In Kyiv, the 11th International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival Docudays UA has come to its end. On March 27, the festival awards were issued to winning film authors. Similarly to previous years, there were three competition categories – DOCU/LIFE, DOCU/RIGHT, and DOCU/SHORT; also, special prizes – one by Students’ Jury and the Audience Award – were issued. The winning DOCU/LIFE movie, The Last Limousine, was shown after the ceremony.
The DOCU/LIFE best film is The Last Limousine, by Daria Khlestkina (Russia, 2014). In jury’s words, it’s a well-made story with the ideal character choice; it touches due to its setting’s social, economic, and political absurdity. The jury awarded this film for respectful and sympathetic depiction of lives lived by workers of a state-owned factory – people who got lost in reforms but not in humanity.
The special prize was issued by the DOCU/LIFE jury to Crepuscule by Valentyn Vasyanovych (Ukraine, 2014) for its extraordinary visual and emotional depiction of human endurance, sensibility, and independence. Also, the special prize in the DOCU/LIFE program was issued to Night Labor by David Redmon and Ashley Sabin (USA, Canada, 2013) for its provocative, untypical, and allegoric reflection on industrial labor and personal liberty.
The DOCU/SHORT winner was Lisa, Go Home! by Oksana Buraja (Lithuania, Estonia, 2012) – for its poetical sensitivity and respect for private secrets. Specially awarded were also Joanna by Aneta Kopacz (Poland, 2013) for the director’s ability to approach and simultaneously keep distance; and the film Mom by Lidia Sheinina (Russia, 2013) for its author’s skillful discovering something that makes your heart sing within the space of an ordinary apartment.
The DOCU/RIGHT jury gave the main award to the film A Mother’s Dream by Valerie Gudenus (Switzerland. 2013) for its deeply personal, keen, and artistic reflection on the controversial and socially important advocacy issue related to women and children on a global scale. Specially awarded was also No Fire Zone: The Killing Fields of Sri Lanka by Callum Macrae (UK, 2013), for powerful video advocacy in a worldwide campaign for forming public opinion about mass killings of Tamil minority civilians in Sri Lanka. Specially acknowledged by the jury was also The Captain and His Pirate by Andy Wolff (Belgium, Germany, 2012) for exceptional bravery of the filming crew and extraordinary depiction of the international piracy phenomenon related by the victim and his abductor.
The Students’ Jury gave its award to Arash Lahooti for his Trucker and the Fox (Iran, 2013) – an optimistic story of a life-long passion.
The audience’s favorite was Joanna by Aneta Kopacz (Poland, 2013), which received the prize of 15660 UAH – the money raised through the festival store.
The Andriy Matrosov Award by organizers of the Docudays UA was given to A Diary of a Journey filmed by Piotr Stasik (Poland, 2013).
Follow the announcements of the Docudays UA events at our site www.docudays.org.ua and on Facebook - www.facebook.com/DocudaysUA.
Docudays UA is the only Ukrainian international human rights documentary film festival held annually on the last week of March in Kyiv. After the completion of the festival, Docudays UA traditionally presents its best films throughout Ukrainian regions as a part of its Mobile festival. Films are screened October through December. In 2013, the Mobile Docudays UA came to 231 cities and towns in 23 regions of Ukraine, the Crimean Autonomous Republic, Sebastopol, and Kyiv.
