AKP Phnom Penh, October 26, 2026 —
Valeska Grisebach's The Dreamed Adventure won the Gold Hugo award for Best Film at the 62nd Chicago International Film Festival, the organizers announced. Yana Radeva was awarded the Silver Hugo for Best Lead Performance for starring in the film.
"This film takes the Western to the easternmost edge of Europe and introduces us to one of the most unforgettable heroines of recent years, a woman whose quiet strength and independence become an act of resistance in a male-dominated world," the jury said.
The Dreamed Adventure is an international co-production between Germany, France, Bulgaria and Austria. The film had its world premiere at this year's Cannes Film Festival, where it won the Jury Prize, and was selected as Bulgaria's entry in the International Feature Film category for the 99th Academy Awards.
The film takes viewers to Svilengrad in the summer of 2024. Grisebach worked exclusively with Bulgarian non-professional actors. The Dreamed Adventure is her second feature film shot in Bulgaria, following Western (2017).
The Silver Hugo awards for Best Director and for Best Ensemble Performance went to Marine Atlan and the cast of La Gradiva. Everytime by Austrian director Sandra Wollner won the Silver Hugo Jury Award and Lotte Shirin Keiling won Best Supporting Performance for her role in the film. The Silver Hugo for Best Screenplay went to Ryusuke Hamaguchi and Lea Le Dimna for All of a Sudden. Senzo Ueno won the Silver Hugo for Best Cinematography for Hirokazu Kore-eda’s Look Back. The Silver Hugo for Best Visual Effects went to The Spiral.
The 62nd Chicago International Film Festival took place from October 14 to 25, and presented 113 feature films and 57 shorts from around 60 countries, with four world premieres, 15 North American premieres and 21 US premieres.
The Chicago International Film Festival is an annual film festival, founded in 1964 by filmmaker and graphic artist Michael Kutza, it is the longest-running competitive film festival in North America. It has a history of discovering and showcasing directors including Martin Scorsese, John Carpenter, Ava DuVernay, Hirokazu Kore-eda, Wim Wenders, and more.

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