Porte Bagage and To Close Your Eyes and See Fire are the Winners of BFM 44
BFM — 44
BFM — 44
Porte Bagage by Abdelkarim El-Fassi (The Netherlands, 2025) is the winner of the Exhibition Competition of the 44th edition of Bergamo Film Meeting. Chosen by the audience, the film will receive the First Bergamo Film Meeting Prize, worth 5,000 €. The international jury, composed of Gabriella Manfrè (producer), Patrice Toye (director) and Miguel Valverde (IndieLisboa – International Film Festival director) decided to confer the Jury Award for Best Director, worth 2,000 € to Der Frosch und das Wasser/The Frog and the Water di by Thomas Stuber (Germany, 2025).
The audience has also given the Best Documentary CGIL Bergamo Audience Award of the Close up section (2,000 €) to the documentary To Close Your Eyes and See Fire by Nicola von Leffern, Jakob Carl Sauer (Austria, 2024). The CGIL Jury Prize – La Sortie de l’Usine, decided by the union delegates of CGIL Bergamo (1,000 €), goes to Azza by Stefanie Brockhaus (Germany, 2025).
EXHIBITION COMPETITION
FIRST PRIZE BERGAMO FILM MEETING
Porte Bagage by Abdelkarim El-Fassi (The Netherlands, 2025, 104’)
SECOND PRIZE BERGAMO FILM MEETING
Skriti Ljudje/Hidden People by Miha Hočevar (Slovenia, Serbia, Iceland, 2025, 98’)
THIRD PRIZE BERGAMO FILM MEETING
L’Étrangère/Pieces of a Foreign Life by Gaya Jiji (Belgium, France, 2025, 101’)
JURY AWARD FOR BEST DIRECTOR
Der Frosch und das Wasser/The Frog and the Water by Thomas Stuber (Germany, 2025, 113’)
«With a poetic, funny and subtle point of view, this film takes us on a journey where we can affirm “Loneliness doesn`t exist”, you wait until you find your the kindred soul. When a Japanese man meets in Germany a young man with Down`s Syndrome, they bond and develop a very strong connection even without words. Revealing originality and maturity in directing, the jury decides to award Thomas Stuber for The Frog and the Water».
CLOSE UP
BEST DOCUMENTARY CGIL BERGAMO AUDIENCE AWARD
To Close Your Eyes and See Fire by Nicola von Leffern, Jakob Carl Sauer (Austria, 2024, 98’)
CGIL BERGAMO – LA STORTIE DE L’USINE
Azza by Stefanie Brockhaus (Germany, 2025, 90’)
«The CGIL Bergamo jury of Bergamo Film Meeting decided, with strong conviction, to award the prize for the Visti da Vicino/Close up section to Azza, directed by Stefanie Brockhaus. The documentary, with great sensitivity and rigour, tells the struggle of women still trapped in a patriarchal society. Learning to drive, and teaching other women to do the same, becomes for Azza a means of individual and collective emancipation and freedom. The film portrays with attention, care, and intensity the point of view of a young woman who is denied the chance to choose and build her own future. Azza emerges as a powerful and moving work, capable of transforming an intimate story into a universal and timely narrative, giving voice to many women fighting to achieve their autonomy. Through a strong yet respectful authorial gaze, the documentary manages to interweave personal and social dimensions, offering the audience a space for reflection on identity, freedom, and the right to self-determination. For the quality of the director’s vision and the sensitivity with which she accompanies the protagonist in her journey of growth, the jury awards the prize to Azza».
