30/01/2024 - Stories of resistance and self-affirmation, all tackling the urge to fight back, scooped prizes at the annual gathering founded by Emir Kusturica

The 17th edition of the Kustendorf Film and Music Festival has reached a glorious conclusion after five days of films, discussion and artistic exchange amidst the snowy hilltops of Drvengrad, Serbia. Celebrating the fact that we’re “all students in our ongoing film education”, the festival, founded by Emir Kusturica, was once again dedicated to bringing together different generations of filmmakers as peers.

That same devotion could be felt in the air at the closing ceremony, fittingly falling on St Sava’s Day (patron saint of schools and education), when Kusturica took time on stage to praise the short-filmmakers in the competition for their genuine social awareness and compassion for the underrepresented.

The international jury was presided over by famed Italian novelist Sandro Veronesi, and included Serbian actress Bojana Panić and director-producer Muzaffarkhon Erkinov from Uzbekistan. Together, they bestowed the Golden Egg – the festival’s main award – upon Violent Country by Russian filmmaker Mikhail Gorobchuk, which is about a small girl and her dream world, set against the harsh backdrop of reality in the spirit of Andrei Tarkovsky. An Indian film took home the Silver Egg, and on its very first festival screening, to boot: Shanti is director Vivek Rai’s calling card, praised highly by the jury for its storytelling and character building.

Meanwhile, the Bronze Egg was won by Croatian writer-director David Gašo and his film Short Cut Grass, where a child’s game of hide and seek brought in some incomparable poeticism that impressed the jury. That film’s cinematographer, Tin Ostrošić, was also deserving of a Special Mention from the other festival jury – that of the Vinko Filač Award for Best Cinematography. Composed of Sarajevo-born, Rome-based DoP Vladan Radović and his French colleague Michel Amathieu, the jury gave its prize to Stellan Runge, the cinematographer of the rural coming-of-age story Madden by Swedish director Malin Ingrid Johansson. Madden has continuously received praise since its Berlinale premiere last year, including winning Best Swedish Short at Göteborg 2023 and a Special Mention from the Kustendorf international jury, alongside Highway of a Broken Heart by Nikos Kyritsis, commended for “the outstanding performance by female actor Elena Topalidou”.

Here is the complete list of award winners at the 17th edition of Kustendorf:

Golden Egg
Violent Country - Mikhail Gorobchuk (Russia)

Silver Egg
Shanti - Vivek Rai (India)

Bronze Egg
Short Cut Grass - David Gašo (Croatia)

Special Mentions
Madden - Malin Ingrid Johansson (Sweden)
Highway of a Broken Heart - Nikos Kyritsis (Greece)

Best Cinematography
Stellan Runge - Madden
Special Mention
Tin Ostrošić - Short Cut Grass