03/10/2019 - Other winners at the 17th edition of the Albanian event included Take Me Somewhere Nice, Cold November and A Decent Man, while the Iranian short Tattoo qualified for Oscars

Ismet Sijarina with his Best Screenplay Award for Cold November, flanked by Albanian Minister of Culture Elva Margariti

Bulgarian directors Kristina Grozeva and Petar Valchanov's Karlovy Vary Crystal Globe winner The Father [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: GoCritic! Interview: Kristi…
interview: Kristina Grozeva, Petar Val…
film profile] scooped the main award, the Golden Owl for Best Feature Film, at the 17th Tirana International Film Festival (23-29 September).

Bosnian-Dutch filmmaker Ena Sendijarević picked up Best Director for her Heart of Sarajevo winner Take Me Somewhere Nice [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Ena Sendijarević
film profile], while Ismet Sijarina and Arjan Krasniqi pocketed Best Screenplay for Cold November [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Ismet Sijarina
film profile] (Kosovo/Albania).

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The Best Eye on TIFF Prize for Best Debut Film went to Hadrian Marcu's A Decent Man [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Hadrian Marcu
film profile] (Romania), and Tonia Mishiali received a Special Mention for Pause [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Tonia Mishiali
film profile] (Cyprus/Greece). Aga's House [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Lendita Zeqiraj
film profile] by Kosovar filmmaker Lendita Zeqiraj bagged the Audience Award.

As of this year's edition, the Tirana IFF is one of the qualifying festivals for the Academy Awards for short films, and its nominee is the fiction film Tattoo by Iranian director Farhad Delaram, which won the Best Short Film Award. In addition, Romania's Bogdan Mureșanu received the Best Short Fiction gong for The Christmas Gift, while Russian filmmaker Konstantin Bronzit picked up Best Animation for He Can't Live Without Cosmos.

Switzerland's Julia Bünter won in the documentary competition with Fiancées [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], while Katja Fedulova's The Patriot (Germany) received the Best Short or Mid-length Prize.

The Prize for Best Film in the Albanian Language went to Samir Karahoda's Berlinale short In Between, and the Student Oscar winner in the International Film Schools category, Daria Kashcheeva's Daughter (Czech Republic), received the Best Student Film Award.

Here is the full list of award winners:

Feature Competition

Best Film
The Father [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: GoCritic! Interview: Kristi…
interview: Kristina Grozeva, Petar Val…
film profile] - Kristina Grozeva, Petar Valchanov (Bulgaria/Greece)

Best Director
Ena Sendijarević - Take Me Somewhere Nice [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Ena Sendijarević
film profile] (Netherlands/Bosnia and Herzegovina)

Best Screenplay
Ismet Sijarina, Arjan Krasniqi - Cold November [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Ismet Sijarina
film profile] (Kosovo/Albania)

Best Eye on TIFF - Debut Feature
A Decent Man [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Hadrian Marcu
film profile] - Hadrian Marcu (Romania)

Special Mention
Pause [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Tonia Mishiali
film profile] - Tonia Mishiali (Cyprus/Greece)

Documentary Competition

Best Documentary
Fiancées [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] - Julia Bünter (Switzerland)

Best Short or Mid-length Documentary
The Patriot - Katja Fedulova (Germany)

Short Film Competition

Best Short Film (Academy Awards qualification)
Tattoo - Farhad Delaram (Iran)

Best Short Fiction
The Christmas Gift - Bogdan Mureșanu (Romania)

Best Short Animation
He Can’t Live Without Cosmos - Konstantin Bronzit (Russia)

Student, Balkan, Video Art and Experimental Competition

Best Student Film
Daughter - Daria Kashcheeva (Czech Republic)

Best Video Art and Experimental Film
Epoch - Kevin McGloughlin (Ireland)

Best Balkan Film
A Jar of Nuts - Savvas Stavrou (Cyprus)

Special Mention
An Unforgettable Spring in a Forgotten Village - Kushtrim Bekteshi (North Macedonia/Albania)

Best Film in the Albanian Language
In Between - Samir Karahoda (Kosovo)

"Ron Holloway" Best Debut Film Award
A+ - Behrang Mirzayi (Iran)

Honorary Award
Ali Asgari and Farnoosh Samadi (Iran)