The Awards

ONION AWARD – Agent of Happiness by Dorottya Zurbo and Arun Bhattarai

The Onion Award goes to a rare film that combines the personal and the political in an uplifting way to powerful effect. We easily connect to the protagonist thanks to the nature of his situation and his uniquely likeable personality that is lovingly depicted in a manner almost reminiscent of a fiction film character. Moreover, this propels his apparently local story into a universal one. The directors also pay the side protagonists unexpected and positively surprising attention that widens and deepens the film’s scope, revealing a darker side of this beautifully filmed and cleverly edited picture. The Onion Award goes to Agent of Happiness by Dorottya Zurbo and Arun Bhattarai. 

ONION AWARD SPECIAL MENTION – Silence of Reason by Kumjana Novakova

We decided to give a special mention to a film that is by no means weaker than the main winner, but it has had a fantastic festival run with many awards and is now celebrating its impressive festival journey here in Skopje. We also could not avoid mentioning such a powerful piece of cinema with groundbreaking use of archive, where the flaws of the footage are turned into advantages. The concept and context in which the film tells its devastating and incredibly important story is created through meticulous and exquisite editing. Partly as political and historical archaeology, partly as a painful exploration of deeply personal wounds, the film gives voice to women who suffered unimaginable horrors. The Special Mention goes to Silence of Reason by Kumjana Novakova.

MORAL APPROACH AWARD – Kix by Dávid Mikulán and Bálint Révész

The fact that Marx and Engels excluded the lumpenproletariat from the revolutionary movement is the basis of the Stalinist perversion – said the German dramatist Heiner Müller.

The Moral Approach Jury chose Kix! as its best film. Why? Because Kix is a brilliant movie on a cinematic level. It starts with an anti-dramaturgy and hundreds of cuts in the first minutes, grabbing the atmosphere of the street. The street is introduced in the way the brain works and the body reacts – with 100 associations and spontaneous emotions. 

A plenty of freaks are found in this random exploration of the city, also the main protagonist who is a kid, followed by the camera for 12 years. We chose that film in the category Best Moral Approach, because this documentary is presenting its protagonists in a non-moralizing way. 

Sanyi, the hero – accepts no power above him and doesn’t care about anything. The film follows him and his family, showing his beauty, his strength, doubts and love. We know as an audience that we deal here obviously with the lowest level of precarity. But the film never judges it. We see the human dream of the kid and his hopes and his struggle, that is open like our own lives. It can, but must not, end in a total disaster or in crime. 

It is the strength and the moral quality of the film that include its protagonists exactly to the world in which we all live in and are responsible for. And that makes those people visible and wins them back for our imagination, who have fallen out of the prevailing power structures.

YOUNG ONION AWARD – Balomania by Sissel Morell Dargis

We decided to award a film that gives us an insight into an underground world we had never heard about before, and through the director’s unique access we got the privilege to enter the protagonists’ lives. A portrait of how ordinary people view and value art and celebrate the joy of life with all the struggles it comes with. The film maintains a strong rhythm and flow to the storytelling and the narrative keeps you glued to the screen, waiting for the final giant balloon to launch. We are happy to award the MakeDox Young Onion Award to Balomania by Sissel Morell Dargis.

SLICED ONION AWARD – Savage by Léonore Mercier

This film beautifully captures the cruelty of the tradition through the point of view and the fear of those affected. The story unfolds little by little through well-crafted cinematographic means, both in image and sound. The sliced onion goes to Savage by Léonore Mercier.

ONION SEED AWARD – One Aloe, One Ficus, One Avocado and Six Dracaenas by Marta Smerechynska

Marta Smerechynska’s “One Aloe, One Ficus, One Avocado and Six Dracaenas” invites viewers to contemplate what happens to our material possessions when we move from point A to point B. Our existence is often condensed into a packing box full of our prized objects, but those material archives are better understood through our foundational values and the impact we have on others around us. Digging into our emotions over time is an important introspective experience, allowing us to reflect on the permanent change everyone goes through, regardless of the location of their roots.