IDFA Announces Festival Award Winners 2015
Following an intense week of screenings, industry sessions and festival activities, the winners of the various IDFA competitions have been announced on 25 November in the Rabozaal, Melkweg, in Amsterdam during the 28th IDFA award ceremony.
winner in the category Best Feature-Length Documentary
Jerzy Sladkowski’s "Don Juan" won the VPRO IDFA Award for Best Feature-Length Documentary and "Ukrainian Sheriffs" by Roman Bondarchuk won the IDFA Special Jury Award for Feature-Length Documentary. The Oxfam Global Justice Award went to EDN members Pablo Iraburu and Migueltxo Molina for their documentary project "Walls" (Arena Comunicación Audiovisual).
A total of 16 prizes were awarded and three of the winners: Ukrainian Sheriffs, Roundabout in My Head and Sonita were made possible with financial support from the IDFA Bertha Fund. The festival continues until Sunday when the winners of the BankGiro Loterij IDFA Audience Award and the IDFA Music Audience Award will be announced.
Best Feature-Length Documentary
"Don Juan" | Director: Jerzy Sladkowski | Producer: Antonio Russo Merenda
Jerzy Sladkowski won the VPRO IDFA Award for Best Feature-Length Documentary (€12,500) for Don Juan (Sweden/Finland). The film is a portrait of 22-year old Oleg, and his mother Marina’s attempts to cure him of his lethargy. From the jury’s report: "This tender, bittersweet tragicomedy about role-playing within both therapeutic theatre games and family dramas, and the interplay between them, is both subtle and aggressive, speaking volumes about the definitions of normality, abnormality and the dynamics of power and love."
Special Jury Award for Feature-Length Documentary
"Ukrainian Sheriffs" | Director: Roman Bondarchuk | Producers: Uldis Cekulis, Darya Averchenko, Tanja Georgieva
Furthermore, the jury awarded the IDFA Special Jury Award for Feature-Length Documentary (€2,500) to Ukrainian Sheriffs (Ukraine/Latvia/Germany) by Roman Bondarchuk. The documentary, which was made with support from the IDFA Bertha Fund and was a 2014 IDFAcademy Summer School project, is a tragicomic portrait of two sheriffs in a remote Ukrainian village where, alongside all manner of commonplace situations, political developments also threaten to disturb the peace.
IDFA Award for First Appearance
"When the Earth Seems to Be Light" | Directors: Salome Machaidze, Tamuna Karumidze, David Meskhi | Producer: Jörg Langkau
Special Jury Award for First Appearance
"Roundabout in My Head" | Director: Hassen Ferhani | Producer: Narimane Mari
Best Mid-Length Documentary
"At Home in the World" | Director: Andreas Koefoed | Producer: Sara Stockmann
Special Jury Award for Mid-Length Documentary
"The Fog of Srebrenica" | Director & Producer: Samir Mehanovic
DocLab Award for Digital Storytelling
"Drawing Room" | Directors: Jan Rothuizen & Sara Kolster
DocLab Immersive Non-Fiction Award
"Someone Else" | Director: Ant Hampton
Award for Dutch Documentary
"A Strange Love Affair with Ego" | Director: Ester Gould | Producer: Joost Seelen
Special Jury Award for Dutch Documentary
"A Family Affair" | Director: Tom Fassaert
Award for Best Student Documentary
"My Aleppo" | Director & Producer: Melissa Langer
Special Jury Award for Student Documentary
"The Mute's House" | Director: Tamar Kay | Producers: Tamar Kay, Ariel Richter
Best Children's Documentary
"Ninnoc" | Director: Niki Padidar
Award for Youth Jury's Favourite film
"Sonita" | Director: Rokhsareh Ghaem Maghami | Producers: Gerd Haag, Kerstin Krieg, Aline Schmid | Rokhsareh Ghaem Maghami
Oxfam Global Justice Award
"Walls" | Directors: Pablo Iraburu, Migueltxo Molina | Producers: Marga Gutiérrez, Itziar García Zubiri
Best Female-Directed Documentary
"Motley's Law" | Director: Nicole Nielsen Horanyi
IDFA continues until Sunday 29 November 2015 when the winners of the BankGiro Loterij IDFA Audience Award (€5,000) and the IDFA Music Audience Award (€2,500), for the music documentary with the highest audience rating, will be announced.
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