The 29th edition of the CinemAmbiente Festival close today, Sunday, June 7, with the awards ceremony for the winning films, scheduled for 7:30 p.m. at the National Museum of Cinema – Mole Antonelliana in Turin.
A selection of 45 films screened during the Festival will remain available to watch free of charge online via the Festival website, until June 14 on the OpenDDB platform.
AWARDS
➤ Asja Award for Best Documentary in the International Competition (€5,000)
Awarded by the jury composed of Jason Box, Gabriele Crescente, Lena Herzog, Kohei Saito and Cristina Piccino to:
Nuisance Bear by Jack Weisman and Gabriela Osio Vanden (USA/Canada/United Kingdom)
Jury Statement:
A non-dogmatic film that shows how humans manage both the world and nature. Visually captivating, it dances through contrasts—funny, tragic and paradoxical—while never abandoning empathy in its portrayal of the extinction of animals and Indigenous peoples.
Special Mention:
Rua do Pescador, nº 6 by Bárbara Paz (Brazil)
Jury Statement:
Personal stories in the struggle for the survival of a resilient community emerge through the intensity with which the filmmaker recounts a tragedy affecting her homeland. The simplicity of the immersive cinematography restores dignity and beauty to the displaced people, highlighting the human dimension at its most dramatic moment.
➤ IREN Audience Award (€1,500)
For Best Documentary in the International Competition, voted by Festival audiences:
Rua do Pescador, nº 6 by Bárbara Paz (Brazil)
➤ SMAT Award for Best International Short Film (€1,500)
Awarded by the jury composed of Flavio Armone, Elisa Palazzi and Mathilde Thoreau to:
A Voyage of Eulogies by Jean-Pierre Pillay (Singapore, 2026)
Jury Statement:
For its ability to blend different cinematic genres with poetic sensitivity and to address environmental issues not through statistics and data, but by immersing viewers in their emotional consequences. The film makes ecological collapse tangible through memory, absence and emotion, transforming a global issue that remains difficult to fully grasp into a deeply human experience that continues to resonate long after the screening.
Special Mention:
Amma, Do Giraffes Cry? by Kartikeya Saxena (Czech Republic)
Jury Statement:
A film distinguished by the beauty of its cinematography, the undeniable quality of its direction, and the filmmaker’s perspective on animals, portrayed as genuine living beings endowed with their own emotions and existential dimension. The narration and the meticulous sound design blend seamlessly within a work of remarkable formal achievement, creating a deeply moving cinematic experience.
➤ “Gaetano Capizzi” Special Recognition for Best Film in the Made in Italy Section
Awarded by the committee composed of Giulia Carluccio, Andrea Paco Mariani and Beppe Rovera to:
Torneranno i lupi (The Wolves Will Return) by Bianca Vallino
Jury Statement:
Documentary cinema finds one of its most authentic expressions in stories rooted in proximity, capable of moving from the intimate, familial and generational sphere into a collective dimension. Transforming one’s own biography and lived experience into a narrative that speaks to everyone is among the greatest challenges. This film meets that challenge with sensitivity, delicacy and emotion, tracing the thread that links three generations of women—including the filmmaker herself—and turning a personal story into a universal reflection, inseparably connected to its territory and community.
Special Mention:
Tevere corsaro by Pietro Balla and Monica Repetto
Jury Statement:
For its clear, precise and courageous ability to combine environmental and social issues. Following in the footsteps—both geographically and imaginatively—of a master such as Pier Paolo Pasolini, the film merges two fundamentally connected dimensions: environmental protection and the safeguarding of individual and collective rights. Together they generate narratives of community that are essential for understanding and deconstructing our present and for combating every form of injustice.
➤ Casacomune Award
Established by the Festival and Casacomune, consisting of an engraving created by artist Francesca Capirone, awarded to the film or filmmaker whose work best reflects themes of spirituality understood as a dimension deeply connected to Nature, of which we are a part.
Awarded to:
Ma Prière à la mer (My Prayer to the Sea) by Davide Marino – Made in Italy Section
Jury Statement:
For its extraordinary poetic power in portraying one of the great emergencies of our time: the loss of marine biodiversity, particularly along the Atlantic coast and among the communities that depend upon it. Through the eyes of Alassane, the film transforms an ecological wound into a profound spiritual reflection on the relationship between humanity and the sea, understood in Lebu culture as a living and sacred presence. A work capable of turning denunciation into prayer and nostalgia into hope, inviting us to rediscover respect, listening and wonder toward a nature upon which not only our survival depends, but also our humanity.
➤ Environment and Society Award
Established by the Festival and the Arcobaleno Social Cooperative for the film that best combines environmental and social issues.
Awarded by the cooperative’s workers to:
Silver by Natalia Koniarz (Poland/Norway/Finland) – Panorama Section
Jury Statement:
Images tell stories and contain meanings that go beyond what is immediately visible. The film brings to light what in our daily lives often remains unseen. The emotions conveyed by the protagonist child’s still, inscrutable and seemingly resigned gaze upon the surrounding landscape communicate a subtle sadness, behind which one senses a desire to understand and perhaps to change—not necessarily the whole world, but at least his own destiny.
Special Mention:
I nemici del popolo (Enemies of the People) by Andrea Marinelli – Made in Italy Section
Jury Statement:
For showing us how, in the face of multinational corporations, the rule of law is under threat both on the other side of the world and right in our own backyard.
➤ Slow Food Award
Established by the Festival and Slow Food Italy for the film that best addresses the complex relationship between food, agriculture and the environment.
Awarded by the jury composed of Barbara Nappini, Serena Milano, Roberto Burdese and Piero Sardo to:
Labouyi Bannann (Banana Soup) by Geena Gasser (Switzerland) – International Short Film Competition
Jury Statement:
A delightful short film in which bananas dance, perform, become part of the scenery, and collectively tell the story of the paradoxes of consumerism within the industry that revolves around them. Drawing on the myth of the creation goddess Timbehes, who gave birth to humanity by fertilizing herself with a banana, the extraordinary biodiversity of this fruit inspires a vibrant work that exposes the unsustainability of intensive industrial agriculture and the speculation associated with it. Through stunning imagery, carefully crafted music, and a distinctive poetic originality, the film succeeds, in just seven minutes, in portraying a complex web of critical issues while maintaining a strong artistic voice and a joyful sense of irony.
➤ Piemonte Parchi Award
Established by the Festival and the Piedmont Region’s Biodiversity and Natural Areas Department.
The award includes the dedication of a portion of the Shared Forest of the Piedmont Po River, marked with a commemorative plaque, and the planting of 100 trees for the film that most innovatively conveys the importance of biodiversity from a perspective of coexistence among species, including humans.
Awarded by the staff of Piedmont’s Protected Areas Management Bodies and the editorial team of Piemonte Parchi magazine to:
Nuisance Bear by Jack Weisman and Gabriela Osio Vanden (USA/Canada/United Kingdom) – International Documentary Competition
Jury Statement:
For the quality of its direction, the beauty of its wildlife cinematography and its universally resonant narrative language; for its lucid portrayal of the difficult coexistence between humanity and nature and of the challenges shaping our relationship with animals within the dynamics of climate change. The film stands out for its ability to weave human stories and natural phenomena into a narrative that profoundly questions how we care for biodiversity.
