Polish documentary wins Serra da Estrela International Environmental Film Festival

The Polish documentary The Town That Drove Away, by the duo Grzegorz Piekarski and Natalia Pietsch, won the “Grand Prize for Environment” at the 31st edition of the Serra da Estrela International Environmental Film Festival – CineEco 2025. The film, which portrays the forced displacement of the inhabitants of the historic village of Hasankeyf, in Turkish Kurdistan, submerged by the waters of a mega hydroelectric project, stood out among ten international feature films, moving the jury and the audience in Seia .

The festival, which took place between October 10th and 18th in Seia, screened more than 80 films from 31 countries and was attended by 59 directors, producers, and actors. Over the course of a week, more than 3,760 spectators, including 1,650 students from schools in the region , participated in the sessions and activities of the event, which once again established itself as one of the most important environmental film festivals in the Portuguese-speaking world.

Among the award winners, the “Camacho Costa Prize,” intended for feature films in Portuguese, was awarded to the poetic Enquanto o Céu Não Me Espera (Brazil), by Christiane Garcia, a fiction film rooted in the Amazon about resistance and belonging. The “Environmental Anthropology Prize” distinguished Katwe (Uganda/Sweden), by Nima Shirali, which portrays the struggle of the inhabitants of a city abandoned to poverty and pollution.

In the international short and medium-length film category, Plastic Surgery (United Kingdom), by Guy Trevellyan, won first prize with an intense story about the dangers of microplastics. The Portuguese-language award went to Cão Sozinho (Portugal/France), by Marta Reis Andrade. Vânia e Valéria (Brazil) received the “Environmental Education Award”, while the animation Martha (Switzerland), by Marcel Barelli, was distinguished in the “Animation” category. L'ancien Monde (France), by Owen Archinet, won in “Fiction and Non-Fiction Shorts”.

Among the national awards, the “Regional Panorama Award” was given to The Last Shepherd of Sabugueiro (Portugal), by Laurène da Palma Cavaco, which follows the life of Dinis, a young shepherd from the Serra da Estrela mountains. Special awards included “Value of Water” for Sukande Kasáká (Brazil) and “Youth” for A New Kind of Wilderness (Norway).

Organized by the Municipality of Seia, with the high patronage of the President of the Republic and the support of the United Nations Environment Programme, CineEco reinforces its role in promoting ecological education and independent cinema. Following the success of this edition, the festival is now embarking on a national and international tour, bringing the environmental message to new audiences and territories.