A Czech-Slovak documentary has claimed one of the top nonfiction honors at this year’s Berlin International Film Festival, marking a significant moment for the region’s film industry. If Pigeons Turned to Gold (Kdyby se holubi proměnili ve zlato), from Czech director Pepa Lubojacki, won the Berlinale Documentary Award at the festival’s 76th edition on Saturday evening.
If Pigeons Turned to Gold shot on a mobile phone, examines homelessness and addiction through an intensely personal lens. It follows the director’s brother and two cousins as they struggle with life on the margins, questioning how and why they became socially invisible.
The award, decided by a three-member jury, includes a €40,000 (CZK 1 million) cash prize to be shared between the director and producers. The win also qualifies the film for consideration in the 2027 Academy Awards race for best documentary feature.
A personal story with international resonance
In awarding the prize, the Berlinale jury cited Lubojacki’s “inventive directorial voice.” The documentary was selected from 16 nonfiction films presented across various festival sections this year.
Accepting the award, Lubojacki addressed the social stigma surrounding homelessness and addiction: “When you have no home or live with addiction, you become invisible to society. This award means they are at the center of attention, that they matter.” The director noted that the production process was marked by judgment and misunderstanding, underscoring the sensitivity of the subject.
The film had already received recognition in Berlin before the main ceremony, winning the Caligari Prize in the Forum section. Established in 1986, the independent award is presented by a separate jury to a film screening in Forum, a sidebar known for formally and politically challenging works. The prize is named after The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, directed by Robert Wiene, a landmark of German Expressionist cinema.
Backed since 2024 by the streaming platform filmfriend and the German Federal Association of Communal Film Work (BkF), the Caligari Prize includes €4,000 (CZK 100,000), split between the filmmaker and distribution support. No Czech or Slovak film had previously won the award. The last Central or Eastern European winner dates back to 1994, when Hungarian director Béla Tarr was honored for Sátántangó.
If Pigeons Turned to Gold screened four times at the festival, premiering on Feb. 13.
Czech cinema’s festival presence
Lubojacki’s success comes amid a broader Czech presence at this year’s Berlinale. In total, four films with Czech participation screened across sections. The short animated film Eeny, Meeny, Miny, Moe! (En, ten, týky!) by Slovak director Andrea Szelesová appeared in Generation Kplus, while the Czech-German-Iranian-Luxembourg co-production Roya by Iranian director Mahnaz Mohammadi screened in Panorama.
The Classics section presented a digitally restored version of Prefab Story (Panelstory aneb Jak se rodí sídliště), directed by Věra Chytilová in 1979.
The documentary award adds to a history of Czech nonfiction gaining international attention. In 2008, director Helena Třeštíková won the European Film Award for René, a time-lapse portrait often described as the European equivalent of an Oscar. This year, the Czech co-production Mr. Nobody Against Putin is nominated for the Academy Award for best documentary feature and has also won the top prize at the BAFTA awards.
Czech fiction films have also made their mark in Berlin. In 2007, I Served the King of England by Jiří Menzel received the FIPRESCI Prize. Menzel’s earlier film Larks on a String, completed in 1969 but suppressed under the communist regime, went on to win the Golden Bear more than two decades later after finally reaching audiences. Lubojacki’s win underscores the continued visibility of Czech cinema on the international festival circuit.
