European Film Academy Shortlists Documentaries

The selection system is a bit heavy and complicated: 10 festivals – including all those which are part of DocAlliance – suggest titles for a committee of documentary connaisseurs, who have chosen 15 films. These will be watched and voted on by members of EFA to end up with 5 nominations – and then the European Documentary 2017 will be announced in Berlin in December. Having said so – yes, there are many good films on the list, but I miss Miroslav Janek’s “Normal Autistic Film”, Audrius Stonys “Woman and the Glacier” and Pawel Lozinski’s “You Have No Idea How Much I Love You” – all films that cross borders, where most of the ones below are pretty run-of-the-mill in terms of storytelling. My favourite: Loznitsa’s “Austerlitz” (photo) but I can not vote…

Austerlitz | Director: Sergei Loznitsa | Producer: Sergei Loznitsa | Germany

Communion | D: Anna Zamecka | P: Zuzanna Krol, Anna Wydra, Izabela Lopuch, Hanka Kastelicova | Poland

Dead Donkeys Fear No Hyenas | D: Joakim Demmer | P: Margarete Jangård, Heino Deckert, John Webster | Sweden, Germany, Finland

How to Meet a Mermaid | Director: Coco Schrijber | Producer: Frank van den Engel | Netherlands, Denmark

La Chana | D: Lucija Stojevic | P: Lucija Stojevic, Greta Olafsdottir, Deirdre Towers, Susan Muska | Spain, Iceland, USA

Libera nos Liberami | D: Federica Di Giacomo | P: Francesco Virga, Paolo Santoni | Italy, France

Nothingwood | D: Sonia Kronlund | P: Laurent Lavolé & Melanie Andernach | France, Germany

School Life in Loco Parentis | P: Neasa Ní Chianáin, David Rane | P: David Rane, Montse Portabella, Angelo Orlando, Efthymia Zymvragaki | Ireland, Spain

Stranger in Paradise | Director: Guido Hendrikx | Producer: Frank van den Engel | Netherlands

Taste of Cement | D: Ziad Kalthoum | P: Ansgar Frerich, Tobias Siebert, Eva Kemme | Germany, Lebanon, Syria, United Arab Emirates, Qatar

The Good Postman | Director: Tonislav Hristov | Producer: Kaarle Aho | Finland, Bulgaria

Le Venerable W | D: Barbet Schroeder | P: Margaret Menegoz, Lionel Baier | France, Switzerland

The War Show | D: Andreas Dalsgaard, Obaidah Zytoon | P: Miriam Nørgaard, Alaa Hassan | Denmark, Syria, Finland

Ultra | D: Balazs Simonyi | P: Laszlo Jozsa, Balazs Simonyi, Rea Apostolides, Yuri Averof, Hanka Kastelicova, Anna Zavorszky | Hungary, Greece

West of the Jordan River | D: Amos Gitai | P: Patricia Boutinard Rouelle, Romain Icard, Stéphanie Schorter, Amos Gitai, Shuki Friedman & Laurent Truchot | France

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Tue Steen Müller
Tue Steen Müller

Müller, Tue Steen
Documentary Consultant and Critic, DENMARK

Worked with documentary films for more than 20 years at the Danish Film Board, as press officer, festival representative and film consultant/commissioner. Co-founder of Balticum Film and TV Festival, Filmkontakt Nord, Documentary of the EU and EDN (European Documentary Network).
Awards: 2004 the Danish Roos Prize for his contribution to the Danish and European documentary culture. 2006 an award for promoting Portuguese documentaries. 2014 he received the EDN Award “for an outstanding contribution to the development of the European documentary culture”. 2016 The Cross of the Knight of the Order for Merits to Lithuania. 2019 a Big Stamp at the 15th edition of ZagrebDox. 2021 receipt of the highest state decoration, Order of the Three Stars, Fourth Class, for the significant contribution to the development and promotion of Latvian documentary cinema outside Latvia. In 2022 he received an honorary award at DocsBarcelona’s 25th edition having served as organizer and programmer since the start of the festival.
From 1996 until 2005 he was the first director of EDN (European Documentary Network). From 2006 a freelance consultant and teacher in workshops like Ex Oriente, DocsBarcelona, Archidoc, Documentary Campus, Storydoc, Baltic Sea Forum, Black Sea DocStories, Caucadoc, CinéDOC Tbilisi, Docudays Kiev, Dealing With the Past Sarajevo FF as well as programme consultant for the festivals Magnificent7 in Belgrade, DOCSBarcelona, Verzio Budapest, Message2Man in St. Petersburg and DOKLeipzig. Teaches at the Zelig Documentary School in Bolzano Italy.

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