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 at the 28th International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam IDFA award ceremony.
The prize for the best Dutch documentary went to Ester Gould for A Strange Love Affair with Ego. The festival’s opening film A Family Affair by Tom Fassaert was awarded the IDFA Special Jury Award for Dutch Documentary.
A total of 16 prizes were awarded and three of the winners: Ukrainian Sheriffs, Roundabout in My Head and Sonita were made with financial support from the IDFA Bertha Fund.
Jerzy Sladkowski won the VPRO IDFA Award for Best Feature-Length Documentary 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.”
Furthermore, the jury awarded the IDFA Special Jury Award for Feature-Length Documentary 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.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29qoEzqw5Mk
The IDFA Award for First Appearance was awarded to Salome Machaidze, Tamuna Karumidze and David Meskhi for When the Earth Seems to Be Light (Georgia/Germany).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSQix_-g0fI
The Special Jury Award for First Appearance – in memory of Peter Wintonick – went to Hassen Ferhani’s Roundabout in My Head (Algeria/France/Lebanon/Qatar).
Roundabout in My Head was financially supported by the IDFA Bertha Fund.
Andreas Koefoed won the IDFA Award for Best Mid-Length Documentary for At Home in the World (Denmark).
Samir Mehanovic won the IDFA Special Jury Award for Mid-Length Documentary for The Fog of Srebrenica (Scotland/Bosnia and Herzegovina).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uCHdvD7zD4A
The IDFA DocLab Award for Digital Storytelling was presented to Jan Rothuizen and Sara Kolster for Drawing Room (the Netherlands).
Ant Hampton received the IDFA DocLab Immersive Non-Fiction Award for Someone Else (Belgium).
The Beeld en Geluid IDFA Award for Dutch Documentary was awarded to A Strange Love Affair with Ego made by Ester Gould.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDeqrlVLLrE
Tom Fassaert received the IDFA Special Jury Award for Dutch Documentary for A Family Affair.
The ARRI IDFA Award for Best Student Documentary went to My Aleppo (USA) by Melissa Langer.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4lXDzur4Ts
The Mute’s House (Israel) by Tamar Kay won the IDFA Special Jury Award for Student Documentary.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01CtMn48dgE
This year, the IDFA Award for Best Children’s Documentary was awarded for the first time and went to Ninnoc by Niki Padidar (the Netherlands).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0hn3GFvFWsM
The jury decided to also award an honorable mention to Victor Kossakovsky’s Varicella (Norway/Denmark/Sweden/Russia).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOeKWKC2w5o
IDFA DOC U Award for the youth jury’s favorite film was awarded to Sonita by Rokhsareh Ghaem Maghami (Iran). Sonita was made thanks to a financial contribution from the IDFA Bertha Fund.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B47MbpPuz7A
The Oxfam Global Justice Award went to Pablo Iraburu and Migueltxo Molina for Walls (Spain).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kl_kUNh9TpI
Finally, the Alliance of Women Film Journalists’ EDA Award for Best Female-Directed Documentary was awarded to Motley’s Law by Nicole Nielsen Horanyi (Denmark). Motley’s Law was an IDFA Forum project in 2013.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_hfsq5gL-o
IDFA continues until Sunday November 29, 2015, when the winners of the BankGiro Loterij IDFA Audience Award and the IDFA Music Audience Award, for the music documentary will be announced.Ukrainian Sheriffs
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Don Juan Wins Best Feature-Length Documentary Award at 28th International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam
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 at the 28th International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam IDFA award ceremony.
The prize for the best Dutch documentary went to Ester Gould for A Strange Love Affair with Ego. The festival’s opening film A Family Affair by Tom Fassaert was awarded the IDFA Special Jury Award for Dutch Documentary.
A total of 16 prizes were awarded and three of the winners: Ukrainian Sheriffs, Roundabout in My Head and Sonita were made with financial support from the IDFA Bertha Fund.
Jerzy Sladkowski won the VPRO IDFA Award for Best Feature-Length Documentary 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.”
Furthermore, the jury awarded the IDFA Special Jury Award for Feature-Length Documentary 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.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29qoEzqw5Mk
The IDFA Award for First Appearance was awarded to Salome Machaidze, Tamuna Karumidze and David Meskhi for When the Earth Seems to Be Light (Georgia/Germany).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSQix_-g0fI
The Special Jury Award for First Appearance – in memory of Peter Wintonick – went to Hassen Ferhani’s Roundabout in My Head (Algeria/France/Lebanon/Qatar).
Roundabout in My Head was financially supported by the IDFA Bertha Fund.
Andreas Koefoed won the IDFA Award for Best Mid-Length Documentary for At Home in the World (Denmark).
Samir Mehanovic won the IDFA Special Jury Award for Mid-Length Documentary for The Fog of Srebrenica (Scotland/Bosnia and Herzegovina).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uCHdvD7zD4A
The IDFA DocLab Award for Digital Storytelling was presented to Jan Rothuizen and Sara Kolster for Drawing Room (the Netherlands).
Ant Hampton received the IDFA DocLab Immersive Non-Fiction Award for Someone Else (Belgium).
The Beeld en Geluid IDFA Award for Dutch Documentary was awarded to A Strange Love Affair with Ego made by Ester Gould.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDeqrlVLLrE
Tom Fassaert received the IDFA Special Jury Award for Dutch Documentary for A Family Affair.
The ARRI IDFA Award for Best Student Documentary went to My Aleppo (USA) by Melissa Langer.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4lXDzur4Ts
The Mute’s House (Israel) by Tamar Kay won the IDFA Special Jury Award for Student Documentary.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01CtMn48dgE
This year, the IDFA Award for Best Children’s Documentary was awarded for the first time and went to Ninnoc by Niki Padidar (the Netherlands).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0hn3GFvFWsM
The jury decided to also award an honorable mention to Victor Kossakovsky’s Varicella (Norway/Denmark/Sweden/Russia).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOeKWKC2w5o
IDFA DOC U Award for the youth jury’s favorite film was awarded to Sonita by Rokhsareh Ghaem Maghami (Iran). Sonita was made thanks to a financial contribution from the IDFA Bertha Fund.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B47MbpPuz7A
The Oxfam Global Justice Award went to Pablo Iraburu and Migueltxo Molina for Walls (Spain).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kl_kUNh9TpI
Finally, the Alliance of Women Film Journalists’ EDA Award for Best Female-Directed Documentary was awarded to Motley’s Law by Nicole Nielsen Horanyi (Denmark). Motley’s Law was an IDFA Forum project in 2013.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_hfsq5gL-o
IDFA continues until Sunday November 29, 2015, when the winners of the BankGiro Loterij IDFA Audience Award and the IDFA Music Audience Award, for the music documentary will be announced.
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Benjamin Barber to Present Film Program at 2015 IDFA Reflecting on Jihad vs. McWorld
The 1995 book Jihad vs. McWorld by American political theorist Benjamin Barber forms the starting point for the special program Benjamin Barber: Jihad vs. McWorld 2015 at the upcoming 2015 IDFA International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam. This year a new 20th anniversary edition of the book will be published with the subtitle ‘ISIS on the Internet’.
At IDFA, Benjamin Barber, an internationally renowned political theorist and the author of eighteen books, will present his own selection of documentaries from the IDFA program that engage with many contemporary themes, including global capitalism, terrorism, the politics of fear, refugees, populism and economic inequality.
3 ½ Minutes, Ten Bullets (USA) by Marc Silver
A Syrian Love Story (UK) by Sean McAllister
Among the Believers (Pakistan/USA/India) by Mohammed Ali Naqvi & Hemal Trivedi
At Home in the World (Denmark) by Andreas Koefoed
Cartel Land (USA/Mexico) by Matthew Heineman
Checks and Balances (France/Algeria) by Malek Bensmaïl
The Chinese Mayor (China) by Hao Zhou
The Dybbuk: A Tale of Wandering Souls (Poland/Ukraine/Sweden) by Krzysztof Kopczynski
For Kibera! (Finland) by Kati Juurus
Land Grabbing (Austria) by Kurt Langbein
Steve Jobs: The Man in the Machine (USA) by Alex Gibney
This Is Exile: Diaries of Child Refugees (England) by Mani Y. Benchelah (pictured above)
Ukrainian Sheriffs (Ukraine/Latvia/Germany) by Roman Bondarchuk
We Are Not Alone (Spain) by Pere Joan Ventura
Welcome to Leith (USA) by Christopher K. Walker & Michael Nichols
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15 Documentary Films to Compete at 28th IDFA; Fest to Open with A FAMILY AFFAIR
15 films will compete in the feature-length documentary competition of the upcoming 28th International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA), which takes place in Amsterdam from November 18 to 29, 2015. The 28th IDFA opens on 18 November with A Family Affair by Dutch director Tom Fassaert. In A Family Affair, Fassaert explores the delicate history of his own family, which is marked by conflict. This personal journey takes him through four generations, and becomes complicated when his grandmother makes an unexpected confession. A Family Affair competes in both IDFA’s feature-length documentary and Dutch documentary competitions.
Bolshoi Babylon by Nick Read (Russia / UK)
A revealing look behind the scenes of the world-famous Russian Bolshoi Theatre, where a constant struggle between ambition, love of art and nepotism is played out.
Carolina’s World by Mariana Viñoles (Uruguay)
An affectionate portrait of 20-year-old Caro, who has Down’s syndrome. Sitting at her mother’s kitchen table, she talks openly about her life.
Clear Years by Frédéric Guillaume (Belgium)
An intimate, candid account of a man watching through his camera lens as his family falls apart.
Don Juan by Jerzy Sladkowski (Sweden / Finland)
A funny, painful portrait of 22-year-old Oleg, whose mother Marina is trying to free him from his lethargic state.
A Family Affair by Tom Fassaert (the Netherlands)
Hoping to gain insight into his family history, Tom Fassaert heads to South Africa to visit his grandmother Marianne. But Marianne has something else in mind.
Natural Disorder by Christian Sønderby Jepsen (Denmark)
Jacob, who has cerebral palsy, will never lead a normal life. But who defines what is normal? In a play, he defends his right to exist as an abnormal person.
Next Stop: Utopia by Apostolos Karakasis (Greece / Germany / France)
Greek workers take over their abandoned workplace. Their movement becomes a beacon of solidarity – but how long can they keep going?
Patient by Jorge Caballero (Colombia)
While Nubia fights and fears for the life of her terminally ill daughter, we are given a bewildering insight into the absurd bureaucracy of the health system in Colombia.
The Road by Zanbo Zhang (China)
The construction of a gigantic motorway in China brings three parties into opposition with one another: the local population, the construction company and the labourers.
Snow Monkey by George Gittoes (Australia)
A collage of joy and brutality in Afghanistan. Local gang members take acting roles in a Pashtun film directed by an open-minded Australian.
Sonita by Rokhsareh Ghaem Maghami (Iran / Germany)
Illegally living in Tehran, 18-year old Afghani refugee Sonita dreams of being a rapper in this exciting document of her search for her own life path through life.
A Strange Love Affair with Ego by Ester Gould (the Netherlands)
Her admiration for the self-assurance of her sister Rowan prompts the filmmaker to explore our narcissistic society – with shocking results.
Thru You Princess by Ido Haar (Israel)
A virtual musical encounter between a cappella singer Princess Shaw from New Orleans and Israeli composer-producer Kutiman leads to an internet hit.
Thy Father’s Chair by Antonio Tibaldi and Alex Lora (Italy / USA)
Ageing Orthodox Jewish twins Abraham and Shraga have to look on as a clean-up team gets to grips with their polluted home in Brooklyn.
Ukrainian Sheriffs by Roman Bondarchuk (Ukraine / Latvia / Germany)
Tragi-comic portrait of a pair of sheriffs in a remote Ukrainian village where – alongside various simmering situations – political developments are also a threat to order.