{"id":51397,"date":"2026-06-24T12:00:04","date_gmt":"2026-06-24T10:00:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/iffartfilm.com\/?p=51397"},"modified":"2026-06-24T11:48:24","modified_gmt":"2026-06-24T09:48:24","slug":"the-blue-angel-for-best-feature-film-is-chosen-by-the-director-whose-debut-hollywood-remade-a-golden-globes-voter-and-a-slovak-screenwriter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/iffartfilm.com\/en\/blog\/news\/2026\/06\/the-blue-angel-for-best-feature-film-is-chosen-by-the-director-whose-debut-hollywood-remade-a-golden-globes-voter-and-a-slovak-screenwriter\/","title":{"rendered":"The Blue Angel for Best Feature Film is chosen by the director whose debut Hollywood remade, a Golden Globes voter and a Slovak screenwriter"},"content":{"rendered":"

The festival’s top awards \u2014 the Blue Angel for Best Feature Film, Best Direction and for the acting performances \u2014 will be presented at the 32nd edition of IFF Art Film Ko\u0161ice (19 \u2013 25 June 2026) on Wednesday, 24 June, at the closing ceremony. This year’s winners were decided by the three-member jury of the International Feature Film Competition: Slovak screenwriter and script editor Barbora N\u00e1merov\u00e1, Hungarian film critic and artistic director of the CineFest Miskolc festival G\u00e9za Cs\u00e1kv\u00e1ri, a Golden Globes voting member since 2023, and Icelandic director Hafsteinn Gunnar Sigur\u00f0sson. It was Sigur\u00f0sson’s debut \u00c1 annan veg<\/em> (2011) that Hollywood picked up for a remake. Its American version, Prince Avalanche<\/em> (2013) starring Paul Rudd and Emile Hirsch, earned director David Gordon Green the Silver Bear at the Berlinale.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Hungarian film critic G\u00e9za Cs\u00e1kv\u00e1ri<\/strong>, member of the European Film Academy and FIPRESCI, and critic for the N\u00e9pszava daily, enters every film personally. \u201cI look for a personal connection \u2014 whether I can step into the film’s world with it, travel with it, dream, mourn, rejoice, fear. I look for fiction,\u201d<\/em> said Cs\u00e1kv\u00e1ri<\/strong>. He sees the differences between Central European cinema and films from the rest of the world through cultural context. \u201cEastern Europe has a tinge of depression in our films. In Hungary we have a saying that we are happiest when we cry with depression. That can be our original touch. Our history is different from happier corners of the world, yet we are not in the greatest crisis. A film can be good or bad \u2014 that’s the main measure. If it’s good, it can come from any culture, as long as it speaks the universal language of the image,\u201d<\/em> he added.<\/p>\n

On the question whether the story, directing or acting matters most, Cs\u00e1kv\u00e1ri<\/strong> refuses any simplification. \u201cIf I were an actor, I’d say that acting makes a film a miracle. A director would say it’s the direction. As a festival programmer and film critic I watch five to six hundred films a year \u2014 the story is of course important, but I don’t mind if it isn’t told conservatively. It can be told in images. It’s a mix, and a bit of luck, whether all the pieces come together into something exceptional. Since I studied theatre and dramaturgy, I naturally lean toward story, but it isn’t that simple,\u201d<\/em> he explained. The work of a film critic is for him a craft equal to the other filmmaking professions. \u201cA critic needs to know what direction is, what a screenwriter does, the cinematographer, the editor, how the music and sound come together. A film director doesn’t have to be an expert in everything, but has to know about everything \u2014 and a critic is the same, only looking at the finished product. That’s why I never give films a score: I know most people will just look at the number and read nothing of what stands behind it,\u201d<\/em> added Cs\u00e1kv\u00e1ri<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

For young filmmakers \u2014 to whom he occasionally teaches creative writing and the history of modern cinema \u2014 Cs\u00e1kv\u00e1ri<\/strong> has a direct message: \u201cThere is no such thing as an ‘old film’ or a ‘film that’s too old’. Watch the history of cinema. The great masters, the hidden gems, the cult films. When looking for your own voice, you have to know that someone else has already said it in some way, and you have to find yours. Go to the theatre, read plays. The best screenwriter of today would be William Shakespeare. I have experience with young directors who don’t watch old films, don’t go to the theatre, yet they have ideas. Don’t be arrogant. First you have to learn,\u201d<\/em> he summed up.<\/p>\n