{"id":51471,"date":"2026-06-24T15:00:37","date_gmt":"2026-06-24T13:00:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/iffartfilm.com\/?p=51471"},"modified":"2026-06-24T14:54:46","modified_gmt":"2026-06-24T12:54:46","slug":"the-blue-angel-for-best-short-film-selected-by-a-palestinian-director-with-a-2025-oscar-shortlisted-short-a-krakow-festival-programmer-and-a-slovak-documentarian","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/iffartfilm.com\/en\/blog\/news\/2026\/06\/the-blue-angel-for-best-short-film-selected-by-a-palestinian-director-with-a-2025-oscar-shortlisted-short-a-krakow-festival-programmer-and-a-slovak-documentarian\/","title":{"rendered":"The Blue Angel for Best Short Film selected by a Palestinian director with a 2025 Oscar-shortlisted short, a Krak\u00f3w festival programmer and a Slovak documentarian"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Blue Angel for Best Short Film of the International Short Film Competition at the 32nd IFF Art Film Ko\u0161ice (19 \u2013 25 June 2026) was decided by a three-member international jury: Palestinian director based in Poland Mohammed Almughanni, graduate of the legendary \u0141\u00f3d\u017a Film School (alma mater of Polanski, Wajda and Kie\u015blowski), whose short An Orange from Jaffa<\/em> (2024) was shortlisted for the Oscars in December 2024 in the Best Live Action Short Film category and won the Grand Prix at the 46th edition of the most prestigious short film festival in Clermont-Ferrand; Polish film historian Maciej Gil, two-time recipient of the Polish Film Institute (PISF) award and from 2005 to 2015 programme director of the Polish-Czech festival Kino na hranici in the Slovak-Polish-Czech border region; and Slovak documentary filmmaker Barbora Sliepkov\u00e1. The winner will be announced at the festival’s closing ceremony on Wednesday, 24 June 2026.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Slovak documentary filmmaker Barbora Sliepkov\u00e1<\/strong> valued that the short films in this year’s selection managed to hold their own format. \u201cWith a short film it is important that even on a shorter canvas it tells some coherent story or carries some message, so that I take a feeling away from it. In this section there were plenty of films that delivered exactly that. With feature films we sometimes say that the idea could just as well have been told in thirty minutes and would have been more striking. You could see that these films were dramaturgically precise and beautifully captured atmosphere,\u201d<\/em> said Sliepkov\u00e1<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

An exceptional quality of the selection for Sliepkov\u00e1<\/strong> were the authentic acting performances, especially by children. \u201cI really admired the way the actors were directed; children are not professional actors after all, even though they often act, but the ability to enter another world and the psychology of a character is one of the most important things. In a documentary we believe directly, we assume the story is true; in fiction we have to work with this consciously and achieve the effect. In this section there were a lot of perfect child actors with whom I identified at once; authenticity radiated from these films,\u201d<\/em> the director explained. The common denominator of the genre-diverse titles (fiction, documentary, animation, experimental) was, in her view, the honesty of the statement. \u201cWhat connects the films is the authenticity of their statement. The makers know their subjects and go to the bone in honesty,\u201d<\/em> she summed up.<\/p>\n

On the dynamics of decision-making of the three-member jury, Sliepkov\u00e1<\/strong> speaks as of a creative process. \u201cAfter every block we sat down and said who was struck by what. In our choice we focused on the quality of cinematic storytelling \u2013 that was the most important thing for us. It was enriching to talk with colleagues about dramaturgy, screenwriting, the approach to actors. These are long debates, and in the end we agreed on the film we decided to award,\u201d<\/em> she said. Without revealing the winner’s name she briefly characterised the film: \u201cIt is a unique perspective on a subject that concerns many. The way of telling and the authentic acting performances convinced us immediately; we were all left with a strong feeling from this film. The subject is very important today, as it has always been: it concerns women, and therefore all of us,\u201d<\/em> said Sliepkov\u00e1<\/strong>. From her time on the jury she also wants to take away an impulse for her own directing work. \u201cI studied documentary directing and mainly do that, but I would very much like to try directing a short fiction film. I have several subjects I have been carrying for a while; I really studied various approaches and learned a lot from these films,\u201d<\/em> added Barbora Sliepkov\u00e1<\/strong>.<\/p>\n