The short film Fačuk (Maida Srabović, 2025, Croatia/Slovenia, ANI, 13') is the winner of the 3rd edition of the New Critics & New Audiences Award 2026. The film was nominated through FeKK – Ljubljana Short Film Festival by Alex Petrescu, Elena del Olmo Andrade, Emily Jisoo Bowles, Hana Kreševič, Hava Masaeva, and José Emilio González Calvillo, participants in the 7th European Workshop for Film Criticism.

About the Director

Maida Srabović (Koprivnica, 1986) completed her studies in film and television editing at the Academy of Dramatic Art in Zagreb. After graduating, she worked as a freelance editor for several years, contributing to numerous films and television productions. In 2018, she co-founded the animation and post-production studio TETRABOT in Zagreb. In 2020, she left editing to fully dedicate herself to animation and illustration. Fačuk is her first film, which she wrote, directed, and produced.

Film Synopsis

In a God-fearing village lying between two rivers, giving birth to a ‘fačuk’ — an illegitimate child — is a mortal sin. Everyone in the village detests a young pregnant woman who is about to give birth . In this narrow-minded and harsh rural environment, fear grows inside her. Inspired by the artworks of Mijo Kovačić, a Croatian painter and naïve artist.

The European Workshop for New Curators and the New Critics & New Audiences Award are co-produced by the European Network for Film Discourse (The END) and Talking Shorts, with the support of the Creative Europe MEDIA programme and in collaboration with This Is Short.