Award Winners 2008

The Documentary:Film Award 2008, sponsored by the Bavarian Broadcaster Bayerischer Rundfunk and Telepool (worth 10,000 EUR) goes to Life after the Fall by Kasim Abid, United Kingdom/ Iraq 2008

A film which starts as a personal video diary becomes a universal statement about life in war-time circumstances. The director Kasim Abid succeeds in giving an authentic vision of daily family life through which he gives an account of hopes and disillusionment in Baghdad after the fall of Saddam Hussein.

The Special Documentary Award, sponsored by BLM (Bavarian Authority for Private Broadcasting) (worth 2,500 EUR) goes to Citizen Havel by Pavel Koutecký and Miroslav Janek, Check Republic 2008.

A truthful portrait shot in the tradition of classic documentary cinema follows the life and the career of former Czech president Vaclav Havel over the course of 15 years. Through the intimate relationship between the filmmakers and the character we are given the opportunity to go behind-the-scenes of power. The jury wishes to share this award with Pavel Koutecky whose life project was unfortunately interrupted by an accidental death and to recognise the commitment of Miroslav Janek who respectfully finished the film.

The Horizons Prize (worth 3,000 EUR) goes to the director Rajula Shah and her film Word Within the word, India 2007.

The director has made an artistic film in her very own handwriting that leaves much room for personal imagination and that awakens our curiosity about India and its culture. With her film she takes us on a journey, central to which are the songs of the Indian Bhakti poets. Their religiousness may be based on Hinduism and Islam but it rejects formalities and remains metaphorical and mysterious. The shots are particularly impressive and sometimes appear like a painting. Kaleidoscopic images of landscapes and workers become poetry turned into image. In its slowness the film develops an almost meditative strength. That is why we unanimously believe that we have unearthed a little jewel.

The Bavarian film and television fund, FilmFernseh-Fonds Bayern awards its Documentary Talent Award worth 5,000 Euro to the director Alexander Riedel for Draußen bleiben.

Alexander Riedel depicts the life of two friends in a Munich refugee centre: their struggles with the authorities; the football pitch; the breakfast room. Despite the serious and engaging nature of the film, this situation is not pictured as a sad irreversible fate. On the contrary, thanks to its vital and ever-present protagonists, the film has a positive appeal.

The Jury also decided the allocation of the Original Version Talent Award sponsored by the company Untertitel-Werkstatt Münster GmbH: the award winner’s next film will be subtitled in order to support its participation in international festivals. The Original Version Talent Award goes to Maximilian Plettau.

The Jury awards this prize to a young director who in his first feature documentary demonstrates an enormous creative power on all filmic levels. We look forward to his next film and award the Original Version Talent Award to the director Maximilian Plettau who is presenting his film Comeback at DOK.FEST.