The Awards

ONION AWARD – Soil and Wings by Stefan Malešević

MORAL APPROACH AWARD – No Other Land by Basel Adra, Hamdan Ballal, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor

This film embodies the spirit of moral film-making in conditions devoid of morality. It is the most urgent film, for it shows with visceral power that the struggle of the Palestinian people against erasure is humanity’s struggle for its soul.  

No Other Land pulls you in from the first frames and doesn’t let go. By the end, we feel a part of the families’ lives and the distance between viewers and protagonists dissolves. Together with the community of Masafer Yatta we experience anguish, bewilderment, despair, rage, resistance, and hope against hope. “We build for you, and you destroy for us,” goes one memorable line among many – for this is a film where every line rings with the truth of lived experience.   

The film emerged from a collaboration between two activists turned film-makers. The shared camera becomes a tool of survival and resistance. It reclaims reality while the militarised state destroys reality. This destruction is so painful that only the friendship between the two main protagonists brings relief – and a blueprint for the only viable future

No Other Land is a documentary masterclass in how a microcosm can illuminate the whole. It is film as action, showing that intelligent and constructive action is the only way to change, in the words of Basel Adra, this bad reality. We can only change it by coming together with the kind of courage, patience, and love that has fuelled the making of this vital film.

Maureen Prins, Mira Gakjina, Kapka Kassabova

YOUNG ONION AWARD – Fiume o Morte! by Igor Bezinović

Makedox is a festival devoted to creativity in documentary film. Tonight, we honor a work that embodies that spirit — a film that dares to play, to provoke, to laugh in the face of darkness. Through humor and entertainment, it confronts the frightening return of fascism, exposing the toxic credo: “if you’re not with us, you’re against us.”

The filmmaker breathes life into old photographs with modern tools like AI, reviving memories and emotions from the past. Characters and narrators change playfully, the local community joins in with authenticity, and the entire story unfolds through a prism of satire. It is inventive, bold, and alive.

The Young Onion Award goes to Fiume o Morte.

YOUNG ONION AWARD SPECIAL MENTION – No Other Land by Basel Adra, Hamdan Ballal, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor

The jury announces this special mention with heavy hearts and deep respect. This is not only a film about one of the greatest atrocities of our time — it is also a testament to courage. To capture images under fire, to draw tender portraits of friendship amidst violence, to keep filming when silence is safer… this is documentary at its most vital.

It is a story of perseverance, of human bonds that refuse to break, and of bravery that stands against forces of oppression while the world looks away — while genocide unfolds against the Palestinian people.

This award goes to No Other Land.

There is a painful irony too. After decades of independence built on ideals of humanity and resistance, across all political divides — Christians and Muslims, liberals and conservatives alike — Macedonia remains the only country in Europe that has neither recognized Palestinian sovereignty nor established even the most basic ties with its people. We can only hope this shameful silence will soon be broken. Thank you.

Vardan Tozija, Truls Lie, Mara Prohaska Marković

SLICED ONION AWARD – Sewing Machine by Ülo Pikkov

Our jury was unanimous in its decision to give this brilliant piece the prize for best short film. A miracle of the short form, this 17-minute piece utterly transported us into a tale of a heartfelt tribute to all the great-grandmothers, single mothers, and working women, who experienced hardship through upheaval after upheaval, tragedy upon tragedy – and prevailed to raise new generations, living by their wits, intelligence and sheer determination to survive through two world wars. The film speaks in a multitude of cinematic languages, orchestrating and displaying an overflowing palette of art and craft and a high level of storytelling mastery, sharing with us all an epic journey narrated against an ancient and ever-durable rhythm.

The Sliced Onion Award for Best Short Film goes to Ülo Pikkov’s Sewing Machine

SLICED ONION AWARD SPECIAL MENTION – Reel Reflections by Ines Jokoš 

Our jury would like to give an honourable mention to a film that displays what the best of cinematic collaboration between director and protagonist can create. Through the choreography of their camera lenses, they co-write a portrait that skillfully manages to show the audience that the world is not made up of just light and shadow. This loving, whimsical and poignant film generously invites us to weave our way into the day to day existence of a tightly knit family – playing, wondering, imagining how their vivid interior landscapes can not only make the world around them more bearable, but filled with joy and love and laughter, an interpretation through the sense of un-limited inner vision.

The Honourable Mention in the short film category goes to Ines Jokoš for Reel Reflections.

Pamela Cohn, Igor Prassel, Gabriela Daniels

ONION SEED AWARD – Confession by Rebeka Bizubová

Using cinema as the means to confront your worst fear is challenging but when tackled head on it can be liberating and empowering.

By combining a clear view with great skill in the use of cinematic language, particularly the sound and the intimate camera work, the filmmaker puts together a captivating story that resonates strongly with the viewer and exposes a personal nightmare as a collective one. 

For her composed yet sensitive and courageous approach to a very delicate and important subject the Onion Seed Award goes to the film Confession by REBEKA BIZUBOVÁ. 

Dina Pokrajac, Thanos Stavropoulos, Neda Milanova