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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.

Finnish Film Affair, the industry arm of HIFF - Love & Anarchy, is an international marketplace for Finnish and Nordic films and a networking event for over 500 industry professionals from around the world. Documentary projects in development, production and post-production, with a Finnish co-producer, are now invited to apply for the event’s Showcase Day. The deadline for applications is May 29.

Ex Oriente Film is a project-based training program & creative lab for both established and emerging film professionals supporting the development and funding of “exceptional, creative” feature docs & series from Central and Eastern Europe. The deadline for submission to the 3-part programme held during Sunny Side, DOK Leipzig (both 2023 and East Doc Platform (Prague, 2024) is April 14.

“The real is out there,” says the Swiss doc festival ahead of its 54th edition that comprises a “powerful and dazzling programme that showcases the strength of contemporary non-fiction filmmaking.” VdR 2023 will screen 163 films, including 82 world, 11 international, 2 European and 26 Swiss premieres, and welcomes three main guests: Argentinian Lucrecia Martel, Italian Alice Rohrwacher and Swiss Jean-Stéphane Bron.

The main Dox:Award goes to Motherland by Alexander Mihalkovich & Hanna Badziaka. The F:act Award was won by Seven Winters in Tehran by Steffi Niederzoll while the Nordic:Dox Award was picked up by Jella Bethmann for Mrs. Hansen & the Bad Companions. All the award-winning films will be screened in cinemas in Copenhagen March 27 and 28. All winners follow…