02/04/2025 - Mo Harawe’s film continues its winning streak, while Lisa Polster’s feature debut, Bürglkopf, has taken home the top prize in the documentary category

Director Mo Harawe (centre) with his awards for The Village Next to Paradise (© Harald Wawrzyniak/Diagonale)

On 31 March, just before the Diagonale Film Festival came to an end a day later, the 20 awards of the 2025 edition of the gathering were handed out at the Annenhof cinema. All award winners received a work of art designed and created by artist Anna Paul: the golden Diagonale nut, a life-size bronze sculpture of a nutmeg. It was an edition that was also overshadowed by budget cuts affecting the prize money, courtesy of the new Styrian government.

This year’s Best Fiction Feature Award went to Mo Harawe’s The Village Next to Paradise [+see also:
film review
film profile]. The jury stated that the film had “a fine sense of nuance, developing its gentle impact in the process”. The movie previously won the Vienna Film Award for Best Austrian Film at the 2024 Viennale. This time, it received €15,000 from the Culture Department of the Federal State of Styria, €1,000 donated by streaming platform watchAUT as well as a €3,000 coupon for ads on watchAUT. Additionally, €4,000 were donated as a voucher by The Grand Post – Post Production House.

The same allocation of prize money and vouchers went to Lisa Polster’s feature-length debut, Bürglkopf, which first premiered at the Max Ophüls Prize earlier this year and received the main award in the documentary category. The jury applauded its “complex picture of Austrian and European migration policy, and of everyday racism”. Director Polster and her cinematographer Jasmin Schwendinger “fundamentally shift the concept of a beautiful view”, turning the picturesque Tyrol into a murky prison.

Michael Güzlow won the Diagonale Prize for Innovative Cinema by the City of Graz with his film Der tote Winkel der Wahrnehmung, with the prize money consisting of €6,000 from the Cultural Department of the City of Graz, a €2,000 voucher for consultation at the Golden Girls production company, and a €2,000 voucher for production services by Golden Girls, post.haus and colourist Susi Dollnig. The jury lauded Güzlow and the movie, which follows two women in search of paranormal phenomena in Vienna in 1996, for the use of “sophisticated montages to combine found footage from this period with material he filmed himself in order to dissolve the boundary between the fictional and the documentary”.

The Diagonale Prize for Best Short Fiction Film and Best Short Documentary went to Reza Rasouli’s Night of Passage and Josephine Ahnelt’s III, respectively. The Diagonale Prize from the Youth Jury for Best Young Talent Film went to an already award-festooned movie: Lisa Polster’s Bürglkopf, once again.

The Diagonale Prizes for Editing went to Roland Stöttinger for Mond [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Kurdwin Ayub
film profile] (in the Best Artistic Editing in a Fiction Feature category) and to Michael Palm for Henry Fonda for President [+see also:
film review
interview: Alexander Horwath
film profile] (for the documentary equivalent). Best Cinematography in a Fiction Feature could be found in The Village Next to Paradise, shot by Mostafa El Kasheef; the equivalent documentary gong went to Serafin Spitzer and Serhiy “Stefan” Stetsenko for Dear Beautiful Beloved [+see also:
film review
film profile]. Best Sound Design for a Fiction Feature went to Benedikt Palier for Bluish [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], and Best Sound Design for a Documentary Feature was granted to Mariia Nesterenko and Adrii Rogachov for Dear Beautiful Beloved. Best Film Music was bestowed upon Dorit Chrysler for Happyland [+see also:
film review
film profile] in the fiction feature category, and to Alicia Mendy and Baby Volcano for Girls & Gods [+see also:
interview: Arash T Riahi, Verena Soltiz
film profile] in the documentary one. Best Production Design went to Klaudia Kiczak and Best Costume Design to Monika Buttinger, both for their work on Perla [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Alexandra Makarová
film profile]. The movie also picked up the Audience Award.

Last but not least, a fresh face once again triumphed in the acting department, as Florentina Holzinger won for her debut performance in Kurdwin Ayub’s Mond, while Marie-Luise Stockinger, a more seasoned thesp, emerged victorious for her turn in Ulrike Kofler’s Gina [+see also:
film review
film profile]. The VAM Prize for Outstanding Production Services went to Ruth Beckerman Filmproduktion and producer Ruth Beckermann herself for her documentary Favoriten [+see also:
film review
interview: Ruth Beckermann
film profile], as well as to Freibeuter Film GmbH and producers Sabine Moser and Oliver Neumann for The Village Next to Paradise.

Here is the full list of award winners:

Grand Diagonale Prize of the Province of Styria - Best Fiction Feature
The Village Next to Paradise [+see also:
film review
film profile] – Mo Harawe (Austria/France/Germany/Somalia)

Grand Diagonale Prize of the Province of Styria - Best Documentary Film
Bürglkopf – Lisa Polster (Austria/Germany)

Diagonale Prize for Innovative Cinema by the City of Graz - Best Innovative, Experimental or Animation Film
Der tote Winkel der Wahrnehmung – Michael Güzlow (Austria)

Diagonale Prize for Best Short Fiction Film
Night of Passage – Reza Rasouli (Austria)

Diagonale Prize for Best Short Documentary Film from the KULTUM
III – Josephine Ahnelt (Austria)

Diagonale Prize from the Youth Jury of the Province of Styria - Best Young Talent Film
Bürglkopf – Lisa Polster

Diagonale Prizes for Editing from the Verband Filmschnitt

Best Artistic Editing in a Fiction Feature
Roland Stottinger – Mond [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Kurdwin Ayub
film profile] (Austria)

Best Artistic Editing in a Documentary Film
Michael Palm – Henry Fonda for President [+see also:
film review
interview: Alexander Horwath
film profile] (Austria/Germany)

Diagonale Cinematography Prizes from the Verband Österreichischer Kameraleute AAC

Best Cinematography in a Fiction Feature
Mostafa El Kasheef – The Village Next to Paradise

Best Cinematography in a Documentary Film
Serafin Spitzer, Serhiy “Stefan” Stetsenko – Dear Beautiful Beloved [+see also:
film review
film profile] (Austria)

Diagonale Prizes for Sound Design from the Berufsvereinigung der Filmtonschaffenden Österreichs – Filmton Austria

Best Sound Design in a Fiction Feature
Benedikt Palier – Bluish [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] (Austria)

Best Sound Design in a Documentary Film
Mariia Nesterenko, Andrii Rogachov – Dear Beautiful Beloved

Diagonale Award for Film Composition of the Austrian Composers Association

Best Original Score in a Fiction Feature
Dorit Chrysler – Happyland [+see also:
film review
film profile] (Austria/Belgium)

Best Original Score in a Documentary Film
Alicia Mendy, Baby Volcano – Girls & Gods [+see also:
interview: Arash T Riahi, Verena Soltiz
film profile] (Austria/Switzerland)

Diagonale Prizes for Production Design and Costume Design from the Verband Österreichischer Filmausstatter*innen VÖF

Best Production Design
Klaudia Kiczak – Perla [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Alexandra Makarová
film profile] (Austria/Slovakia)

Best Costume Design
Monika Buttinger – Perla

Diagonale Acting Prizes in cooperation with the VdFS – Verwertungsgesellschaft der Filmschaffenden
Florentina Holzinger – Mond
Marie-Luise Stockinger – Gina [+see also:
film review
film profile] (Austria)

VAM Prize for Outstanding Production Services (ex aequo)
Ruth Beckermann Filmproduktion – Favoriten [+see also:
film review
interview: Ruth Beckermann
film profile] (producer Ruth Beckermann)
Freibeuter Film GmbH – The Village Next to Paradise (producers Sabine Moser, Oliver Neumann)

Audience Award
Perla - Alexandra Makarová