'Selamlik' Wins Eurimages Award at Karlovy Vary
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- "Selamlik" (Sweden/Denmark), directed by Jerry Carlsson and written by Khaled Alesmael, won the Eurimages Co-Production Development Award carrying a €20,000 ($22,800) cash prize.
- The jury praised "Selamlik" — about a Syrian writer exiled in Sweden reuniting with his former lover in Córdoba — for resonating with today's geopolitical context of displacement.
- "Reminiscence" (Ukraine), directed by Anastasia Tykha and produced by Darya Bassel, won both an additional €20,000 prize and the Connecting Cottbus Award; the jury highlighted its all-female creative team.
- "Reminiscence" follows a woman returning to her Ukrainian hometown three years after her brother vanished in the war, reconnecting with his veteran childhood friend.
- "They Bloom at Dawn" (North Macedonia), directed by Angela Dimeska, won the Midpoint and KVIFF Development Award (€10,000) for a story about environmental crisis and family bonds.
- The Rotterdam Lab Award went to Monika Matuszewska, producer of Poland's "Confirmation," while the Marché du Film Producers Network Award went to Czech producers Tomáš Hrubý ("Cowgirl") and Eva Váchová ("A Few Branches Off").
Why it matters: The €50,000 in combined KVIFF Promises prize money flows to projects explicitly framed by juries as addressing today's geopolitical and environmental crises — a Syrian exile drama, a Ukrainian war-grief story, and a lakeside village fighting a luxury resort.
