🏆 The Awards of the 6th International Documentary Rhodope Film Fest (RIFE) 2026 :
🎥 Feature-Length Competition
🏆 Grand Prize: Past Future Continuous (Iran/Norway/Italy), directed by Firouzeh Khosrovani & Morteza Ahmadvand
🎬 Best Director: And the Fish Fly Above Our Heads (Lebanon), directed by Dima El-Horr
🎖️ Special Mention: Masayume (Japan), directed by Nao Yoshigai
🎖️ Special Mention: Stardust (Germany), directed by Nils Eberwein
🎞️ Medium-Length Competition
🥇 Best Film: Galina Vasilievna VS. (Russia), directed by Egor Gavrilin
🎖️ Special Mention: Municipal Councilor (Bulgaria), directed by Adela Peeva & Antoni Donchev
🎬 Short-Length Competition
🥇 Best Film: Border (Estonia), directed by Sasha Shprotser
🎬 Best Director: Sorrowful Memory (Mexico), directed by Jorge Enrique González Venegas
🎖️ Special Mention: Inga (Poland), directed by Krzysztof Kopczyński
✨ The Special Award for Best Documentary Film by MS TONSTUDIO – Offenbach was presented to:
🎥 Stardust (Germany, 2025)
dir. Nils Eberwein
📜 An Honorary Diploma was awarded to:
🎥 A Few Chunks of Cheese (Bulgaria, 2026)
dir. Nikola Boshnakov
🏆 The Award for Best Short Documentary Film by M&S Music Tonstudio was presented to:
🎥 Actually, I Didn’t Want to Stay Long (Germany, 2025)
dir. Andreas Grützner
📜 A Special Diploma was awarded to:
🎥 Natural Film (Bulgaria, 2026)
dir. Kalina Nikolova
Congratulations to all the awarded filmmakers for their powerful stories, bold perspectives, and contribution to contemporary documentary cinema! 🌍🎞️
🎬 This year’s edition presented 50 documentary films from around the world.
A heartfelt thank you to all filmmakers, jury members, partners, sponsors, volunteers, media and, above all, to our wonderful audience. See you at RIFE 2027! ❤️