Reason by Anand Patwardhan won the Award for Best Feature-Length Documentary at the awards ceremony of the 31st International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam.  Los Reyes by Bettina Perut and Iván Osnovikoff won the Special Jury Award for FeatureLength Documentary.  IDFA runs until Sunday November 25, 2018.

Giacinto Scelsi. The First Motion of the Immovable by Sebastiano d’Ayala Valva was awarded the IDFA Award for Best First Appearance, and Kabul, City in the Wind by Aboozar Amini won the IDFA Special Jury Award for First Appearance.

The Beeld en Geluid IDFA Award for Dutch Documentary went to ‘Now something is slowly changing’ by mint film office. But Now Is Perfect by Carin Goeijers received the IDFA Special Jury Award for Dutch Documentary. At the beginning of the evening, Reber Dosky presented the Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds Documentary Stipend (€ 50.000) to filmmaker Sophie Dros.

International Documentary Filmfestival Amsterdam 2018 Awards

IDFA Competition for Feature-Length Documentary

Anand Patwardhan won the IDFA Award for Best Feature-Length Documentary (€ 15.000) with Reason (India). The film is a broad-ranging examination of Indian society, where secular rationalists are hunted down as they attempt to stem the rising tide of religious and nationalist fundamentalism.

From the jury report: The IDFA Award for Best Feature-Length Documentary is unanimously given to Reason by Anand Patwardhan for the epic storytelling of the rise of the far right in one of the most populated countries of this planet, the violence of religious and ultranationalist militias with the support of authorities and dominant medias, the dignity of resistance in multiple forms, often at life-cost, in a way that acknowledges the complexity of the situation but put it in a very understandable shape.

In addition, the jury presented the IDFA Special Jury Award for Feature-Length Documentary (€ 2.500) to Los Reyes (Chile, Germany) by Bettina Perut and Iván Osnovikoff. In this almost fairytale-like film, the phenomenal, dreamlike camerawork centers almost entirely on the subtle interaction between two dogs, as they play with a ball, a stick, a stone, and each other.

From the jury report: The IDFA Special Jury Award for Feature-Length Documentary goes to Los Reyes, by Bettina Perut and Iván Osnivikoff (Chile, Germany) for the creative and beautiful way it displaces the viewer gaze by associating a sensible look at non-human wonderful characters and the soundtrack that connects daily lives of animal and human stray dogs.

IDFA Competition for First Appearance

Sebastiano d’Ayala Valva won the IDFA Award for Best First Appearance (€ 10.000) for Giacinto Scelsi. The First Motion of the Immovable (France, Italy).

Aboozar Amini won the IDFA Special Jury Award for First Appearance, in memory of Peter Wintonick (€ 2.500) for Kabul, City in the Wind (Netherlands, Afghanistan, Japan, Germany).

IDFA Competition for Mid-Length Documentary

The IDFA Award for Best Mid-Length Documentary (€ 10.000) was awarded to Andrei Kutsila for Summa (Poland, Belarus).

The IDFA Special Jury Award for Mid-Length Documentary (€ 2.500) went to In Touch (Poland, Iceland) by Pawel Ziemilski.

IDFA DocLab Competition for Digital Storytelling

Ross Goodwin won the IDFA DocLab Award for Digital Storytelling (€ 5.000) for 1 the Road (United States).

IDFA DocLab Competition for Immersive Non-Fiction

The IDFA DocLab Award for Immersive Non-Fiction (€ 5,000) went to Eat | Tech | Kitchen (Netherlands, United States) by Klasien van de Zandschulp & Emilie Baltz.

IDFA Competition for Dutch Documentary

The Beeld en Geluid IDFA Award for Dutch Documentary (€ 7.500) went to ‘Now something is slowly changing’ by mint film office.

Carin Goeijers received the IDFA Special Jury Award for Dutch Documentary (€ 2.500) for But Now Is Perfect.

IDFA Competition for Short Documentary

I Signed the Petition (United Kingdom, Germany, Switzerland) by Mahdi Fleifel won the IDFA Award for Best Short Documentary (€ 5.000).

The IDFA Special Jury Award for Short Documentary (€ 2.500) went to And What Is the Summer Saying (India) by Payal Kapadia.

IDFA Competition for Student Documentary

Beryl Magoko won the IDFA Award for Best Student Documentary (€ 5.000) for In Search… (Germany, Kenya).

The IDFA Special Jury Award for Student Documentary (€ 2.500) was presented to Dana Gelman for Backwards (Israel).

IDFA Competition for Kids & Docs

The IDFA Award for Best Children’s Documentary (€ 5.000) went to Dancing for You (Poland) by Katarzyna Lesisz.

Martijn Blekendaal received the IDFA Special Jury Award for Children’s Documentary (€ 2.500) for The Man Who Looked Beyond the Horizon (the Netherlands).

Other Awards

At the beginning of the evening, Reber Dosky presented the Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds Documentary Stipend (€ 50.000) to filmmaker Sophie Dros. This € 50.000-Euro stipend towards the making of a new documentary was donated by an anonymous donor, who has made the stipend possible through the Cultuurfonds.

The Amsterdam Human Rights Award (€ 25.000) was presented on Tuesday evening to Island of The Hungry Ghosts (Germany, United Kingdom, Australia) by Gabrielle Brady. The award was made possible by the City of Amsterdam.