site.btaAward Winners at 21st IN THE PALACE International Short Film Festival

Eight films from across the world are the award winners at the 21st IN THE PALACE International Short Film Festival, hosted by the Palace of Culture in Pernik between June 29 and July 6, 2024.

The Best National Film Award went to Andrey Paounov's Two Times Two. The Special Mention in the same category was given to Family Portrait of the Black Earth, directed by Ivan Popov - Zaeka.

Ramazan Kilic's Things Unheard Of (Turkiye) won the Best Short Fiction Film Award. Savage, directed by Leonore Mercier (Switzerland/Belgium), was picked as the Best Short Documentary Film. Elie Chapius's Duck received the Best Short Animation Film Award.

Syncope by Linus von Strumberg (Switzerland) was named the Best Student Fiction Film. An entry from Britain, Modern Masturbation Allegory, directed by Xinyi Li, won the Best Student Documentary Film Award. Barbara Rupik's Such Miracles Do Happen (Poland) took the Best Student Animation Film Award.

A Belgian production, Ethann Neon's Wavewidth, placed first in the competition for Best Experimental Film. Nana Janelidze received in person the Best Feature Award for her film Liza, Go On! that was screened at the opening of the Festival. 

In the Filmer Forge Pitch 2024, Bulgarian short film project Creatures of the Night, directed by Simona Evstatieva, was awarded rental equipment (camera and lenses) worth BGN 10,000, and Valia Pelova's On the Road was given a BGN 10,000 cash prize. 

The IN THE PALACE International Short Film Festival is Bulgaria's only festival certified to nominate short films for submission to the US Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. These are the winners in the Best Short Fiction Film and Best Animation Film categories in the international competition programme and the winner in the Best National Film category.

The winners have been selected by a 15-member jury of Europewide professional filmmakers from among 166 entries from across the world that competed in nine categories.