Flemish Competition
On Saturday 7 December, the winners received their awards. In the Flemish Competition, the jury awarded Object 817 by Olga Lucovnicova with the prize for Best Flemish Short Film. That earns the short documentary a place on the Oscar longlist for Best Short Documentary.
In the Flemish Fiction category, Sigi Van Roy's Les enfants iront bien took home the jury prize. The jury justified its choice with the impressive authenticity of the actors, the strong script and the director's meticulous powers of observation. This bachelor work receives €12.500 worth of facilities, gifted by Camalux. The Audience Award in the Flemish fiction competition goes to Ma mère et l'étrangère by Bjarne Jacobs. That awards the film with a purchase prize worth €2.000 from VRT CANVAS and €5.000 worth of facilities gifted by Sondr and A Sound.
The Jury Prize for Best Debut goes to The World is My Idea by Alexander Wolfgang Smadja. Thanks to the original storytelling, the vivid and immersive world the director creates, filled with eccentric characters and bold visual choices, the jury fell in love with this debut film. SABAM gifted the winner €1.500.
The Jury Award for Best Acting Performance goes to Maaike Cafmeyer for her role in De stier by Victor Nauwynck. She receives a prize of €1.000 from PlayRight.
The Jury Award for Best Cinematography goes to Director of Photography Pauwel Billiau. He receives the award for his work in Tropa by Niels Devlieghere. The prize amounted to €1.000 and was donated by Camalux.
The Jury chose Object 817 by Olga Lucovnicova as Best Short Documentary in the Flemish Competition. For that, she is rewarded with €7.500 by Camalux.
In the Flemish Animation Competition, the audience chose Joe Murray's Fiego and the Magic Fish as the big favourite. VRT CANVAS will be pleased with their purchase of €2,000. The jury prize for Best Animation went to Raaf by Jeroen Ceulebrouck.
European Competition
In the European competition, the jury awarded L'avance by Djiby Kebe, which includes a prize of €1,000 from Kortfilmfestival Leuven. The jury is also nominating the film for the European Film Awards 2025. The film will also receive an Academy Award qualification in the Best Live Action Fiction Short Film category. Audiences within the European Competition fell completely for Malu Janssen's historical drama Barlebas. Dalton Distribution offers to purchase the short film for €1,000.
The Peer Award is being presented for the fifth time this year. The Sea in Between by Lun Sevnik was the peer favourite. The award earns him a spot as one of the jury members at Kortfilmfestival Leuven 2025.
Guest awards
Some guest awards were also presented. On Wednesday, 4 November, the Humo audience chose De leider komt by Michiel Geluykens and Manuel Janssens as the winner of the Humo Award. They are offered a €600 purchase prize by Dalton Distribution and Humo. The Press Award in the Flemish fiction competition goes to Daniel Van den Berg is dood by Ali Baharlou. UBFP and UFK organise this prize. The winners of the Pitch Your Script Award are Charlotte De Cort and Luca Peres-Bota. They both received €5.000 worth of facilities from Camalux to produce their films.
Jury
Michał Toczek (director & winner of last edition's Peer Award), Hilke Rönnfeldt (director & winner of the European Competition in 2023) and Anthony Nti (director & winner of multiple prizes in 2016 and 2019) judged the European entries.
Miguel Dias (director & programmer Curtas Vila do Conde), Anne Gaschütz (director Filmfest Dresden) and Christina Vandekerckhove (director and winner of the Humo prize in 2020) decided who won the jury prizes in the Flemish Competition.
