"Exquisitely filmed in the immersive landscape of a remote island in the North Sea, Skál explores the inner and outer landscapes of a young couple's emerging lives within the newly expanding world of adulthood. This intimate, lyrical portrait comes in a richly poetic form that speaks to the insider/outsider dynamic that storytellers so often embody in order to gain new perspectives. The early experiences of exploring one's sense of place and belonging is set against the yearnings and fears that come from choosing a creative life within a conservative community, offering a shorthand on how to be brave and open to a wider world."

"The Gold Hugo for Best Film goes to Memoria from Apichapong Weerasethakul, for its sense of cinematic poetry and humanism. In this profound and meditative film, the director creates a story that emphasizes the connections people have to the places that they live, to the past and present, and to the terrestrial and beyond. Tilda Swinton's note-perfect performance embodies Weerasethakul's faith in cinema, in science, in secular mysticism, and in the possibilities of cross-cultural empathy and understanding."

"The art direction in Captain Volkonogov Escaped creates one of its boldest and most expressive visual elements. It vividly conveys not just the historical period of 1938 during Stalin's reign, but also the relentless horror of this murderous era, fusing style with unmistakable socio-political critique."

"Shooting on 35mm, Kasper Tuxen captures an intensified urban landscape of color and light to animate and deepen this contemporary romantic comedy. With a reliance on natural light for numerous scenes and carefully rendered interiors using artificial lighting, plus a standout scene when the heroine runs through streets where everyone is frozen in time, Tuxen fluidly demonstrates the rich capabilities of film as a medium while infusing The Worst Person in the World with a lively visual imagination."

"This masterfully crafted study of a human catastrophe that stands out in WWII history for its barbarism illustrates the depth of war's power to dehumanize a people as it disposes of them through the advent of unspeakable horrors; and yet, this is also a deeply human film. The use of archival footage confers human dignity in a profoundly moving, haunting, and impactful way within this unfolding human tragedy. Immersive, captivating, and deeply distressing, Babi Yar. Context makes clear: bearing witness to such past tragedies is the first step if we're ever to see the world today in a true light."

"Ryusuke Hamaguchi offers a story about a multilingual restaging in Japan of Anton Chekov's Uncle Vanya to contemplate the associations between art, loss, and human connection. Through a film that is part road movie, part romantic melodrama, and part self-reflexive take on aesthetic craft, the director considers the role of control in the artistic process-when it should be exercised and when it should be relinquished-to produce a complex and thought-provoking study of human relationships in the wake of the death of loved ones."

"The Silver Q-Hugo goes to Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy, a fascinating film about coincidences which open up our imaginations. The three stories in the film start with familiar situations but they all end up different from what was expected. The encounters depict poignant moments about human behavior - desire, revenge, deception, regret and jealousy. All the characters are unpredictable, yet authentic; they are full of anxiety but also filled with hope; and ultimately, their lies lead them to face the truth. Subtle and measured, this film about human connection is deeply and quietly affecting."