Irina emerges triumphant at the Tirana International Film Festival

The 16th Tirana International Film Festival (2-9 November) wrapped on Saturday night with Bulgarian filmmaker Nadejda Koseva's debut film, Irina [+], winning the festival’s main prize, the Golden Owl for Best Feature Film. 

The Dutch movie WE [+] won Best Director for Rene Eller and the "Luc Barnier" Award for Best Editing for Wouter van Luijn.

Albanian filmmaker Bujar Alimani's The Delegation [+] picked up Best Screenplay for Artan Minarolli, the Media Award, the Audience Choice Award, as well as a Special Mention for its ensemble cast, consisting of Viktor Zhusti, Ndriçim Xhepa and Xhevdet Ferri. 

Best Cinematography went to Lithuania's Audrius Kemezys for Breathing into Marble [+] by Giedrė Beinoriūtė, while Secret Ingredient [+] by Macedonia's Gjorče Stavreski triumphed in the EYE on TIFF – Debut Feature Film Competition. 

The Best Balkan Film Award went to Maria Lafi's Holy Boom [+] (Albania/Cyprus/Greece),and Hani Domazet's Tina & Sendi (Croatia) pocketed a Special Mention. 

Kosovar filmmaker Zgjim Terziqi's short film A Month won Best Film in the Albanian Language, with Atila by Benart Laze going home with a Special Mention.

Finally, in the Short Film Competition, which is Oscar-qualifying from this year onwards, Romania's Emanuel Parvu triumphed with Everything Is Far Away. 

Here is the full list of award winners:

International Feature Competition

Golden Owl - Best Feature Film
Irina [+] - Nadejda Koseva (Bulgaria)

Best Director
Rene Eller - WE [+] (Netherlands) 

Best Screenplay
Artan Minarolli - The Delegation [+] (Albania/France/Greece/Kosovo)

Best Editing 
Wouter van Luijn - WE

Special Mention 
Viktor Zhusti, Ndriçim Xhepa, Xhevdet Ferri - The Delegation

Media Award
The Delegation - Bujar Alimani

Audience Choice Award
The Delegation - Bujar Alimani

EYE on TIFF – Debut Feature Film Competition

Winner
Secret Ingredient [+] - Gjorče Stavreski (Macedonia/Greece) 

International Short Film Competition

Best Short Film 
Everything Is Far Away - Emanuel Parvu (Romania)

Best Fiction
All These Creatures - Charles Williams (Australia)

Best Animation
Bendito Machine VI - Carry On - Jossie Malis (Spain/France)

Special Mention
Forgive Me - Besim Ugzmajli (Kosovo)

International Documentary Competition

Best Documentary
The Greenaway Alphabet [+] - Saskia Boddeke (Netherlands)

Best Feature-length Documentary
The Greenaway Alphabet - Saskia Boddeke

Best Mid-Short Documentary
Mountain - Grégoire Verbeke (Belgium) 

Balkan Competition

Best Balkan Film
Holy Boom [+] - Maria Lafi (Albania/Cyprus/Greece)

Special Mention
Tina & Sendy - Hani Domazet (Croatia) 

Best Film in the Albanian Language
A Month - Zgjim Terziqi (Kosovo) 

Special Mention
Atila - Benart Laze (Albania)

Best Student Film
A Worthy Man - Kristian Håskjold (Denmark)

Best Video Art and Experimental Film
The End of Time - Milcho Manchevski (USA)