Cannes Film Festival 2026 | Toronto International Film Festival 2026 | Karlovy Vary International Film Festival 2026
Jury Prize, Cannes Film Festival 2026
In Svilengrad, a small town on the Bulgarian border, Veska meets Said, an old acquaintance whose car has been stolen. She offers to help him and takes him to the archaeological site where she works. As they reconnect, Veska becomes involved in his criminal world and begins to uncover hidden links between crime and the town. When people from her past reappear, she must face the truth about the town and her own experiences.
A graduate of Philosophy and German studies in Berlin, Munich and Vienna, Valeska Grisebach studied direction at the Film Academy Vienna, under Peter Patzak, Wolfgang Glück and Michael Haneke. Her graduation film, Be My Star, received awards at the Toronto and Turin film festivals in 2001. Her second feature, Longing, competed at the Berlinale 2006 and won awards in Buenos Aires, Gijón and Warsaw. Western premiered in Cannes’ Un Certain Regard section in 2017, earning international recognition and several distinctions.
The Match Factory
