Beldocs in Progress Awards
The Beldocs festival – in Belgrade – ended yesterday, having run since September 3. I have copy-pasted the following press release regarding awards handed out for documentaries that will be finished this year or in 2021:
During Beldocs in Progress pitching sessions, taking place on 9 September 2020 as a part of Beldocs Industry events, 8 documentary film projects from Croatia, Georgia, Moldova, Ukraine and Slovenia were presented to a panel of international decision makers – TV broadcasters, sales and distribution companies, festivals, industry platforms and potential co-producers.
The jury consisting of Patrizia Mancini (Sunny Side of the Doc, France) Marek Hovorka (Jihlava IDFF, Czech Republic), Yorgos Krassakopoulos (Thessaloniki IFF/Thessaloniki IDFF, Greece) and Dragan Nikolic (film director, Serbia) decided to give Beldocs Best Project Award for Beldocs in Progress (1000 EUR cash award) to the project Sunny (dir. Keti Machavariani, Georgia). In its motivation for the main prize the jury wrote:
“A quietly affecting portrait not just of its main character, a woman conducting interviews for social research organizations, but also that of a society in flux and it’s changing attitudes and views, Sunny offers a look both inwards and outwards with distinct cinematic style and plenty of humanity.”
The jury also decided to give a Special Mention the documentary film project Funk Yu (director Franko Dujmić, Croatia). The jury was impressed by the the work of the first-time director and in its motivation said:
“Not just an inspired and lively exploration of a niche music subculture that of Yugo-funk, but also a tale of (mild) obsession that also works as a comment on our relationship with material things, told in a distinct visual style, with wit and energy to spare.”
The jury awarded VOD free visibility award by CinesquareVoD platform for movies from the South-eastern European countries to the project The Elf’s Tower (director Polina Kelm, Ukraine). The jury’s motivation for awarding the project says:
“Finding poetry, beauty and tenderness in a rather inhospitable place -that of a mental hospital- The Elf’s Tower creates a highly cinematic view of a facet of the real world and forces us to look into the “other” without prejudice or preconceptions.”
The Institute of Documentary Film (IDF, Czech Republic), one of the Beldocs IDFF partners gave an East Silver Caravan Awardto the project The Elf’s Tower (director Polina Kelm, Ukraine). In its motivation IDF wrote:
“We decided to support the project, which is a very sensitive story destroying all tabus about mental health. A story is uncovering not only the personal life of the main protagonist but it also introduces us to a specific situation and public status of the clients of the mental health institution. We appreciate the director asks difficult questions, seeks understanding and presents it in a very cinematic way.”
