The 21st Docudays UA International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival has announced its winners. However, Docudays UA does not end there: the winning films can be watched during the screening days from 7-9 June. Some of the films and recordings of the festival discussions will be available on DOCUSPACE. We thank the jury for their work and congratulate the award winners!

MAIN PRIZE OF DOCU/WORLD COMPETITION 2024
Jury

A Golden Life, 2023, 83'

Burkina Faso, Benin, France

dir. Boubacar Sangaré

In an industry where issues often take precedence over the artfulness of cinema, we are delighted to award the Main Prize to an exemplary film. In seeking the human in a dehumanising industry, the film develops its own subtle cinematic language, oscillating between a fascinating procedural — in a harsh world of dust, rock, mud, steel and sweat — and a delicate portrait of precarious working youth that stubbornly refuses to treat its chosen subjects as objects of pity. In Bolo, we meet a character whose determination is only matched by his sensitivity, and with this award we honour a film that lives up to these values, and more. The Grand Prize goes to A Golden Life. 

SPECIAL MENTION OF DOCU/WORLD COMPETITION 2024

Fragments of Ice, 2024, 95'

Ukraine, Norway

dir. Maria Stoianova

Our special mention goes to a film which achieves an increasingly rare and precious feat in the contemporary documentary landscape: to express social, political and historical truths by remaining truthful to personal stories. In the filmmaker’s masterful hands, a family’s treasure of archives is rebuilt in such a remarkable way that it draws us both into the relatable drama of one — admittedly extraordinary — family while also acknowledging the common history of a people. Its labour is one of memory, of personal detail, of historical breadth and cultural depth. In a word, it is essential. Our special mention goes to Fragments of Ice.

MAIN PRIZE OF DOCU/UKRAINE COMPETITION 2024

Fragments of Ice, 2024, 95'

Ukraine, Norway

dir. Maria Stoianova

A personal story that unfolds as a testimony — one which goes further than a family life within a very iconic timeframe in a historical moment. Thanks to her exceptional personal archive, the director manages to assemble the cinematic elements to create an engaging narrative.

We give the main award to a film that will live on, that is relevant today, and with time will keep on having meaning.

SPECIAL MENTION OF DOCU/UKRAINE COMPETITION 2024

Nice Ladies, 2024, 90'

dir. Mariia Ponomarova

Netherlands, Ukraine

We were taken by the honest filmmaking on display here, where the warmth and sensitivity of the director enables the story and its characters.

We give the special mention to a film that evolves within the changing world and surrenders to a reality, but still sustains its own tale while still being written. 

MAIN PRIZE OF DOCU/SHORT COMPETITION 2024

Under the Sign of Anchor, 2024, 28'
Ukraine

dir. Taras Spivak

We were captured into a time capsule that goes from propaganda, to journals, to observational and personal testimonies which integrate all the possible perspectives of an emblematic institution.

We give the main award to a film that is a contemporary portrait of the world and its contradictions depicting the deconstruction and construction of historical memory.

SPECIAL MENTION OF DOCU/SHORT COMPETITION 2024

The Kiosk, 2023, 40'

Poland

dir. Daniel Stopa

The filmmaker’s sensitivity captures the feelings and a situation. He succeeds in portraying a female bond in a limited space.

We give the special mention to a film that through its framing and intimacy takes us into a closed space, a space that gives protection while at the same time enclosing the characters.

MAIN PRIZE OF RIGHTS NOW! COMPETITION 2024

Everything Needs to Live, 2024, 70'

Poland, Ukraine

dir. Tetiana Dorodnitsyna, Andrii Lytvynenko

A beautifully moving film that, through its heroine Anna, a lesbian weightlifter, shows the transformative effect of shared humanity; how it can make those who are invisible visible, and turn the unconventional into the conventional and the included. The film reminds us that all life is precious and human beings can, with a little kindness, not only support others but also heal themselves. Truly a film showing human (and animal) rights in action.

SPECIAL MENTION OF RIGHTS NOW! COMPETITION 2024

A Golden Life, 2023, 83'

Burkina Faso, Benin, France

dir. Boubacar Sangaré

The film documents the daily grind of child miners in the gold mines of Burkina Faso. Despite the brutality and harshness, there is fun, growth, and above all else hope — however misplaced. As their childhoods are stolen by the fight to survive, the children of the film live, love and share as they dream of a better life. A subtle, mournful film that in the end showcases the irrepressible force of the human spirit.

MAIN PRIZE OF ANDRIY MATROSOV AWARD 2024
Jury — Docudays UA organisers

A Bit of a Stranger, 2024, 90'

Ukraine, Germany, Sweden, 

dir. Svitlana Lishchynska

For uncompromising bravery to explore complex issues of identity in the family circle of one’s loved ones.

SPECIAL MENTION OF ANDRIY MATROSOV AWARD 2024

Mission 200, 2023, 62'

Ukraine

dir. Volodymyr Sydko

For a striking example of personal responsibility in the times of fragile memory.

MAIN PRIZE OF STUDENTS’ JURY PRIZE 2024

Fragments of Ice, 2024, 95'

Ukraine, Norway

dir. Maria Stoianova

For reflecting the collective past through the prism of the personal and its impact on the present. For professional work with family archives that reveals political processes at the turn of history.

SPECIAL MENTION OF STUDENTS’ JURY PRIZE 2024

The Kiosk, 2023, 40'

Poland

dir. Daniel Stopa

For paying attention to the stories of people that go unnoticed and gradually disappear, along with the space in which they take place. For a wonderful documentary debut and for getting as close as possible to the characters, revealing all their deep feelings.

AUDIENCE AWARD 2024

Everything Needs to Live, 2024, 70'

Poland, Ukraine

dir. Tetiana Dorodnitsyna, Andrii Lytvynenko

THE UNION OF THE UKRAINIAN FILM CRITICS’ JURY PRIZE 2024

Fragments of Ice, 2024, 95'

Ukraine, Norway

dir. Maria Stoianova

For in-depth cinematic research of shared history through the lens of personal memory, and for daring to not only accept but also critically assess the experience of our parents.

Diploma registration number: 41 

DOC ALLIANCE AWARD FOR THE FULL-LENGTH DOCUMENTARY

The Landscape and the Fury, 2024, 138'

Switzerland

dir. Nicole Vögele

A fascinating view into the reality of the surroundings of a small town bordering the European Union. The nights are uncertain and mysterious, the days are full of waiting, and the seasons pass. There was a war in the past, one of the bloodiest in the last decade of the twentieth century. Today, in the same place, there are people who are fleeing from some other wars and are looking for safety. In the ever-resounding cry, many families are separated.

Meticulously filmed, with a unique, warm distance between the filmmaker and the protagonists, the director sheds light on a refugee crisis which exposes the hypocrisies of global politics, showing the best and the worst in human beings. For its bravery and a keen sense of solidarity combined with mesmerizing camerawork, the jury has decided to give the main award to The Landscape and the Fury by Nicole Vögele.

DOC ALLIANCE AWARD FOR THE SHORT-LENGTH DOCUMENTARY 2024

Crushed, 2023, 13'

Belgium

dir. Camille Vigny

Images and words which only appear dissonant make up a painful and disturbing diary, from which emerges a non-idealised vision of love. Eros and Thanatos defy the natural instinct of survival: smashed sheets of car metal become a metaphor for potentially wounded bodies, danger shows its dark fascination, the duel with death resolves itself in a state of exciting tension revealing the sometimes labile border between domination and submission, between love and obsession. For her audacity, her brilliant insight into the use of cinematic language, for her lucid elaboration of a personal trauma, the Doc Alliance Award 2024 for the Best Short Film goes to Crushedby Camille Vigny. 

SPECIAL MENTION OF DOC ALLIANCE 2024

getty abortions, 2023, 22'
Germany, Austria

dir. Franzis Kabisch

Through extensive research and a carefully crafted audio-visual narrative, this film addresses the crucial impact of media on the way we perceive ourselves. It deconstructs the ideological assumptions behind the representations of a specifically female experience, diverting images from their initial purpose in order to find a new sense of openness and community in them. We would like to give a special mention to the short film getty abortions by Franzis Kabisch.

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The 21st Docudays UA is held with the support of the Embassy of Sweden in Ukraine, the US Embassy in Ukraine, International Media Support, the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Ukraine, the Embassy of Estonia in Ukraine, the Polish Institute in Kyiv, Institut français d'Ukraine, Danish Cultural Institute, the Czech Centre in Kyiv, and the Embassy of Hungary in Kyiv. The opinions, conclusions, or recommendations do not necessarily reflect the views of the governments or organisations of these countries. Responsibility for the content of the publication lies exclusively on the authors of the publication.