The sixth edition of the Heart of Europe International Festival and Forum concluded in Warsaw on Thursday, Oct. 29, with the announcement of the winners of both its industry Forum and its international Festival competition. Organized by Telewizja Polska (TVP), the four-day event brought together public broadcasters from Central and Eastern Europe, alongside creators, producers and industry professionals, providing a platform for showcasing regional productions, developing new projects and exploring opportunities for international cooperation.

The Forum recognized projects presented during pitching sessions in four categories: documentary, feature film, fiction series and arts. The documentary award went to Ukraine's A Woman with a Movie Camera. An Extraordinary Adventure. Poland's The Curse and the Polish-Syrian project I Am Not One of Them received special mentions, with the latter also winning an audience award alongside the Czech project Monkeys On Demand.

In the feature film category, the winner was Sana from the Czech Republic, while Rusalka, also from the Czech Republic, received a special mention. Moldova's The New Village took the audience award.

The Romanian-German project Coyote Berlin won the fiction series category and was also selected for the audience award. Special mentions went to Slovakia-Czech Republic production Slavic Science and the Czech project Intimacy on Prescription.

In the arts category, Serbia's Once You Fulfill the Dreams, You Cannot Live In Them received the main award. Hungary's Csalog-Kurtág-Ligeti was given a special mention, while Poland's The Friend from Outer Space won the audience award.

The Forum winners will be invited to participate in major international industry events through the partnerships established by the initiative, offering further opportunities to present their projects and develop international connections.

Alongside the Forum, the Heart of Europe Festival competition presented productions from public broadcasters in 13 countries: Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Hungary, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Croatia, Serbia, Romania, Bulgaria and Ukraine. The selection covered feature films, fiction series, documentaries, children's programming, entertainment and digital projects.

The awards were presented in six categories. In Children and Youth, the Golden Award went to Generation Nika, produced by Czech Television (ČT), while Lithuania's LRT received the Silver Award for History of Colors.

The Documentary category's Golden Award was presented to TVP's The Passenger. Andrzej Munk. LRT's 222 Days received the Silver Award. Lithuanian public broadcaster LRT also took the Golden Award in Short Documentary for Kill Zone, with Estonia's ERR receiving Silver for Venice of the East.

In Fiction Film, Czech Television's Mom won the Golden Award. TVP's Chopin, Chopin! received the Silver Award, while the Polish broadcaster's Winter of the Crow was given a special mention.

The Fiction Series Golden Award went to TVP's Variola Vera, with Serbia's RTS receiving the Silver Award for The Fortress.

In Digital and Entertainment, Latvia's LSM won the Golden Award for Matters of the Heart. Czech Television's Learn That: Entrance Exams received the Silver Award.

The final day of the Forum opened with two sessions dedicated to fiction series pitching, giving creators an opportunity to present their projects to industry representatives and potential partners.

The professional program then turned to financing and international production cooperation. In a Quick Chat moderated by Sascha Fahrbach, Veronika Slámová, CEO of the Czech Audiovisual Fund, was supposed to discuss co-production opportunities and the role of the Fund in supporting audiovisual projects but instead, due to the recent developments with the planned budget cuts of the fund, the Czech exec appeared in a video address, assuring that the budget for 2027 won't be changed.

Another session examined the experience of producing Franz, Agnieszka Holland's film, with co-producer Marcin Wierzchosławski of Metro Films sharing lessons on making a production work across Central and Eastern Europe. The discussion was also moderated by Fahrbach.

The next Quick Chat explored slate funding and the opportunities available through Creative Europe MEDIA projects. Anna Gawlita, producer at Kijora Film, discussed the subject in a session moderated by Marta Modzelewska of Creative Europe Desk Poland.

Audience development was the focus of the afternoon panel, You Made It. Now What? The New Battle for Audiences. Moderated by Sascha Fahrbach, the discussion brought together Emmanuel Eckert of Samara Media, Maria Kivinen of Norse Key Studios and Kåre Vedding Poulsen of SVT/DR. The session addressed the challenges facing producers and content owners after a project has been completed, with audience reach and engagement emerging as central concerns for the audiovisual industry.

The day's program also included Pitch Highlights, presenting selected projects from NEM Zagreb, Media Play and IMZ, before the festival and forum concluded with the Heart of Europe 2026 Awards ceremony.

The 2026 edition continued the festival's dual focus: celebrating completed productions commissioned or presented by public broadcasters, while giving emerging and established creators from the region a space to develop projects and meet potential partners.

The distinction between the two strands was reflected in the awards. The Festival competition recognized finished works across a broad range of genres and formats, while the Forum focused on projects at the development stage, with pitching sessions, special mentions and audience awards highlighting different forms of recognition.

With participants and productions representing a broad cross-section of Central and Eastern Europe, Heart of Europe aims to increase the international visibility of regional content and encourage new co-production and distribution partnerships. The organizers also position the Forum's industry-event partnerships as a route for winning projects to reach a wider professional audience beyond Warsaw.