from the conscience of humanity”. Alongside Aya Ashour, recognition also goes to Fatena Mohanna and Alhassan Selmi, young witnesses to life under siege in Gaza.
Photographer Fatena Mohanna uses powerful and unique images to recount the daily life of a population that continues to resist amid rubble, fear and a lack of future prospects. Her photographs — also used in the recent reportage by Presa Diretta (Rai 3) — offer a direct and necessary insight into the ongoing tragedy.
Alhassan Selmi, journalist, photojournalist and videographer, documents bombings, blackouts and the disappearance of essential goods for international media. She collaborated on the filming of Erasmus in Gaza and the reportage Among the Rubble of Gaza, as well as working with Presa Diretta. Her work gives a voice to those who cannot make themselves heard, conveying the reality of the Strip without mediation. Both are currently in Gaza; this award is intended to help facilitate their arrival in Italy, through university corridors, so that they can continue their education in safety.
❯ LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD 2025:
Assigned to TONY GATLIF
For having celebrated, through his humanist and revolutionary cinema—vibrant and authentic—the power of art as a universal language. Drawing on his dual Algerian and Romani origins, which have inspired most of his work, his universe is populated by timeless characters shaped by geography and movement, whose personal and historical journeys reflect every return to one’s roots. Cultural blending, the convergence of worlds, the exploration of margins, and nomadic identities are among the recurring themes that help make Tony Gatlif one of the most daring and stimulating filmmakers of our time, an tireless poet of travel and freedom.
