A Sound of My Own by Rebecca Zehr
The awards of the 64th edition of DOK Leipzig were handed out October 30 during the gala ceremony held before a live audience at Leipzig’s CineStar.
The Chinese documentary Father by Wei Deng has won the Golden Dove (€10,000) in the International Competition Long Documentary and Animated Film. The director’s first feature film is a portrait of generations about his father and grandfather that depicts tradition and change, violence and alienation in Chinese society. “Sincere, poignant and haunting – the narrative goes beyond what is visible to the eye. It shows the complexity of life and becomes a pure homage to humanity,” the jury’s statement reads.
The Silver Dove for the best long documentary or animated film by an emerging director in the International Competition went to Karol Pałka for his first feature-length film Bucolic. This Polish documentary observes a mother and her daughter in their secluded life in the countryside. The jury was impressed by the director’s “fresh and innovative cinematic approach” and highlighted the “sensitive depiction of characters” in the film. “It moves effortlessly around a magical universe with the utmost delicacy and modesty,” said the jury. The 6,000-euro award was sponsored by 3sat.
In the German Competition Long Documentary and Animated Film, A Sound of My Own by Rebecca Zehr was awarded the Golden Dove (€10,000). This documentary accompanies musician Marja Burchard, who followed in her father’s footsteps and became the bandleader of the legendary Krautrock collective Embryo. She carries on her father’s tradition while seeking her own musical path in a male-dominated industry. “Different materialities and fragments lightly and playfully come together in a composition in which the montage is aware of the specific temporality of cinema,” say jury members Carsten Möller, Gudrun Sommer and Maria Speth. “On the visual as well as the sound level, this extraordinary portrait of an artist is convincing in the way the art of music and the art of documentary film meet.”
The Golden Dove in the Competition for the Audience Award Long Documentary and Animated Film, which includes 3,000 euros, was awarded by the audience jury to Nikola Ilić and Corina Schwingruber Ilić for Dida. At the centre of the film is the filmmaker’s mother, Dida, who, due to a learning disability, has always been dependent on her mother, but longs for independence. A look at a family in transition. “The film raises various questions: Who is the child, who the adult? How can one live autonomously, how can one take responsibility for a person in need of help? But above all, the film radiates warmth, humour and great joy,” the jury’s statement reads.
In the International Competition Short Documentary and Animated Film, Gugi Gumilang, Marina Kožul and Izabela Plucińska chose the recipients of the Golden Doves, each endowed with 3,000 euros. The award for best documentary film went to Abyssal by Alejandro Alonso, the documentary observation of a ship scrapyard in western Cuba.
The Silver Dove in the German Competition Short Documentary and Animated Film, which includes 1,500 euros in prize money, went to Tang Han for her documentary Pink Mao, an analysis of the 100-yuan note, the largest denomination of Renminbi banknotes in the People’s Republic of China.
Partnership Awards for documentary and animated films in competition:
The DEFA Sponsoring Prize, which includes 4,000 euros granted by the DEFA Foundation, went to Nasim by Ole Jacobs and Arne Büttner, a portrait of an Afghan woman and her family in the Moria refugee camp on the Greek island of Lesbos. Jakob Krese and Danilo do Carmo received an honourable mention for What Remains on the Way.
The ver.di Prize for Solidarity, Humanity and Fairness, which includes 2,500 euros, was also awarded to Nasim.
The 3,000-euro MDR Film Prize for an outstanding eastern European documentary film was awarded to the Polish production The Balcony Movie by Paweł Łoziński, who, for two years, set up a camera on his balcony and struck up conversations with the passers-by.
The Film Prize Leipziger Ring honours a documentary film about human rights, democracy or civil engagement, is granted by Stiftung Friedliche Revolution (Foundation of the Peaceful Revolution) and comes with 2,500 euros in prize money. This year’s award went to Rami Farah and Signe Byrge Sørensen for Our Memory Belongs to Us, in which Syrian activists now in Paris use video clips to recapitulate their experiences fighting in the Syrian civil war.
The Goethe-Institut Documentary Film Prize was awarded to the documentary film Republic of Silence by Diana El Jeiroudi, whose complex montage encompasses the disintegration of Syria and life in exile in Germany. The award comes with 2,000 euros in prize money, licensing, and subtitling in eight languages.
The 2,000-euro Young Eyes Film Award, granted by Leipziger Stadtbau AG, went to Johanna Seggelke for her coming-of-age story Reality Must Be Addressed. The prize was awarded by the Youth Jury in cooperation with Filmschule Leipzig e.V.
The 1,750-euro Prize of the Interreligious Jury was awarded to Cléo Cohen for her film May God Be with You, an attempt to reconcile her Arab and Jewish selves by posing questions to her grandparents.
The Prize of the International Film Critics (FIPRESCI Prize) has gone to Words of Negroes. In this film, Sylvaine Dampierre has the workers of an old sugar refinery read passages from the transcripts of an 1842 court case, in which slaves testified against their violent master.
The Gedanken-Aufschluss Prize went to The Crossing by Florence Miailhe. The prize was awarded by a jury of prisoners of the Juvenile Detention Centre Regis-Breitingen.
Awards presented as part of DOK Industry. As part of the industry platform DOK Industry, five awards were presented during the festival week.
Awarded in the DOK Co-Pro Market:
Culture and Tourism Division of the Saxon State Ministry for Science, Culture and Tourism (along with 5,000 euros): Broken Flower by Sarvnaz Alambeigi (Iran)
The prize is donated by: State Ministry for Higher Education, Research and the Arts
Current Time TV Award (along with 1,500 euros): Cadillac Dreams by Elene Mikaberidze (Georgia, France). The prize is donated by: Current Time TV
The EWA Diverse Voices Award (along with 1,000 euros and a year-long mentorship by DOK Leipzig): The Woman Who Poked the Leopard by Patience Nitumwesiga (Uganda).
DOK Preview Germany: D-Facto Motion Works-in-Progress Prize (post-production grant of 10,000 euros): President’s Tailor – From Auschwitz to the White House by Rick Minnich (Germany, USA)
Presented for the first time at DOK Short n’ Sweet: Square Eyes Festival Consultation Award (along with a festival strategy consultation by Square Eyes): Me & Her by Eldar Basmanov & Ahmed Fouad Ragab (Estonia, Russia, Egypt)
