The award ceremony of Friss Hús Budapest International Short Film Festival took place on Wednesday afternoon, where the best Hungarian and foreign films, best animation and best acting performances have been awarded alongside those for best Hungarian screenplay and film concept, as well as several audience prizes and special prizes. The full list of awards and winners can be found here.

Awards of the Béla Balázs Short Film Writing Competition

For the second time, in addition to the Pitch Forum, the development of short film scripts was also emphasised: the Béla Balázs Short Film Writing Competition and Workshop had been launched with the intention of creating a tradition to help in identifying new screenwriting talents and in the development of their projects. Ten out of more than eighty entries were selected for the Béla Balázs workshop, which took place during Friss Hús under the professional guidance of writer-director Yvonne Kerékgyártó, mentored by dramaturg Orsolya Benkő and screenwriter Balázs Maruszki. Two of the ten finalists won cash prizes of HUF 150,000 each. The winners are Péter Bódi's "Ahová születni kell" (A Place to Be Born) and Zoltán Gergely's "Csodálatos fasírt" (Wonderful Meatloaf).

The awards of the 10th Friss Pitch

The jury of the Friss Hús Pitch Forum, producer Júlia Berkes, screenwriter György Lukácsy and animation director Péter Vácz congratulated all participants: "we had the pleasure of selecting from one of the strongest competitions in recent years'', they said. The 10th Friss Pitch was the result of a fantastic collaboration between producers, which made it possible to award the Nándor Lovas Prize, the main prize of the Pitch Forum, with a cash prize of one million forints. The sponsors of the award are Artikel, 235 Film, Proton, Inforg-MM, Good Kids Kft, Hero Squared, Eclipse Film, Bal Filmkészítő Kft, Studiolamb, JUNO11 Pictures. The jury's special prize of 200,000 HUF was awarded to Marianna Vas' film concept “Mirhó”, which, according to the jury, "unfolds a mysterious world from a great initial setting, with great scope for acting and visual expression".

Another special prize was awarded to Friss Pitch this year: the special prize will provide the winner free use of Artikel's equipment and prop warehouse in Gödöllő. This prize was given to Réka Dubinyák's film concept "Szeplőtelen'' (Immaculate). The same project was awarded the prize of the Hungarian Feature Film Directors' Association, a one million forints worth equipment rental package offered by KRAFT Rental, which the jury called "a pitch with a sensitive theme with a personal touch and an individual tone".

The winner of the Friss Hús Pitch was Vivien Hárshegyi's pitch of "Margareth", winning the main prize, the Nándor Lovas Prize. "The pitch uses the characteristics of the animated film with a unique vision, and thus gives us hope for a short film with a personal motivation, conceived with imagination and skill", said the jury.

The audience prizes awarded in the various sections are:

• Nun or Never! (dir. Heta Jäälinoja) - international competition section; 
• The Dinner (dir. Jesús Martínez "Nota") - Queer Dreams section;
• Sincopat (dir. Paul Diggler) - @Midnight section; 
• A Kind of Testament (dir. Stephen Vuillemin) - Weirdcore section; 
• Prey (Préda) (dir. Márkó Sztepanov) - "Műfajra, magyar!" section; 
• Deer Bell (Szarvasbőgés) (dir. Edit Jakab) - international documentaries section 

The jury of the international competition programme (Mia Avdagić, coordinator of the Sarajevo Film Festival's Talents Sarajevo Project, Aneta Ozorek, artistic director of Kaboom Animation Festival and Péter Benjámin Lukács, sound designer and producer) awarded the two special prizes of the section to “Even Though It's Night” and “The Miracle”, while the prize of 1,000 Euros for the Best International Short Film went to the Lithuanian film “Through Gloom” (dir. Arnas Balčiūnas).

The prize of the Friss Hús Student Jury was decided by Réka Kis, media student of the Klára Leövey High School, Andor Orbán, film directing student of the Budapest Metropolitan University, and Erina Sajtos, senior student of the Szent István Király Music High School. The student jury prize was awarded to “Harmadnap” (Third Day, directed by Marcell Török). "We would have preferred to give the student jury award to five different films, but unfortunately we couldn't, but we would definitely like to highlight “Marcang” (Blast), “Az utca másik végén” (The Other End of the Street) and “Cipők és paták” (Shoes and Hooves), all of which really caught our attention. In conclusion, we chose this film because, even though we had seen it a week ago, it has stayed with us, it was constantly on our minds, we talked about it a lot and we would probably still have a lot more to talk about," said the jury, explaining their decision.

The special mention of the Hungarian Feature Film Directors' Association was awarded to the film “Cipők és paták” (Shoes and Hooves, directed by Viktória Traub). 

The prize offered by Berger Studios consists of VFX/main title work worth one million HUF. The jury members were András Fésős, Balázs Juszt and András Surányi. The prize for the best short film of the Hungarian Feature Film Directors' Association was awarded to Diamond Beauty by Anna Korom.

The awards of the official jury of the Hungarian competition programme were decided by Rimantė Daugėlaitė, director of the Vilnius International Short Film Festival, Luce Grosjean, founder of Miyu Distribution, Lenka Tyrpaková, artistic director of the Finále in Pilsen National Film Festival, former selector of the Karlovy Vary Film Festival, as well as Barnabás Tóth, film director, screenwriter, actor, producer.

The Best Actor award was presented by Raul Ionescu, one of this year's Friss Csillagok (Fresh Stars), accompanied by the jury members. The Best Female Actor was awarded to Lili Vetlényi for her performance in Márk Beleznai's “Felfáztam” (Long Weekend), and the Best Male Actor award went to Zsolt Nagy, who was a standout in “Az utca másik végén” (The Other End of the Street, directed by Kálmán Nagy). 

In the Hungarian competition, a certificate of recognition was awarded to Fruzsina Roszik for her film “Tavasz” (Prime). Gábor Varga, director of “Cicaharc” (Catfight), was awarded the prize for the most promising director under 30 along with 300,000 HUF.

The best Hungarian animated film was awarded to Anita Kühnel Szabó's MOME Anim diploma film “Apád” (Your Dad). The best Hungarian live-action short film was Anna Korom's “Diamond Beauty”. "The jury, which was unanimous in its decision, was impressed by the bold yet sensitive approach of the film, the visually stunning storytelling and the strong performance of the lead actress Zsuzsa Nyertes", said the jury.