Interaction 2026 Announces Juries and Awards Ahead of the Closing Ceremony

Interaction: Short Docs Festival is entering its final stage. The Awards Ceremony will take place today, 24 August, at 9.00 pm, at the Marble Yard in Požega.

This year’s Competition Programme has presented 15 short documentaries selected by Dejan Petrović and Luka Papić. The Best Film Award, Youth Jury Award and Audience Award will be presented during the closing night.

The winner of the Best Film Award will be selected by a three-member international jury comprising Theo Panagopoulos, an award-winning Greek-Palestinian filmmaker based in Scotland, Jola Wieczorek, an Austrian filmmaker and Ivan Marković, a Serbian filmmaker and cinematographer. The award is presented to the film’s director and, in addition to the statuette, includes a cash prize provided by Festival partner Sirogojno Company.

The Youth Jury Award for the best film in the Competition Programme will be presented by participants of the Interaction: Teen Doc Workshop from Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia, while the film receiving the highest score from festival audiences will win the Audience Award.

As part of the Festival’s closing events, industry awards will also be presented to the best projects developed through Interaction: DocuConnect Balkans 2026 – Regional Documentary Co-production Lab. The programme brought together six documentary projects from the region, which will be presented during the final pitching session.

The projects will be evaluated by an industry jury comprising Iris Elezi, Rada Šešić and Wouter Jansen. Two awards will be presented – the Square Eyes Festival Consultation Award and the Consultation Award by Rada Šešić. Both will provide the selected projects with professional guidance during the next stages of their development, recognising their creative strength and potential.