Friday, November 5, saw the gala evening of the 1st International Television Festival Heart of Europe during which the best productions submitted by public broadcasters from Central and Eastern Europe were awarded.

In total, the jury awarded 12 prizes in 6 categories, 3 special prizes and 2 honorable mentions. Special Awards of the Management Board of Telewizja Polska (TVP), which is organizing the festival, were presented by: Jacek Kurski, President of the Management Board of TVP, and Mateusz Matyszkowicz, Member of the Management Board of TVP. Honored were, among others: the feature film submitted by Czech TV (CT) Veteran directed by Jan Hřebejk, Estonian series Traitor by Ergo Kulda and the TVP entertainment format Sanatorium of Love directed by Katarzyna Kawecka and Joanna Frydrych.

In the Feature Series category, the first prize went to The Diary of Great Perica directed by Vinko Brešan from Croatia (HRT), and the second prize went to Traitor, dir. Ergo Kuld from Estonia (ERR).

The best Feature Film was Iron Bridge directed by Monika Jordan-Młodzianowska submitted by Polish Television. The second place went to Vinko Bresan's What a Country in a Polish-Croatian-Serbian co-production.

In the Documentary Film category, the jury awarded the first prize to Agony by Tomasz Knittl, and the second to the Ukrainian production Maidan. Six Letters of Our Freedom directed by Hanna Jereska.

Andrius Lygnugaris' National Expedition from Lithuania was appreciated by the jury in the Entertainment category. The second place went to the Croatian production of Side A by Ivan Miladinov.

In the Digital category, prizes for the first and second place went to Czech internet projects: Planet is Prima directed by Kristina Volna and Bożena directed by Eva Jarešová. The jury decided that in the category dedicated to programs for children and youth, the first prize will be awarded to the Polish production of Margo, Teddy, and Friends directed by Jacek Sołtysiak, and the second to the Czech production of Cosmix (directed by Vojtech Dudek).

Two productions received a special distinction from the festival jury: in the Documentary category - Jester’s Calendar directed by Ilija Gajica from Georgia, and in the Entertainment category, the Serbian musical film Slavenski directed by Levan Adamii.

The new Heart of Europe international festival for public broadcasters from Central and Eastern Europe was organized by Polish Television. All productions submitted for the first edition of the festival are available until November 30 on the heartofeurope.tvp.pl platform.