‘Wind, Talk to Me’ Sweeps Adriatic Film & TV Awards with Three Wins

Serbian filmmaker Stefan Djordjevic’s documentary-drama “Wind, Talk to Me” won best film at the Adriatic Film & TV Awards on Saturday evening in Porto Montenegro, Tivat, Montenegro. It didn’t stop there: the film also took best director and best debut film, making it the evening’s dominant winner.

The feature is a first for Djordjevic, and it works in a hybrid register. Variety’s review, published after the film’s world premiere in Rotterdam Film Festival’s Tiger competition, says the debut “weaves fact, fiction and memory into a heart-bursting tribute to his late mother.” Dragana Jovović produced.

Who else won in film?

The acting prizes went to two very different performances. Noomi Rapace won best actress for her role in “Mother,” directed by Teona Strugar Mitevska. Andrija Kuzmanović took best actor for “Yugo Florida,” directed by Vladimir Tagić.

The AFA Rising Star award — the prize for an emerging performer — went to Arif Jakup for his role in “DJ Ahmet” by Georgi M. Unkovski.

Hana Jušić won best screenplay for “God Will Not Help.”

How did television fare?

“The Hollow” had the strongest night on the TV side. The series, created by Amra Bakšić Čamo and Danis Tanović, won best TV series, and it swept the series acting categories too. Snežana Vidović won best actress in a TV series for her role in “The Hollow,” and Feđa Štukan won best actor in a TV series, also for “The Hollow.”

Outside the competitive categories, an AFA Award for outstanding success in cinema distribution went to Igor Šeregi’s “Wedding” — a recognition of commercial reach rather than a jury pick.

Who votes, and what does this change for the region?

The awards carry weight because of who decides them. More than 800 members of the Film and TV Academy of the Adriatic Region voted on both the nominations and the final winners. All of them are working film and TV professionals, which sets the AFA apart from festivals where juries of a handful of people decide.

The Academy itself is young and institutionally anchored. Its founding festivals are the Sarajevo Film Festival, the Zagreb Film Festival and the Auteur Film Festival in Belgrade — three established events spanning the region’s main production hubs.

What does this change for filmmakers like Djordjevic? A triple win — best film, best director and best debut — voted by 800-plus industry peers gives a first-time director immediate standing across the Adriatic region’s production and festival circuit, at a moment when “Wind, Talk to Me” is still traveling from its Rotterdam premiere.