“Going Underground” by Armands Začs, received the Film Center Serbia Award (a € 5.000 prize). The film is produced by Mistrus Media (Latvia), Allfilm (Estonia) and Making Movies (Finland) and follows a young Latvian civil defense architect whose work inspecting bomb shelters for a possible Russian invasion quietly fuels her spiraling fear.
“The Last Dog on Earth” by Nina Kopko received the € 5.000 cash prize Ciclic WEMW Award (granted by the French Centre-Val de Loire Region). The film is produced by Vitrine Films and Boulevard Filmes (Brazil) and is set in a dystopian future where Luana, a forlorn rideshare driver just one fare away from affording her long-planned suicide, finds her last passenger hiding a dog. And in this world, dogs are supposed to be extinct.
The jury has also delivered the GoGo2025 Residency Award to “What Kind of People Are You” by Lina Lužytė and produced by Just a moment (Lithuania) and Stellar Film (Estonia).
Thanks to the partnership with a large network of international training programmes and markets, several other major awards were announced: Brazilian director Nina Kopko, selected at WEMW with her project “The Last Dog on Earth” (produced by Vitrine Filmes, Boulevard Filmes), was awarded the EWA Network’s Award for Equality & Inclusion of the value of € 500; whilst Romanian producer Diana Caravia, selected at WEMW with the project The Summer Holiday, was awarded a scholarship to attend the EAVE Producers Workshop; “My Name Is Enough” received the DAE Talent Development prize; Čarna Vućinič, producer of “Koryo” will receive a free badge for the Cannes Marché du Film Producers’ Network while the project “Rainy Dreams” wins the exclusive opportunity to be one of the curated Spotlighted Projects at Cannes Docs 2026.
The Pop Up Film Residency Award was given to Nina Kopko, director of “The Last Dog on Earth” (Brazil); the Taskovski #DocsConnect Award was assigned to the documentary “Going Underground” directed by Armands Začs and produced by Gints Grube and Darta Vijgrieze (Mistrus Media, Latvia; Allfilm, Estonia; Making Movies, Finland) while the CEE Animation Award went to “Hair of Hare” directed by Sander Joon, and produced by Aurelia Asa (AAA Creative, Estonia).
On to the three WEMW works in progress sections targeting films at the post-production stage: the 2026 international jury of Last Stop Trieste, composed of Tereza Bona Keilova (HBO Europe), Marko Erakovic (Montenegro Film Centre), Anne-Laure Negrin (ARTE – GEIE) and Meike Statema (International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam), assigned the HBO Europe Award (a € 1.000 cash prize) to “Birdie” by Aneta Ptak and the Film Center Montenegro Award (€ 2.000 cash prize) to the Georgian project “Sacred Songs” by Nona Giunashvili and Mariam Bitsadze (17/07 Productions).
This year the international jury of This is IT, the work in progress section dedicated to films co-produced with Italy or produced by the WEMW spotlight territories, was headed by Amaury Auge (ACID), Sabrina Baracetti (Tucker Film) and Núria Palenzuela Camon (Indie Sales). The jury assigned the Laser Film Award to the project “Death Has No Master” by Jorge Thielen Armand and produced by La Faena Films (Venezuela / Canada), Volos Films Italia (Italy) and Deal Productions (Luxembourg). The prize consists of 4 days of colour grading services and 1 DCP for a total value of 10.000€.
The jury also assigned the M74 Award to Sandra Wollner’s “Everytime”, produced by Panama Films (Austria) and The Barricades (Germany). The prize consists in the creation of “2D Comp” visual digital effects and opening credits, with a value of 10.000€, including digital artist services.
Regarding First Cut+, the works in progress targeting feature films that previously took part in a First Cut Lab workshop, the international jury consisting of Esra Demirkiran (TRT), Keiko Funato (Alpha Violet), Jessica Kiang (Berlin International Film Festival), Vojtech Kocarnik (Karlovy Vary International Film Festival), Angela Prudenzi (Venice International Film Festival) assigned the TRT Prize, worth € 5.000, to “Patty” by Luise Donschen (Germany).
The jury composed of Alicia Martinez Miguel (Brussels International Film Festival), Marie-Gabrielle Peaucelle (Les Films de Juillet) and Millán Vázquez-Ortiz (Agencia Freak) assigned the HAVC & MIDPOINT Development Award, a cash prize of € 3.000, to the German project “Manclave” by Pablo Pagán and producer Frederik Ehrhardt (Freud & Ecstasy).
Last but not least, the Italy-Baltic Development Awards for Co-Production, delivered three cash prizes for a total award of € 40,000 granted by the Ministero della Cultura (MiC), Estonian Film Institute, Lithuanian Film Centre and National Film Centre of Latvia. The Italian majority project “Jonas”, directed by Gregorio Sassoli and co-developed by Italian company Corego srl and Lithuanian company Frailty Film, was awarded with € 20.000.
Two Baltic majority co-productions received an award: the project “Blue Lada” directed by Urmet Piiling and co-developed by Estonian company Tallifornia Eriotstarbeline Massiivne Tellis OÜ and Italian company Cinefonie was awarded with € 10.000; while the “Beautiful Death”, directed by by Andris Gauja and produced by the Latvian company Riverbed, the Estonian company Film Tower and the Italian Mammut Film, together with the Bulgarian company Agitprop, received an award of € 10.000.
The Italian majority co-production “Jonas” directed by Gregorio Sassoli and produce by the Italian company Corego srl and the Lithuanian company Fralita Films was awarded with € 20.000.
This year WEMW also presented for the second time the Inspirational Lab Special Gifts programme. The CIRCLE - Training initiative for women and gender-expensive filmmakers Special Gift, consisting of a spot on their Digital Empowerment Programme, was awarded to Paulina Albrecht and Roberta Coutinho Sauerbronn while TorinoFilmLab Special Gift, consisting of one spot on one of their TFL Next Workshop went to Jérémie Palanque; the programme also included a set of private counseling sessions on green production, held by Trentino Film Commission – Green Film.
The 2026 edition of WEMW drew to a close with a slate of impressive numbers: more than 650 registered participants from over 60 countries, over 750 scheduled individual meetings, 15 different activities running simultaneously over a 3-day programme shaped together with more than 100 international partners and supporters, and thousands & thousands of memorable and inspiring moments amongst all attendees.
