Serbian Actress Milica Janevski Secures Best Actress Award at Inaugural Doha Film Festival

Serbian actress Milica Janevski has achieved significant international recognition, winning the Best Actress award at the very first Doha Film Festival, hosted in Qatar. This prestigious accolade was earned for her compelling performance in the short narrative film titled “Kad svane” (Upon Sunrise), directed by Stefan Ivančić.

The debut festival, organized by the Doha Film Institute (DFI), ran from November 20th through the 28th in 2025. Its comprehensive lineup showcased 97 films sourced from 62 different nations. Janevski, who audiences may also recognize from the feature film “Father” and the series “Children of Evil,” expressed genuine surprise and profound happiness upon receiving this global honor. She noted that she had not anticipated any acting nominations for the project.

“Kad svane,” a concise 14-minute piece, centers on the challenging life of a single mother. After losing her employment, she resorts to minor online scams to provide for her preschool-aged child. The film relies heavily on atmosphere, featuring minimal dialogue. Instead, it emphasizes the meticulous sound design crafted by Bojan Palikuća and Janevski’s powerfully expressive acting. This short film had previously premiered globally at the 54th International Film Festival Rotterdam in January 2025, and it also screened at the Sarajevo Film Festival.

The supporting cast for the short included Radmila Tomović, Milica Stefanović, Dimitrije Baranac, and Nadežda Đermanović. Director Stefan Ivančić conveyed his satisfaction that their work was selected among the 20 short films chosen for competition and subsequently honored at this newly established festival curated by the DFI. Ivančić also drew a sharp contrast between the global support afforded to auteur cinema and the domestic situation in Serbia, where, he stated, state support for filmmaking has effectively ceased.

The screenplay for “Kad svane” was a collaborative effort between Stefan Ivančić and Nadja Petrović. Petrović is already an award winner, having previously received the Heart of Sarajevo award for Best Student Short Film. The production itself was a testament to international cooperation, resulting from a co-production involving Non-Aligned Films (Serbia), Volta Producción (Spain), Staragara (Slovenia), and Antitalent (Croatia).

The DFI’s initiative, which culminated in this festival, is fundamentally aimed at nurturing emerging regional talent and fostering robust cultural exchange. The total prize money distributed across the festival exceeded 300,000 US dollars. Fatma Hassan Alremaihi, the Festival Director and CEO of the DFI, emphasized that the Doha Film Festival serves as a clear reflection of Qatar’s expanding creative aspirations and its firm belief in cinema’s capacity to unite people.