The company of the European film greats so far consists of:

2000. Milena Dravić / Miklos Jancso (Hungary);

2001. Dušan Makavejev / Jiri Menzel (Czech Republic);

2002. Gordan Mihić / Lucian Pintilie (Romania);

2003. Mladomir Puriša Đorđević / Krzysztof Zanussi (Poland);

2004. Živorad Žika Mitorvić / Margarethe von Trotta (Germany);

2005. Eva Ras / Andzej Wajda (Poland);

2006. Velimir Bata Živojinović / Theo Angelopoulos (Geece);

2007. Ljubiša Samardžić / Istvan Szabo (Hungary);

2008. Goran Paskaljević / Ken Loach (Great Britain);

2009. Predrag Miki Manojlović / Ken Russell (Great Britain);

2010. Goran Marković / Constantin Costa Gavras (Greece/France);

2011. Srđan Karanović / Lordan Zafranović (Croatia);

2012. Zoran Simjanović / Jean-Marc Barr (France);

2013. Emir Kusturica / Nikita Mihalkov (Russia);

2014. Mirjana Mira Banjac / Claude Lelouch (France);

2015. Želimir Žilnik / Roy Andersson (Sweden);

2016. Slobodan Šijan / Ulrich Seidl (Austria);

2017. Slavko Štimac / Christopher Hampton (Great Britain);

2018. Rade Šerbedžija / Brian Cox (Scotland);

2019. Miljen Kljaković Kreka / Rajko Grlić (Croatia);

2020. Mirjana Karanović i Ildiko Enyedi (Hungary);

2021. Aleksandar Berček / Christian Petzold (Germany);

2022. Dušan Kovačević / Michel Hazanavicius (France);

2023. Bogdan Diklić / Andreass Dresen (Germany);

2024. Anica Dobra / Phedon Papamichael (Greece);

2025. Svetozar Cvetković / Sergei Loznitsa;

2026. Radoš Bajić / Kornel Mundruczó (Hungary)

Take a look at the archive of previous award winners:

2003.
Golden Tower - Year of Devil (Petr Zelenka)
Silver Tower - Nirgendwo in Africa (Caroline Link)
Bronze Tower - An Almost Ordinary Story (Milos Petricic)

2004.
Golden Tower – Control (Nimrod Antal)
Silver Tower - Take My Eyes (Icíar Bollaín)
Bronze Tower – Don’t move (Sergio Catelito)
Best film from the Parallels and Encounters - Here (Zrinko Ogresta)

2005.
Golden Tower – The Death of Mr. Lazarescul (Cristi Puiu)
Silver Tower - Uno (Axel Hennie)
Bronze Tower – Adam and Paul (Lenny Ambrahamson)
Best film from the Parallels and Encounters - Dealer (Benedek Fliegauf)

2006.
Golden Tower – Gravehopping (Jan Cvitkovic)
Palic Tower - Michael Glawogger for Slumming
Best film from the Parallels and Encounters - Lady Zee (Georgi Djulgerov)

2007.
Golden Tower – After the Wedding (Susanne Bier)
Palic Tower – Dror Shaul for Sweet Mud
Best film from the Parallels and Encounters - the program was not held

2008.
Golden Tower – Waltz with Bashir (Ari Folman)
Palic Tower – Andreas Drezen for Cloud 9
Best film from the Parallels and Encounters - Magnus (Kadri Kõusaar)

2009.
Golden Tower – The Happiest Girl in the World (Radu Jude)
Palic Tower – Pavel Bardin for Russia 88
Best film from the Parallels and Encounters - Zift (Javor Gardev)

2010.
Golden Tower – How I Ended This Summer (Alexei Popogrebsky)
Palic Tower – Benjamin Heisenberg for The Robber
Best film from the Parallels and Encounters - Street Days (Levan Koguashvili)

2011.
Golden Tower – Stopped on Track (Andreas Dresen)
Palic Tower – Jan Komasa for Suicide Room
Best film from the Parallels and Encounters - Majority (Seren Yüce)

2012.
Golden Tower – Beyond the Hill (Emin Alper)
Palic Tower – Ulrich Seidl for Paradise: Love
Best film from the Parallels and Encounters - The Idiot (Rainer Sarnet)

2013.
Golden Tower – Borgman (Alex van Warmerdam)
Palic Tower – Tudor Giurgiu for Of Snails and Men
Best film from the Parallels and Encounters - Cold (Ugur Yucel)

2014.
Golden Tower – Leviathan (Andrey Zvyagintsev)
Palic Tower – Dietrich Brüggemann for Stations of the Cross
Best film from the Parallels and Encounters - The Tribe (Myroslav Slaboshpytskyi) and Free range (Veiko Õunpuu)

2015.
Golden Tower – Rams (Grímur Hákonarson)
Palic Tower – Magnus von Horn for The Here After
Best film from the Parallels and Encounters - The Gulls (Ella Manzheeva)

2016.
Golden Tower – Toni Erdmann (Maren Ade)
Palic Tower – Cristian Mungiu for Graduation
Best film from the Parallels and Encounters - Lily Lane (Benedek Fliegauf)

2017.
Golden Tower – Park (Sofia Exarchou)
Palic Tower – Helene Hegemann for Axolotl Overkill
Best film from the Parallels and Encounters - Quit Staring at My Plate (Hana Jusic)

2018.
Golden Tower – Girl (Lucas Dhont)
Palic Tower – Rasmus Closter Bro for Cutterhead
FIPRESCI Award for the best film of the Official Selection – At war (Stéphane Brizé)
Best film from the Parallels and Encounters - Blossom Valley (László Csuj)

2019.
Golden Tower – Les Misérables (Ladj Ly)
Palic Tower – Juris Kursietis for Oleg
FIPRESCI Award for the best film of the Official Selection – Les Misérables (Ladj Ly)
Best film from the Parallels and Encounters - The Harvest (Misho Antadze)

2020.
Golden Tower – Hope (Maria Sødahl)
Palic Tower – Agnieszka Holland for Charlatan
FIPRESCI Award for the best film of the Official Selection – Sweat (Magnus Von Horn)
Best film from the Parallels and Encounters - Kill It, And Leave The Town (Marijus Wilczynski)

2021.
Golden Tower – The Worst Person in the World (Joachim Trier )
Palic Tower – Ferit Karahan for Brother’s Keeper
FIPRESCI Award for the best film of the Official Selection – The Worst Person in the World (Joachim Trier )
Best film from the Parallels and Encounters - Nun of Your Business (Ivana Marinic Kragic)

2022.
Golden Tower – R.M.N. (Cristian Mungiu)
Palic Tower – Dmytro Sucholytkyj - Sobtschuk for Pamfir
FIPRESCI Award for the best film of the Official Selection – Rimini (Ulrich Seidl)
Best film from the Parallels and Encounters - Butterfly Vision (Maksym Nakonechnyi)

2023.
Golden Tower – Afire (Christian Petzold) 
Palic Tower – Adam Csaszi for Three Thousand Numbered Pieces  
FIPRESCI Award for the best film of the Official Selection – Afire (Christian Petzold)
Best film from the Parallels and Encounters - Citizen Saint (Tinatin Kajrishvili) 

2024.
Golden Tower – 78 Days (Emilija Gasic)
Palic Tower – Runar Runarsson for When the Light Breaks
FIPRESCI Award for the best film of the Official Selection – The Girl with the Needle (Magnus von Horn)
Best film from the Parallels and Encounters - Panopticon (George Sikharulidze)

2025.
Golden Tower – Two Prosecutors (Sergei Loznitsa)
Palic Tower – Paolo Marinou-Blanco for Dreaming Lions
FIPRESCI Award for the best film of the Official Selection – Quiet Life (Alexandros Avranas)
Best film from the Parallels and Encounters - Honeymoon (Zhanna Ozirna)

2026.
Golden Tower – Nino in Paradise (Laurent Micheli)
Palic Tower – Simon Verhoeven for Oh, This Unspeakable Void
FIPRESCI Award for the best film of the Official Selection – Feels Like Home (Gábor Holtai)
Best film from the Parallels and Encounters - Tell Me What You Feel (Łukasz Ronduda)

See the Underground Spirit Award laureates archive:

2008. F.J Ossang

2009. Uli M. Schueppel

2010. Želimir Žilnik

2011. Johannes Stjarne Nilsson and Ola Simonsson

2012. Jern Utkilen

2013. Igor and Ivan Buharov

2014. Edouard Salier

2015. Ion de Sosa, Chema Garcia Ibarra, Luis Lopez Carrasco, Miguel Llanso, Velasco Broca

2016. Karpo Aćimović Godina

2017. Bertrand Mandico

2018. Tizza Covi, Rainer Frimmel

2019. Jean Charles Hue

2020. Sara Fgaier

2021. Ada Solomon

2022. István Borbás

2023. María Cañas

2024. Mika Taanila

2025. Peter Tscherkassky

2026. Helena Wittmann

Take a look at the archive of previous award winners:

2016. Kills On Wheels (Till Attila)

2017. On Body and Soul (Ildikó Enyedi)

2018. Girl (Lukas Dhont)

2019. Les Miserables (Ladj Ly)

2020. The Name of the People (Darko Bajic)

2021. Bad Blood (Milutin Petrovic)

2022. Close (Lukas Dhont)

2023.  The Old Oak (Ken Loach)

2024. 78 Days (Emilija Gasic)

2025. 100 Liters of Gold (Teemu Nikki)

2026. Oh, This Unspeakable Void (Simon Verhoeven)