The award winners of the 37th DOK.fest München
We are pleased to present the award winners of the 37th DOK.fest München!
In the three competition series DOK.international, DOK.deutsch and DOK.horizonte, the films at the 37th International Documentary Film Festival Munich competed for the VIKTOR – the award statue donated by the sponsoring association of DOK.fest München. In addition, fourteen other top-class awards were presented. A total of 66,300 euros in prize money was awarded.
VIKTOR DOK.international Main Competition
TRENCHES
Director: Loup Bureau
Ukrainian soldiers have been fighting Russian-backed separatists in the Donbass for years. Loup Bureau documents their lives in impressive images.
From the jury statement: „Without any showmanship, with great respect for his protagonists and using black and white footage that emphasises the timelessness of war, Bureau documents life in the trenches, the shovelling of earth and securing of defences that takes place daily, but also the cooking, the cutting of hair, the talking. The calm that Bureau's images radiate is of course a deceptive one and this is something that we, even as viewers, cannot forget for a second. At any moment there can be another attack. And there is. The urgency of the film has increased immeasurably since its completion in 2021."
Jury: Wenke Husmann (Editor of ZEIT ONLINE in the Magazine Department), Thilo Kasper (Teamlead Content-Strategy of ARD Mediathek), Maureen Gueunet (Manager and Curator)
Sponsored by Bayerischer Rundfunk, endowed with 10,000 euros. Nominated were films that show a broad spectrum of content and form and are distinguished by their high artistic quality.
VIKTOR DOK.deutsch
ZUSAMMENLEBEN (LIVING TOGETHER)
Director: Thomas Fürhapter
In Vienna, 52 percent of the inhabitants are of foreign origin, 182 nations live in the city. This is also learned in the integration courses offered by the city, in which all immigrants can participate voluntarily. ZUSAMMENLEBEN accompanies them and takes a very close look.
From the jury statement: „ZUSAMMENLEBEN (LIVING TOGETHER) is a precisely composed documentary that breaks down barriers in a cultural process that not only focuses on the protagonists, but intentionally connects the audience to a deep cultural experience that deconstructs stereotypes."
Jury: Gesa Marten (film editor, consultant and professor of artistic montage), Edima Otuokon (expert on communication, development, politics and co-founder of the Ladima Foundation), Jennifer Stahl (director of the FIRST STEPS Award)
Endowed with 5,000 EUR. The nominees were films that deal with people and topics in the German-speaking countries.
VIKTOR DOK.horizonte
NO SIMPLE WAY HOME
Director: Akuol de Mabior
Director Akuol de Mabior goes in search of her homeland, South Sudan, where she has never lived. Her father John Garang de Mabior founded the Sudan People's Liberation Army in 1983. After more than 20 years of fighting for freedom, he died in 2005 as Vice President of Sudan. Her mother Rebecca Nyandeng de Mabior fights for her husband's legacy.
From the jury statement: „The jury was particularly inspired by the positive and pragmatic nature of the protagonist, who faces up to her duty against all odds. NO SIMPLE WAY HOME by Akuol de Mabior tells the story of South Sudan’s political leadership in a very direct and intimate way and at the same time is the chronicle of a family with a strong mother-daughter relationship."
Jury: Sharon Nuni (Designer, Editor and Dramaturg), Torsten Frehse (Film Businessman, Managing Director Neue Visionen Filmverleih GmbH), Victoria Leschtschenko (Programme Director Docudays UA International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival)
Sponsored by the Petra Kelly Foundation, endowed with 5,000 euros. The nominees were films that focus on countries with unstable structures.
FFF Talent Award Documentary Film
HOAMWEH LUNG
Director: Felix Klee
How does that define itself: home? What does loss have to do with pain? Felix Klee searches for fragments of a feeling, for traces of a memory and the groping movement that makes what has been lost tangible once again. A swan song to transience.
From the jury statement: „The jury was impressed by the courage with which Klee crafted his own design language. This is not a film of romantic nostalgia, but rather an attempt to capture the feeling of parting and loss using various stylistic devices that are unusual in this context and to express it in laconic images and just a few words. A quiet film about questions that don't have just one answer."
Jury: Björn Koll (film distributor), Mandisa Zitha (festival director of the Encounters South African International Documentary Festival), Philipp Seidel (head of the feature section of the media group Landshuter Zeitung/Straubinger Tagblatt and editor at the Abendzeitung).
Sponsored by FilmFernsehFonds Bayern, endowed with 5,000 euros, awarded cross-series for Bavarian up-and-coming directors.
Documentary Film Award of Goethe-Institut
LIEBE, D-MARK UND TOD (LOVE, DEUTSCHMARK AND DEATH)
Director: Cem Kaya
The Turkish guest workers brought their music with them. A great musical wealth emerged completely under the radar of the German public, a culture with its own stars, labels and cassette shops, which has now reached the second and third generations. LIEBE, D-MARK UND TOD is a tour de force through more than half a century of German-Turkish history.
From the jury statement: „One film in particular persuaded the jury with its impressive and thoroughly researched story that will resonate with countless people around the world. The film is full of spirit and rhythm, reflection and emotion in equal measure. The filmmaker has succeeded in making tangible and acknowledging the story of Turkish migration to Germany and its contribution to the country through music."
Jury: Ameer Masoud (cultural mediator, architect and artist), Diana El Jeiroudi (documentary film director), Eva Lautenschlager (consultant in the field of film, television, radio at the Goethe-Institut)
Sponsored by Goethe-Institut, endowed with 2,000 euros, for outstanding German documentary films (since this year rotating awards in Munich, Leipzig, Duisburg and Kassel).
megaherz Student Award
PUSHING BOUNDARIES
Director: Lesia Kordonets
The film follows five Ukrainian athletes who are preparing for the Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro when suddenly Putin's Russia annexes the Crimean peninsula, where the Ukrainian team's new training centre is located. But the athletes do not want to give up their dream and continue to train in other places under the most adverse conditions, trying to qualify for the next Paralympic Games despite everything.
From the jury statement: "Lesia Kordonets takes us on the journey of the Ukrainian Paralympic team with great courage and without pathos. Overnight, the occupation of Crimea takes away almost all their chances of remaining as successful as they once were. Lesia's athletes are everyday heroes who suddenly come up against sporting, political and existential limits and yet tirelessly give their all to achieve their goals. In the film, each story is told unobtrusively and at eye level. PUSHING BOUNDARIES, that means pushing boundaries, expanding borders."
Jury: Camilo Berstecher Barrero (HBKSaar), Sophia Schachtner (HFBK Hamburg), Marie Wald (HFF Munich)
Sponsored by the film production company megaherz, endowed with 3,000 euros, for the winning film in the Student Award series.
Prizes already awarded:
German Documentary Film Music Award
MEIN GESTOHLENES LAND (THIS STOLEN COUNTRY OF MINE)
Composition: Carsten Nicolai aka Alva Noto
Director: Marc Wiese
Since 2007, Ecuador has been exploited through economic gagging contracts. Paúl is getting ready for the villagers' fight - armed if necessary. Journalist Fernando uses his weapons of facts to expose some 4,000 contracts that former President Rafael Correa signed with China.
From the jury statement: „Alva Noto’s music lends an intense power to the struggle of a mountain village in subtle ways. It delicately and precisely accentuates the film’s disturbing theme – and often brings us closer to it than we would like. Close, but not without restraint, it pauses and holds back when the images and protagonists testimonies speak for themselves. It reflects the dark shadows as well as the nascent glimmers of hope in collective resistance.“
Jury: Gerd Baumann (composer and musician), Antje Drinnenberg (producer and director), Franziska Reck (producer), Christoph Schauer (musician, songwriter and producer), Peter W. Schmitt (composer and lecturer)
The prize is endowed with 5,000 euros and is awarded to the team of filmmaker.in and composer.in. The German Documentary Film Music Award is sponsored by the Versicherungskammer Kulturstiftung and supported by the Förder- und Hilfsfonds des Deutschen Komponistenverbandes DKV.
DOK.fest Award of SOS-Kinderdörfer weltweit
CHILDREN OF THE MIST
Director: Ha Le Diem
While their parents are drunk most of the time, the daughters of the Hmong in northern Vietnam grow up with lipstick, social media and the tradition that they will eventually be stolen, by the boy who wants them. Even though child marriages are forbidden by law: A daughter's brief flirtation can have serious consequences for families.
From the jury statement: „Having established a close relationship with her protagonists, the director Diem Ha Le has succeeded in creating an artistically outstanding film of great social relevance with plenty of room for nuance: even in this remote region of the world, women and girls struggle for their rights and are torn between tradition and independence"
Jury: Sophie von Uslar (Producer and Managing Director of Hager Moss Film), Udo Bremer (Editor), Jutta Krug (Editor), Wolfram Kons (General Manager RTL Charity / Board of Directors RTL Foundation / TV Journalist), Prof. Michaela Braun (Stv. (Deputy Chairperson of the Supervisory Board and Personnel Committee of SOS-Kinderdörfer weltweit), Prof. Dr. jur. Heribert Prantl (journalist, publicist, book author and political commentator), Christine Kehrer (Head of TV/Video SOS-Kinderdörfer weltweit)
The DOK.fest Award of SOS-Kinderdörfer weltweit honours films that make the perspective of children and young people visible and tangible in a special way. It is sponsored by B.O.A Videofilmkunst and endowed with 3,000 euros. The prize will be awarded for the ninth time at DOK.fest München 2022.
DOK.edit Award – presented by Adobe
DAUGHTERS
Director: Jenifer Malmqvist
Sofia, Hedvig and Maja were still children when their mother decided to leave their lives. For over ten years, director Malmqvist watches and listens to her protagonists as they grieve, remember, reflect on their trauma and talk about the unspeakable: the suicide of a parent. A unique long-term observation about the taboo subject.
From the jury statement: „The editing of the film takes us by the hand interweaving the different periods of time, leaving gaps and even allowing for speechlessness", the jury states. "Åsa Mossberg and Line Schou have succeeded in interweaving the different phases of processing this painful experience into a flowing whole."
Jury: Beatrice Banin (Professor of Montage at the University of Television and Film Munich), Georg Michael Fischer (Editor), Ulrike Tortora (Editor and Lecturer at the HFF Munich)
The prize is sponsored by Adobe and is endowed with 5,000 euros. As part of the new programme focus "Re:arranging Reality", it revolves around the post-production of documentary films and was developed in cooperation with Adobe. Nominated are films with outstanding editing achievements across all series.
VFF Documentary Film Production Award
1001 NIGHTS APART
Producers: Sarvnaz Alambeigi (Rabison Art Production), Stefan Tolz and Thomas Riedelsheimer (Filmpunkt GmbH) and Louise Rosen (Louise Rosen Ltd.)
Director: Sarvnaz Alambeigi
Dancing is forbidden in Iran – yet some young people in Tehran try to teach themselves secretly. They hardly know anything about the history of Iranian dance before the revolution. Sarvnaz Alambeigi discovered rare film footage of the National Ballet of the time – how can the old and new generations of dancers be brought together?
From the jury statement: „In realising this extraordinary film project, the production team has shown great commitment, creativity and willingness to take risks. In particular, the Iranian director and producer Sarvnaz Alambeigi of the production company Rabison Art Production made a massive advance commitment: she not only had to guarantee the safety of the protagonists and the team, but also had to pre-finance a considerable part of the production costs."
Jury: Frank Müller (filmmaker, producer and editor), Anna Schoeppe (Managing Director HessenFilm und Medien), Thomas Frickel (author, director and producer).
The prize is sponsored by the VFF Verwertungsgesellschaft der Film und Fernsehproduzenten mbH, it is endowed with 7,500 euros and is unique in Germany. The prize will be awarded for the fifth time at DOK.fest München in 2022.
kinokino Publikumspreis – sponsored by BR and 3sat
GIRL GANG
Director: Susanne Regina Meures
With the winning film of the kinokino Audience Award – donated by BR and 3sat we present the film highlight of our audience. All current feature-length films of the 37th DOK.fest München were nominated.
The name giver and media partner of the Audience Award is kinokino – Das Filmmagazin im Bayerischen Rundfunk | 3sat. The prize is endowed with 2,000 euros, donated by BR, 3sat and DOK.fest München.
