Nick Cunningham

Etilaat Roz by Abbas Rezaie details the fall of Kabul in 2021. It is “not only the story of the most widely read newspaper in liberal Kabul, it is also a testimony to international political failure,” writes the German docfest. Elsewhere, this year's thematic DOK.focus series, titled POWER OF MEDIA?, deals with the diversity, ambivalence and increasingly conflicting role of the media with reference to five selected films.

Sunny Side of the Doc’s seven pitching sessions will run 19 to 22 June 2023 in La Rochelle, France. Forty-two pre-selected projects will be presented to a panel of industry insiders from around the globe, including leading commissioning editors, buyers, funds, sales agents, distributors and co-production partners.

In total 33 prizes will be handed out for films and projects during the Festival and Industry Awards ceremonies held 26 and 28 April respectively. The headline International Feature Film Competition jury comprises Florence Almozini, David Epiney and Kleber Mendonça Filho who will deliberate over 14 films before handing out the Grand Jury Prize (CHF 20,000) and the Special Jury (CHF 10,000). All juries…

Alisa Kovalenko’s story of five Ukrainian kids who are transported from the war zone to the peaks of the Himalayas picked up the award March 28. The feature doc prize is valued at €2500 and comes with the year-long festival service of the East Silver Caravan, worth an additional €3500. KIX by Dávid Mikulán & Bálint Révész received a Special Mention.

Fifteen prizes were handed out during the East Doc Platform Closing Ceremony March 30. The East Doc Platform Award (valued at €7500) went to I Made a Mistake Coming Here, about the struggles of refugees in Belarus, by Kseniya Halubovich. Helena Maksyom’s The Soldier's Journey, about a Ukrainian filmmaker who takes up arms to defend her country, won the Current Time TV Director's Award and the HBO Max Award.

This year, 13 films will compete for the Best Israeli Documentary award at the 25th Docaviv, running May 11-20. Other competitive components include the Beyond the Screen Award, presented in the memory of the late Ilana Tsur, founder of the festival, and Arts and Culture/Student competitions. Prize money at Docaviv 2023 amounts to NIS 350,000 (approx €89,350.)

The presentation was made March 29 by Laufey Gudjonsdottir, the outgoing director of the Icelandic Film Center. Downey was present at the festival also to screen his production of The Rise and Fall of Comrade Zylo, directed by Fatmir Koci and co-written by Downey. "There’s only one thing better than getting an award from the audience and that is an award from one’s peers,” said Downey.

For its 2023 Changing Face of Europe programme, EFP will present 10 ‘outstanding’ European docs during the Canadian docfest, running 27 April - 7 May. The films explore themes centred around identity, belonging and struggle. “Sharing the multifaceted stories by European filmmakers with North American audiences, and connecting documentary filmmakers with the industry, is a great endeavour for us,” says EFP MD Sonja Heinen.

The 2023 MtM Grand Jury Documentary Award was presented to directors Lukasz Konopa and Emil Langballe for their feature doc Theatre of Violence. The Activist Award was won by Steffi Niederzoll for her documentary Seven Winters in Tehran, while Lin Alluna's Twice Colonized, about the struggle for justice of renowned Inuit lawyer Aaju Peter, won the Camera Justitia prize. All awards…

The Bristol-based international event also saw Carolina Arias Ortiz’s Rebel Objects win the Basil Wright Film Prize while the Audience Award went to Once Upon a Village, directed by Srishti Lakhera. The 2023 festival launched online worldwide on March 3 and continues until 31 March with a programme of over eighty domestic and international documentary films.