On 27 November 2019, IDFA announced the winners within each of the competition programs during the IDFA Awards Ceremony at Eye Film Museum, with the top prize going to Heidi Hassan and Patricia Pérez Fernández with In a Whisper.
IDFA Competition for Feature-Length Documentary
Directors Heidi Hassan and Patricia Pérez Fernández are the winners of the IDFA Award for Best Feature-Length Documentary (€20,000) with In a Whisper (Spain, France, Switzerland, Cuba). The film centres on two emigrated Cuban filmmakers whose passion for film, friendship, and freedom reunites them after years apart.
This year, for the first time at IDFA, three new awards were presented in the Competition for Feature-Length Documentary. The IDFA Award for Best Directing (€5,000) went to Mehrdad Oskouei for his film Sunless Shadows (Iran).
The IDFA Award for Best Editing (€2,500) went to Sander Vos for Punks, directed by Maasja Ooms.
The IDFA Award for Best Cinematography (€2,500) went to Maasja Ooms for Punks (the Netherlands), also directed by Ooms.
IDFA Competition for First Appearance
Lucy Parker won the IDFA Award for Best First Appearance (€10,000) for Solidarity (United Kingdom).
“A rigorous, complex, and clever yet accessible look at a strongly contemporary issue, which transcends its subject and transforms it into a disquieting universal warning,” the jury reported.
The jury decided to give two special mentions in this competition. The first special mention went to Froth (Russia, Qatar), directed by Ilya Povolotsky, and the second to I Owe You A Letter About Brazil (Brazil) by Carol Benjamin.
The FIPRESCI Award (€5,000) was given to Alyx Ayn Arumpac for Aswang (Philippines, France, Norway, Qatar, Germany).
IDFA Competition for Mid-Length Documentary
The IDFA Award for Best Mid-Length Documentary (€7,500) was awarded to Jalal Vafaei for Anticlockwise (Iran).
Mother-Child (Argentina) by Andrea Testa received a special mention in the Competition for Mid-Length Documentary.
IDFA DocLab Competition for Digital Storytelling
Victoria Mapplebeck won the IDFA DocLab Award for Digital Storytelling (€5,000) with The Waiting Room VR (United Kingdom).
The Special Jury Award for Creative Technology (€2,000) went to In Event of Moon Disaster (United States) by Francesca Panetta and Halsey Burgund.
IDFA DocLab Competition for Immersive Non-Fiction
Vincent Morisset won the IDFA DocLab Award for Immersive Non-Fiction (€5,000) for Vast Body 22 (Canada).
The Special Jury Award for Creative Technology (€2,000) went to Duncan Speakman for Only Expansion (United Kingdom).
IDFA Competition for Dutch Documentary
The IDFA Award for Best Dutch Documentary (€7,500) went to Reber Dosky for Sidik and the Panther (The Netherlands).
A special mention was awarded to Punks (The Netherlands) by Maasja Ooms.
IDFA Competition for Short Documentary
Up at Night (Congo, Belgium) by Nelson Makengo won the IDFA Award for Best Short Documentary (€5,000).
Additionally, a special mention was made for Mizuko (United States, Japan), co-directed by Katelyn Rebelo and Kira Dane.
IDFA Competition for Student Documentary
Denize Galiao won the IDFA Award for Best Student Documentary (€2,500) for Saudade (Germany).
The jury awarded a special mention to Moritz Schulz for Summerwar (Germany).
IDFA Competition for Kids & Docs
The IDFA Award for Best Children’s Documentary (€5,000) went to Jafar Najafi for Asho (Iran).
A special mention in the IDFA Competition for Kids & Docs went to Foreplay (The Netherlands) by Anne van Campenhout.
IDFA Competition for Creative Use of Archive
The inaugural Beeld en Geluid IDFA ReFrame Award (€5,000) for best creative use of archive was awarded to Alan Berliner for Letter to the Editor (United States).
The jury also awarded a special mention in this category to Marshawn Lynch: A History (United States) directed by David Shields.
Jørgen Leth receives IDFA’s Lifetime Achievement Award
During the award ceremony, IDFA’s artistic director Orwa Nyrabia presented the Lifetime Achievement Award to Danish documentary filmmaker Jørgen Leth.
Other Awards
At the beginning of the evening, last year’s stipend recipient Sophie Dros presented the Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds Documentary Stipend (€50,000) to filmmaker Marina Meijer.
This grant of €50.000 allows the recipient to make a documentary about a subject of their choosing. The award is intended for a documentary filmmaker with a proven track record who has already earned modest recognition in the documentary field.
The winner of the VPRO IDFA Audience Award will be announced on Friday, November 29th.
