Fabris du Welz’s film Maldoror has won the Audience Award for Best Film of the Adriatic Region Festival Network – the Adriatic Audience Award, which was officially presented at the 31st Author Film Festival.

The aim of the Adriatic Audience Award, presented by the Adriatic Region Festival Network, is to promote and increase the visibility of European film, and the award will also enable the film to be screened in cinemas across the former Yugoslavia.

Maldoror received the highest number of audience votes by combining results from all member festivals of the Adriatic Region Festival Network, including the Sarajevo Film Festival (BiH), the Herceg Novi Film Festival (Montenegro), the Ljubljana International Film Festival (Slovenia), the Author Film Festival (Belgrade), the Zagreb Film Festival (Croatia), and Manaki Brothers (North Macedonia).

Maldoror is a fictionalized story inspired by real events that took place in Belgium in the mid-1990s. After two girls disappeared in 1995, young police officer Paul Chartier joins the secret unit “Maldoror,” tasked with monitoring the main suspect. When the operation fails, Paul — disillusioned with the system — embarks on an independent investigation that grows into an obsession.

The film focuses on a realistic portrayal of the struggle against deeply rooted evil and a society that fails its most vulnerable. Maldoror is the first part of Fabris du Welz’s planned trilogy about the dark side of Belgian history, power, and justice. The film had its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival.

The author of the visual design of the Adriatic Audience Award is Srđan Stefanović (1985), an academic sculptor and painter.

The Adriatic Region Festival Network is supported by the MEDIA sub-programme of Creative Europe.