The Blue Angel for Best Film of the International Competition of Films from Central and Eastern Europe at the 32nd IFF Art Film Košice (19 – 25 June 2026) will be announced at the closing ceremony on Wednesday, 24 June. The winner was decided by a three-member jury: Ewa Mazierska, Professor of Film Studies at the University of Central Lancashire, author of English-language monographs on Jerzy Skolimowski (director of EO, 2022, Academy Award nominee) and Roman Polanski, and Principal Editor of the journal Studies in Eastern European Cinema; Siddiq Barmak, Afghan director whose film Osama (2003), the first Afghan feature film shot in Afghanistan after the fall of the Taliban, won the Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film in 2004; and Slovak cinema dramaturge Martin Kočiško, head of the Artkino za zrkadlom cinema in the Zrkadlový háj Cultural Centre in Bratislava-Petržalka.
Ewa Mazierska entered the screenings without preconceptions and gradually discovered a common theme. “I didn’t come with special expectations. I was curious what these films would be about, given that they come from many different countries, and I was looking for connections and differences between them. The connections were there, as expected, but so were the surprises. One of them was that most of the films focused on family life. In the past we expected Eastern European cinema to be very political or openly political. I wouldn’t say politics has disappeared entirely, but most films in the selection were rather personal stories from a microhistorical perspective,” said Mazierska.
A move away from politics in film is not a negative signal for her. “I don’t see it as good or bad — you can have a good or a bad film about politics, just as you can have a good or a bad film about family life. But I assume it says something about the political life of these countries. It suggests that life there is relatively stable. The only openly political film concerned the war in Ukraine; films from Hungary, Slovakia, Georgia or Romania didn’t tackle such big themes. Rather, it reflects that life there is reasonably calm,” she explained.
When watching films, Mazierska follows above all emotion and rhythm, not analysis. “I always watch films very emotionally — it is a kind of gut feeling, either you want to stay in the cinema or you want to leave. Only then do I think about why I liked the film. I like films that are like music; when I feel rhythm in them, I go with them,” said Mazierska. Among the formal innovations she noted a typical feature of recent years. “Many scenes today are shot with a drone, bird’s-eye perspectives. In the past this required helicopters or cranes and very expensive equipment. Today it can be done substantially cheaper and filmmakers obviously use it. Sometimes it works, sometimes it is more of a gimmick, but it is one of the most visible innovations in cinema of the last decade,” she added.
As an academic who writes about work, everyday life and gender, Mazierska also follows these themes in selection. “The theme of work always interests me. In this selection a lot of films were dedicated to work — manual as well as creative — including the work of filmmakers themselves. There was a meta-narrative element; filmmakers focused on the creative work of actors, painters, colleagues. The theme of social security was also interesting; that is quite a new aspect of Eastern European film,” she said. Her message to young filmmakers is clear: “Pay attention to the script. Even if you want to do everything yourself, it’s worth having someone who writes the script or works on it with you. The main problem we ran into in the selection was always the story. If the story was good, the film was good. If it was bad, a bad story cannot be saved,” summed up Ewa Mazierska.
For Afghan director Siddiq Barmak, author of the Golden Globe-winning Osama, the first Afghan feature film shot in Afghanistan after the fall of the Taliban, the Košice competition was above all about discovery. “Everyone expects new discoveries, new talents, unique stories. I greatly appreciate the selection committee, especially Viera Langerová, for choosing beautiful, strong films that brought out a lot of thoughts. It was really difficult to choose just one as the best,” said Barmak. He recalls the jury deliberations without conflict: “We had very similar thoughts and choices. It wasn’t difficult,” he added.
The strength of CEE films, according to Barmak, lies in their narrative form. “Most of these films have a strong way of speaking about the social and private lives of people in Central and Eastern European conditions, mostly about the challenges that touch us and force us to think about how to solve these problems. They bring a new image of people, nature and the future,” he said. He pointed out that we essentially tell the same stories the nineteenth-century classics told, but the form changes. “We probably tell the same stories, but form makes a big difference — narration, the way the subject is presented. In this regard new talented directors from Central and Eastern Europe have found very good ways of telling stories. I also discovered excellent cinematographers and strong acting performances; there are many films that deserve attention. I hope audiences will also enjoy them,” said Siddiq Barmak.
To young filmmakers, with whom he also held a masterclass at the festival, Barmak gave simple advice: “Don’t be afraid of your mistakes. Make your own film. Trust your heart and your mind,” he said.
The closing ceremony of the 32nd IFF Art Film Košice, at which the jury of the International Competition of Films from Central and Eastern Europe will award the Blue Angel, takes place on Wednesday, 24 June 2026. The full programme of the festival (19 – 25 June 2026), including the International Competition of Films from Central and Eastern Europe, is available at aff.cinepass.sk.
The 32nd IFF ART FILM is made possible thanks to the support of:
Main organizer: ART FILM FEST s.r.o.
Co-organizers: City of Košice, K13 – Košice Cultural Centres, Visit Košice, ART FILM FEST, n.o.
With the financial support of: Audiovisual Fund
The project was co-financed by the Košice Self-governing Region from the Terra Incognita program
Main partners: CODES Brand House, H2O FUND SICAV, Fors – stav
Automotive partner: AUTO-VALAS
Official hotel: Hotel Yasmin
Main media partners: TV JOJ, Pravda, Eurotelevízia
Sponsors: U. S. Steel Košice, ANTIK Telecom, Kino Úsmev, LOKO TRANS Media, CORE Labs, Technical University of Košice
Technological partners: NOV, ZEBRA, Deutsche Telekom Systems Solutions Slovakia, DELTA OnLine, ARICOMA, Datacomp
Official suppliers: DKC Veritas, PLOOM, DOMOS SLOVAKIA, Reštaurácia Contessa, Natura, Kinley, Budweiser Budvar, Julius Meinl
Official wine: KubBo Select, Ostrožovič
Media partners: JOJ play, JOJ 24, Film Europe Media Company, Rádio KOŠICE, Aktuality.sk, Forbes, Startitup.sk, Korzár, Slovenka, SITA, TASR, Mediaboard, AHOJ TV, See & Go, BigMedia, Kino Sterio, Košice City Guide, Košice V Skratke, MOJAkultura.sk, Česko-Slovenská filmová databáze – ČSFD, Filmsk.sk, diva.sk, koktejl.sk, zenskyweb.sk, Naše Košice
Partners: JOJ Cinema, Jojko, Slovak Film Institute, WITKOWITZ SLOVAKIA, DDDental, CK TUI ReiseCenter Slovensko, Wallonie-Bruxelles International.be, Taper, ECO Technologies, Aupark Shopping Center Košice, Košice Public Transport Company, Košice International Airport, YumEarth, Rent2Eat, CPK Transport, iWish.sk, Kvety Garomi, Hair Factory Košice, Face up! Studio by Michaela Petroci, Panta Rhei, ARTFORUM, LOCAL NOMAD, East Slovak Museum in Košice, MIHYRING
