On Saturday 19th of April 2025 at 7:30 PM the winners of the different categories of the 43rd edition of the International Film Festival of Uruguay were announced during a ceremony which took place in the Sala Zitarrosa, in the presence of directors, jury, press and public.

Complete list of winners

International Feature Film

Jury: Guilherme de Alencar Pinto, Javier Rebollo, Laura Citarella

Jury Grand Prix: Jia Zhang-ke’s Caught by the tides (China, 2024)

Special Mentions

Iván Fund’s The Message (Argentina, Spain, Uruguay, 2025) “for bringing together a director to an exceptional human and acting group and proving that other ways of narrating and making cinema are possible”.

Laura Carreira’s On falling (United Kingdom, Portugal, 2024) “for its devastating portrait heavy with lyricism of a fake welfare Europe”.

Best direction

Albert Serra for Afternoons of Solitude (Spain, France, Portugal, 2024)

Alain Guiraudie for Misericordia (France, Spain, Portugal, 2024)

“for both believing in images as a way of thinking, freed in their mystery, far from current trends and taboos. For defending free images and films”.

Best picture: Radu Jude’s Kontinental ‘25 (Romania, 2025)

Ibero-American Feature Film

Jury: Laura Nevole, Rafael Saar, Vera Robert

“After a hard deliberation [because we saw beautiful and very diverse movies], this jury will give out two special mentions and finally, an award to the best Ibero-American feature film.

“with a unique film the director invites us to rediscover cinema as if we were seeing it for the first time, reminding us that images matter to us and have a soul. The jury awards a special mention to Close To The Sultan (Spain, France, 2024) by director Javier Rebollo.

“For building a fascinating universe narrated with fluidity, cinematographic originality and complexity, and with unforgettable acting, the jury awards a special mention to Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed (Argentina, Spain, Uruguay, 2024) by Hernán Rosselli.

“For the poetic and political power built from a dreamlike language which frames the characters’ absence, the jury awards the prize for the Ibero-American category to The Memory of Butterflies (Peru, Portugal, 2025), from director Tatiana Fuentes Sadowski”.

New Directors

Jury: Maren Zubeldia, Martín Shanly, Rita Nunes

The special mention was given to Murat Fıratoğlu’s One of those days when Hemme dies (Türkiye, 2024): “with acuteness, this film manages to make sense of an exercise opposing contemplation and rage because of labour over-exploitation. The here and now collide absurdly, and without losing poetry within this thirst for vengeance.”

The best film in New directors category was India Donaldson’s Good One (United States, 2024) “for its capacity to portray patriarchy in each daily aspect in a sensitive and subtle way, showing with an unusual familiarity the contradictions and tensions one has to face in a system which eventually ends up losing”.

Human Rights Cinema

Jury: Agustina Rodríguez Tabacco, Natalia Hernández Silveira, Ramón Lluís Bande. 

The special mentions went to The Landscape and the Fury (Switzerland, 2024) by Nicole Vögele which “from a clear broken beauty […] makes the current migration situation in Europe and the Balkan war dialogue with each other, as they might be two sides of the same conflict: the fear of the other. An honest and profound humanist look to a landscape punished by history”.

and to Norita (Argentina, United States, 2024) by Jason McNamara and Andrea Tortonese and justified: “Can the recent history of a country be explained through the life of one woman? Norita’s life crosses many of the struggles in the last few years in Argentina, from the fight for memory, truth and justice, to the recent feminist conquests in the country. The film managed to trace this trajectory, reinforcing the humanity of a woman who, despite everything, is free. A necessary film before the revisionism of the two demons”.

The best film in the Human Rights cinema category was A Fidai Film (Palestine, Germany, Qatar, 2024) by Kamal Aljafari. “A Fidai Film puts a spotlight on the right of the Palestinian people to the construction of its own image from a suggestion which does not give up on aesthetic ambition. It gives back to the Palestinian people images seized for decades, and with this the possibility to build its own visual imaginary. The film allows to track the antecedents of the current genocide on the Palestinian people, which is being committed before the indifference of the international community”.

Youth Jury

Jury: Emiliano Fontán Pereyra, Guillermo Yacusa, Joaquín Perg, Maia Colom, Matilde Rodríguez. 

The youth jury awarded special mentions to the films Punku by J.D. Fernandez Molero for “best non-conventional narration, fictional originality, free expression and managing of diverse formats and times; which accentuate and affirm the director’s relation to the Peruvian folklore” and to We Believe You by Charlotte Devilliers and Arnaud Dufeys for “best acting to Myriem Akheddiou for the ability to sustain the emotional density required by the script”.

The best feature film is Radu Jude’s Kontinental ‘25 (Romania, 2025) “for its contemporary relevance, questioning the ways of living in this neoliberal era and widely involving us in a sociopolitical way, with a touch of satire and cinematographic ingenuity”.

Children’s short films (8-11 years)

Jury: Bruno Taretto Rodríguez, Isabel Iglesias, Josefina López Bastos, Julia Fernández Viera, Simón Sapone Martínez.

The jury has decided to give out the following awards with the argument:

“Because we really liked the animation and the colors as well as the message that we can miss incredible things from being on the phone, the first special mention goes to The girl with the occupied eyes from director André Carrilho (Portugal, 2024).

“The second special mention goes to Akababuru: Expression of Astonishment (Colombia, 2025) from director Irati Dojura Landa Yagarí, because it shows a reality different from the one we are used to and especially the place of women and girls.

“The award from the children jury goes to Dragfox (United Kingdom, 2024) by Lisa Ott. For the huge stop-motion work and for the message that is given us of a child looking for his identity because everyone has the right to be who they want to be”.

Children’s Feature and Short Films (12-15 years)

Jury: Antonia Castro Senda, Clara Vaz, Dante Rodríguez Osores, Oliverio Molinaro Eijo, Paula Zas.

In the deliberation the jury decided to give out the following awards with the argument:

“The special mention for Children’s Feature Film (12-15 years) goes to Jahia’s Summer (Belgium, France, Luxembourg, 2024) by Olivier Meys. We wanted to give the mention to this film which impacted us with its social topic and we believe it is important to speak up. Because no one in the world is illegal and emigrating is a right.

“The best Children’s Feature Film (12-15 years) goes to The Nature of Invisible Things (Brazil, Chile, 2025) by Rafaela Camelo. Addressing grief withing childhood is complex. The death of identity, its rebirth, goodbyes, family and home are some of the characteristics forming this movie, which reached and moved us.

“The best Children’s Short Film (12-15 years) goes to La durmiente (Portugal, Spain, 2025) by Maria Inês Gonçalves. For the construction and the setting which brings us to this world of child play where the limit between reality and fantasy blurs to tell the story”.

Short Films

Jury: Ana David, Daniel Tornero, Francisco Lezama.

The special mention for international short films went to UNDR by Kamal Aljafari (Palestine, Germany, 2024) “for its eerie depiction of parallel historical realities that should only coexist in a dystopian film – the inhabiting of one’s own land and its relentless devastation at the hands of others […]. Making skillful use of archival footage, UNDR invites its viewers to contemplate a country’s natural and cultural richness, visible in such images, while reminding them of a too-long-lasting colonial practice: that of the destruction of the Palestinian land”.

The best international short film was Towards the Sun, Far from the Center (Chile, 2024) directed by Pascal Viveros and Luciana Merino “for its ability to reimagine the urban space of Santiago de Chile with an inventive visual and sound proposal […]. Through an innovative narrative, this short imagines an emotional architecture where the intimate expands into the public sphere. Avoiding both cynicism and utopia, Towards the Sun, Far from the Center offers a concrete and real possibility: to inhabit the city with a dissident tenderness.”

The special mention for Uruguayan short film went to Formas del Silencio (Uruguay, 2025) by Santiago Cabezudo “for the storytelling simplicity and emotional richness found in this portrait of a late family member […]. May cinema continue to exist to capture and disseminate a country’s own artists and their art while offering images of pure tenderness, such as that of a united family around the legacy of a dear one”.

The best Uruguayan short film was El reciclaje (Uruguay, 2025) by Tomás Piriz “for its exploration and questioning of personal and family conventions and its delving into the concept of loneliness from a comic perspective […]. Through the transformations, contradictions and impulses of its characters, the film shapes a human and tender portrait”.

ACCU – Ibero-American Feature Film

Jury: Diego Faraone, Luciana Rodríguez, Micaela Dominguez Prost.

The best feature film went to Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed (Argentina, Spain, Uruguay, 2024) by Hernán Rosselli.

“This is a film which blurs the limits between reality and fiction, bringing us closer to a heavy family tradition: underground sports betting in suburban Buenos Aires, a world as unknown as it is close”. 

The jury also gave a special mention to Salve Maria (Spain, 2024) by director Mar Coll for “a film which shows the darkest side of motherhood highlighting a taboo and controversial subject: the rejection of one’s own child. The main actress’s work stands out, interpreting a complex and uncomfortable character”.

La búsqueda de Martina (Brazil, Uruguay, 2024) by Márcia Faria was awarded best film by audience vote and was announced on Monday, April 21st on Cinemateca Uruguaya’s social media accounts.