The jury
Mihai Fulger (Romania), Ladislav Volko (Slovakia), Pierre Charpilloz (France)
Jury motivation for the winning film:
“The FIPRESCI Prize goes to a daring and subtle montage film, whose director plunges
passionately into archives to investigate personal aspirations and social constraints in Romania
between World War II and the early 1990s. The constantly calm and deliberately imperfect
female narrative voice contrasts with the surprising and sometimes shocking revelations
regarding the film’s obsessive male figure, whose complexity is gradually revealed. The director
playfully blends documented reality with constructed fiction, raising significant questions about
the captured/produced images, as well as the effect of time on these images. Ana Lungu’s
Merman (Triton) is an absorbing and stimulating essay film that viewers cannot forget easily.”
FIPRESCI celebrates 100th anniversary:
Three films that have been awarded with the FIPRESCI Prize – I’m Still Here (2024), Love (2024) and The Death of Mr. Lazarescu (2005, 20-year anniversary screening) were shown preceded by the introduction and anniversary speech by each of the three members of the FIPRESCI jury. Titles were featured in the catalogue as part of the FIPRESCI tribute.