/previous editions/2025
Brussels Independent Film Festival Wraps Up Another Successful Year, Honors Eleven Winners with Chocolate Prizes
Brussels, 10 February 2025 - The curtains have closed on yet another edition of the Brussels Independent Film Festival. Spanning seven days, the festival showcased a total of 72 feature and short films hailing from 32 countries, nestled in the heart of Brussels at Cinema Aventure.
Reflecting on the recent edition of the Brussels Independent Film Festival, Kris De Meester, the Festival director, finds himself navigating a spectrum of emotions. “At the Brussels Independent Film Festival, we strive to remain as far removed from politics as possible, staying true to the spirit of independent cinema. Yet, some tragedies are so profound that they transcend politics altogether. This year, that was undeniable with “Porcelain War”, the Oscar-nominated documentary about people fighting to hold onto their humanity amid the war in Ukraine. As our opening film, it set an unforgettable tone—so much so that we had to add a second screening due to overwhelming demand. The emotions in the room were palpable, a shared experience of beautiful sorrow that reminded us why cinema exists in the first place.”
Eleven exceptional films were bestowed with edible awards, crafted from Belgian chocolate by the esteemed chocolatier Vandenbouhede. Handpicked by the jury panel, the following films emerged as this year's winners:
Best Narrative Feature Film
The Accident (Italy) by Giuseppe Garau
Best Documentary Feature Film
Porcelain War (United States) by Brendan Bellomo, Slava Leontyev
Best Experimental Film
Searching for the 5th Direction (Switzerland) by Matthias Schüpbach
Best Narrative Short Film
Nøkkelbarn (Norway) by Sindre Mangen Haram
Best Documentary Short Film
I Kiss Your Hand, Madame (Hungary, Belgium, Portugal, Philippines) by Jeremy Luke Bolatag
Best Animated Film
Tennis, Oranges (United States) by Sean Pecknold
Best Music Video
Shake Stew - Lila (Austria) by Rupert Höller
Best Belgian Documentary Film
Thank God for The Gift (Belgium) by Luc Vrydaghs
Best Belgian Narrative Film
Peipei (Belgium) by Shile Feng
Best Underground Film
Emilia (Poland) by Dawid Wojtysiak
Best Artist Film
The Other Side of Despair (Switzerland) by Varsy Buchmann
Congratulations to all!
Last but not least, the Brussels Independent Film Festival wishes to say a special thank you to Cinema Aventure, chocolatier Vandenbouhede, The Bigger Screen, The Tarkovski Grant, Final Cut Magazine, Connecting Cultures Program, TreePlan.org, and Whush, for their contributions in creating this wonderful event.
Official selection 2025
A Little Longer (Canada) by Connor Kujawinski
Porcelain War (United States) by Brendan Bellomo, Slava Leontyev
u̯ekʷ (Argentina) by Juan Ignacio Amusategui
Searching for the 5th Direction (Switzerland) by Matthias Schüpbach
Aka 赤 (United States) by Abinadi Meza
The Complex Forms (Italy) by Fabio D'Orta
Fragments - Episode 2 (United Kingdom) by Mélodie Roulaud
Unscarred (Belgium) by Théo Roland
I Kiss Your Hand, Madame (Hungary, Belgium, Portugal, Philippines) by Jeremy Luke Bolatag
All About My State (Poland) by Piotr Jacoń
Who's The Witch (Belgium) by Hubert Amiel
Out the Window Through the Wall (United States) by Asya Segalovich
Stick with You - Scarlett O'Hanna (Belgium) by Victoria Verseau
The Serena Variations (United States) by Warren Fischer
Death Sentence (Japan) by Arisa Nakane, Sorao Sakimura
Amidst (Finland) by Pia Andell
Shake Stew - Lila (Austria) by Rupert Höller
A Mother Goes to the Beach (Portugal) by Pedro Hasrouny
The Steak (Iran) by Kiarash Dadgar
Stay Strong and Be Quiet (France) by Anne Loriot
Dissolution (United States) by Anthony Saxe
Embrace (France) by Axel Zeltser
Tennis, Oranges (United States) by Sean Pecknold
Cock (Norway) by Robin Jensen
Nøkkelbarn (Norway) by Sindre Mangen Haram
Desiré (Italy) by Mario Vezza
Emperica (Belgium) by Kris De Meester, Ron Chiers - Out of Competitio
Marry, Fuck, Kill (United States) by Ian Berry - Out of Competition
Third Wheel (Switzerland) by Kevin Haefelin
Forsaken (Tunisia) by Aziz Shennawy
Furrie (France) by Lucie Grannec
Mirage (Croatia) by Sara Grgurić
Fuck-a-Fan (Netherlands) by Muriel d'Ansembourg
The Core (Romania) by Robert Obert
The Cascade (Mexico) by Pablo Delgado Sanchez
Disintegrate (United Kingdom) by Madil Hardis
After Dark (Norway) by Iain Forbes
Spell (Brazil) by Khalil Charif
Holy Filament (United States) by Arkan Zakharov
Georgie (United States) by Jennie Butler
Twink Time at Barbizon (Portugal) by Patricia Silva
Emilia (Poland) by Dawid Wojtysiak
Reep (United States) by Jakub Blank
The Other Side of Despair (Switzerland) by Varsy Buchmann
Thank God for The Gift (Belgium) by Luc Vrydaghs
Daddy Cool (Denmark) by Jakob Korsholm Borum
Peipei (Belgium) by Shile Feng
The Accident (Italy) by Giuseppe Garau
Frogs (Turkey) by Vehbi Bozdağ
Nico (United States) by Max Olson
Swim and Float (Germany) by Janina Lutter
Safari (Italy) by Leonardo Balestrieri
Blue, Woman, Dress (Germany) by Jinhyun Kim
Lugubrious (Mexico) by Jerzain Ortega
CU: Farewell (Ukraine) by Anar Azimov
Ravage: Part A (Portugal) by Tiffy Yingy Cheng
Voyager (Spain) by Pablo Pagán
All the Words But the One (United States) by Nava Mau
Higher Grounds (United States) by Joe Kramer
Knife, Chocolate (Iran) by Hooshmand Varaei
You, Me, and That Chair (Australia) by Trivita Tiffany Winataputri, Matt Wallace
Essai 21 (France) by Florian Mauny
Morphes (Greece) by Konstantinos Doxiadis
The Stone Putter (Sweden) by Nils Agdler
Quadratura (Italy) by Sara Bonaventura
The Lovers Of Avignon (Spain) by Manuel Fernández Ferro
Won't Be Around (United States) by Terry Blade
Mom's Dream (Israel) by Noam Liel Sonnenfeld
New Voices in the City (Belgium) by Ekaterina Gardener
Six (United States) by Diana Cignoni
Voices to Inception (Norway) by Becky Beamer