The jury
Dmytro Desiateryk (Ukraine), Simon Popek (Slovenia), Ayla Kanbur (Turkey)
Awarded films
-
Lesson Learned by
Balint Szimler
(Hungary, 2024, 119 min) -
Citizen-Inmate by
Hesam Eslami
(Iran, 2025, 15 min)
Golden Tulip İnternational Competition
Lesson Learned
Motivation: “The FIPRESCI jury awards Lesson Learned for its elegant structure and powerful voice. Set in a school, the film tackles urgent social and political issues in contemporary Hungary. With emotional precision, humour, and outstanding work with child actors, director Bálint Szimler moves beyond conventional social critique, mocking cowardice, narrow-mindedness, and aggression to offer a bold and humanist reflection on sacrifice and the pursuit of freedom”.
Short Film Competition
Citizen Inmate
Motivation: “Assigned to monitor prisoners shackled at the ankles, the officer fails to recognize his own captivity. Director Hesam Eslami, masterfully blends fiction with reality and reveals that, ironically, how authoritarian regimes imprison themselves in the very act of imprisoning others“.