The Documentary Film Award 2009 from Bayerischer Rundfunk and Telepool (10.000 EUR) goes to the film

La Chine est encore loin, (China is Still Far Away), directed by Malek Bensmaïl, France, Algeria 2008

A visually powerful film that sheds new light on the complexities of a post colonial country and its people who are caught at the crossroads of a future that is still unfolding and a contested past of languages, memories and histories. A film that nurtures hope with its warmth, beauty and harmony.

The Special Documentary Award sponsored by BLM, the Bavarian Authority for Private Broadcasting (worth 2,500 EUR),  goes to the film

Redemption, directed by Sabrina Wulff, Germany 2009.

The first film of a young director who journeys into the heart of darkness and comes out with a film that is moving and politically significant.

The Horizons Prize of the 24. International Documentary Film Festival Munich 2009 goes to the director

Sourav Sarangi and his film Bilal, India 2008.

The everyday life of a three-year-old boy who lives in close quarters with his blind parents and his younger brother in a poor neighbourhood of Calcutta – what would one expect from this other than misery and destitution? But "Bilal" is surprisingly positive, sometimes even funny, and, above all, authentic and extremely human.

We become part of the family and are present as the lively Bilal fights with his little brother, stoically learns English vocabulary and sheds tears of pain and anger at his circumcision. We are present when the father repairs a light or tries to start a business with a small telephone switchboard. We are present when the parents argue and the mother openly admits that she would have left a long time ago if the children were not there and that she is happy to be blind and not have to see the filth around her. The camera is always in the thick of things but, even so, the film is at no point voyeuristic or judgemental.

Sourav Sarangi allows us to take part in it all; he doesn’t gloss over anything and doesn’t dramatise.

After watching this film we understand just a little more about life in a poor neighbourhood of Calcutta and about life in general.

The Documentary Talent Award sponsored by the Bavarian film and television fund, FilmFernsehFonds Bayern (worth 5,000 EUR) goes to the film:

The Last Applause – Life is a Tango by Gérman Kral

Germán Kral, in this documentation which has been developed over several years, has achieved a sensitive contemplation of transience and the importance of friendship and music. His both respectful and affectionate handling of the film’s protagonists who are deeply touching in their authenticity, as well as the intelligent montage and, not least, the film’s memorable music all contribute to this convincing work which is hard to forget.

The FFF jury also selects the winner of the OmU-Subtitling Award sponsored by Untertitel-Werkstatt Münster GmbH & Co. KG.

The award winner’s next film will be subtitled in order to support its participation in international festivals.

The jury awards this prize to a young director who has demonstrated an impressive creative ability in all aspects of filmmaking.

In an insightful and striking manner Julia Bourgett has documented a largely unknown aspect of the holocaust – the murder of 7,000 Jewish women in East Prussia just before the end of the war. The young director had to overcome a great deal of resistance to realise this project. All the more reason to appreciate the way she has so successfully told the victims’ atrocious story through an unforgettable mixture of witness testimony and footage of today’s Kaliningrad.

The award winners of the Raumwandler e.V. short film competition can be viewed here.