28th One World: Awards announced. Stories of courage now move to the regions and Prague echoes

This year’s edition was not just about passively watching the screen, but about having the courage to call things by their true names. “Prague may have handed out the awards, but One World is only just drawing breath with its second, regional lung. It is in communities across the country and in cinemas on Prague’s outskirts that film reflection transforms into a living dialogue,” says festival director Ondřej Kamenický. This year, the festival also celebrated ten years of systematic accessibility and, for the first time, opened a large stage for climate dialogue at Archa+.

International Competition: The Courage to Go Beneath the Surface

This year, the main jury awarded films that, with surgical precision and immense sensitivity, dissect the human psyche as well as complex geopolitical relationships.

• Best Film Award: My Word Against Mine

Director: Maasja Ooms (Netherlands, 2025)

Jury statement: “A sensitive, intelligent, filmically minimalist yet revolutionary approach allows patients to gain deeper insight into their own minds. This courageous film represents a subtle step toward clarifying one of humanity’s deepest questions.”

• Best Director Award: Mehrdad Oskouei and Soraya Akhlaghi

Film: A Fox Under a Pink Moon (Denmark, Iran, France, UK, USA, 2025)

Jury statement: The jury praised the masterful direction of a story that connects different worlds and cultures both visually and thematically into one powerful and distinctive whole.

Regions and Prague Echoes: The Festival Continues in Communities

Although festival cinemas in central Prague are slowly winding down, One World is far from over. The baton is now being taken up by a record 59 cities across the Czech Republic, as well as Prague Echoes in seven cinemas on the capital’s outskirts. This nationwide network is crucial for the festival, as it brings human rights topics from large venues directly into the heart of local communities and to the people who live them.

Local teams and organizers in the regions and Prague neighborhoods create spaces for meetings and discussions that give the films an additional, deeply personal dimension. This regional celebration of human rights built on authentic debates and shared experiences will resonate in cinemas across the country until April 24, 2026.

One World Online: The Festival Continues in Your Living Room

The gates of One World do not close with the final screenings in cinemas. For those who missed their favorites on the big screen or want to revisit powerful stories, the platform jedensvetonline.cz offers an exclusive selection of the best in human rights documentaries.

As early as Friday, March 20, the first batch of festival titles will be available online, including some of the most talked-about films of this year:

• To the West, in Zapata (dir. David Bim)
• The Coriolis Effect (dir. Petr Lom, Corinne van Egeraat)
• Devi (dir. Subina Shrestha)
• Slave Island (dir. Jimmy Hendrickx, Jeremy Kewuan)
• The Woman Who Poked The Leopard (dir. Patience Nitumwesiga)

Another wave of films including the award-winning Surviving the Death Committee (dir. Nima Sarvestani) will be released on May 1.

The platform also offers a unique opportunity to relive the festival atmosphere through additional content, including all episodes of festival programmes hosted by Anna Dvořáková and Bořek Hon, as well as recordings of live debates and popular podcasts such as Studio N and Vlevo dole, created directly at the heart of the festival.

Our shared One World does not end here. See you in the regions, at Prague Echoes, and online. And if you want to plan next spring already, mark your calendars: the 29th One World will take place from March 10 to April 23, 2027.

Thank you for helping create a world where it matters to watch and to speak.

International Competition

International Competition Award for the Best Film

My Word Against Mine

Director: Maasja Ooms

Netherlands, 2025

 

International Competition Award for the Best Director

Mehrdad Oskouei and Soraya Akhlaghi for A Fox Under a Pink Moon

(Denmark, Iran, France, UK, USA, 2025)

 

Right to Know Competition

Best Film

Surviving the Death Committee

Director: Nima Sarvestani

Sweden, 2025

 

Czech Competition

Best Film

AMOOSED: A Moose Odyssey

Director: Hana Nováková

Czech Republic, Slovakia, 2025

 

Virtual Reality Competition

Best VR Film

Another Place

Director: Domenico Singha Pedroli

France, 2025

 

Regional Jury Award

Welded Together

Director: Anastasiya Miroshnichenko

Belgium, France, Netherlands, 2025

 

Student Jury Award

When I Get Jailed

Director: Anastasiia Vedenskaia

France, 2025

 

Children Jury Award

Ela – Can Jump

Director: Rozálie Kohoutová

Czech Republic, 2025

 

Audience Award for the Best Film

Driving Europe

Director: Felix Länge

Germany, 2026

 

Abakus Foundation Audience Award for Exceptional Debate

Debate for the screening of Deaf

Date and venue: March 17, 17:15, Evald

Speakers:

• Anna Pangrácová (deaf daughter of hearing parents)
• Martina Kučová (hearing daughter of deaf parents)

 

Moderators:

• Radka Nováková
• Lucie Štádlerová