iW NEWS | "Stranded," "Smiling" Win Top IDFA Prizes

Gonzalo Arijon's "Stranded," the story of the survivors of a 1972 plane crash, won the VPRO Joris Ivens Award, the top prize at the 2007 International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam. The film, reported on earlier this week in indieWIRE, is headed for the 2008 Sundance Film Festival in January. At tonight's ceremony, Tamar Varom's "To See If I'm Smiling," about women in the Israeli army, won both the Silver Wolf competition and the festival's audience award. The Silver Cub for short docs went to Oscar Perez's "The Tailor." The First Appearance Award for new filmmakers went to Robert Nugent for "End of the Rainbow." Nitzan Gilady's "Jerusalem is Proud to Present," about Jerusalem's gay pride parade, won the Movies that Matter Award, Benson Lee's breakdance doc "Planet B-Boy" won the DOC U! prize from a youth jury, Elizabeth Rocha Salgado won the won the Stimuleringsfonds Documentary Award 2007 for her film about obsessions, "Senses, Doors of the Soul" and "Darwin's Nightmare" director Hubert Sauper won a special prize as the best documentary in 20 years of IDFA, as selected by an online audience. [Eugene Hernandez]