| Diagonale Award Short Feature 2025 |

| FOR BEST SHORT FEATURE FILM |

Reza Rasouli
Night of Passage

Jury Statement:
With the Diagonale Award for Best Short Fiction Film, we honor a film that leaves us no choice but to look. Night of Passage uncompromisingly takes the perspective of three refugee friends and gives each of their stories its own voice. In just a few lines of dialogue, the depth of their friendship and bond unfolds through the powerful performances – driven by fear, but also by humor, which becomes a survival strategy. From the very first second, we are right there with them – we feel the confinement of the truck, the moment of panic when jumping into the unknown, and the breathless run through the forest. A seemingly harmless stop at a gas station turns into a life-threatening test of courage.

The film crosses boundaries – both geographical and emotional: between hope and despair, invisibility and threat, life and death.

Night of Passage powerfully reminds us of the multiple dangers people face while fleeing repression in search of a safe life – and that behind abstract asylum statistics, there are individual human lives. At a time when reports about migration are omnipresent in the media, this film manages to open new perspectives and raise awareness.

Jury Short Feature:
David Reumüller (Musician, Artist, AT)
Christoph Schwarz (Director, AT)
Cordula Thym (Editor, Director, AT)