The 27th annual International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam wrapped up this weekend and Laurent Bécue-Renard’s “Of Men and War” took home the top prize for Best Feature-Length Documentary.
Per IDFA’s synopsis, “The film is about a group of American Iraq veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder. Director Bécue-Renard follows the group for many years during therapy sessions in a clinic for veterans.” The IDFA jury explained its decision for the film’s win: “The Jury recognizes a film that confronts us with our fragility as human beings, revealing that we must treat each other with gentleness and love. In a way that is never intrusive, the camera participates in therapy sessions for traumatized veterans…a more powerful anti-war film is hard to imagine.”
The full list of winners and IDFA synopses are below:
Best Feature-Length Documentary
“Of Men And War” by Laurent Bécue-Renard
Special Jury Award
“Something Better to Come” by Hanna Polak
For fourteen years Polak followed young girl Yula and those who share her fate, living in the biggest waste tip in Europe, just outside Moscow.
NTR IDFA Award for Best Mid-Length Documentary
“Kamchatka – The Cure
for Hatred” by Julia Mironova
A (self-)portrait of the former television reporter Vijatsjeslav Nemishev who in 2001 covered the war in Chechnya and now lives a withdrawn life on an island.
Award for First Appearance
“Drifter”by Gábor Hörcher
An up-close-and-personal portrait of a rebellious Hungarian racing talent who dramatically often veers of the socially accepted course.
Peter Wintonick Special Jury Award for First
Appearance
“Mother of the Unborn” by Nadine
Salib
Salib’s film is about an Egyptian woman’s desire to become pregnant and thereby gain acceptance as a woman. The film received financial support from the IDFA Bertha Fund and was also one of the projects at the IDFAcademy Summer School 2014.
Beeld en Geluid IDFA Award for Dutch Documentary
“The New Rijksmuseum – The Film” by Oeke Hoogendijk
The film is a fascinating behind-the-scenes report on the large-scale renovation of the Netherlands’ most well-known museum, which took a total of ten years.
BankGiro Loterij IDFA Audience Award
“Naziha’s Spring” by Gülsah Dogan
A candid portrait of single mother Naziha, a number of whose children were the focus of negative media attention in 2007.
IDFA DocLab Award for Digital Storytelling
“Serial” by Sarah Koenig and Julie Snyder
“Serial” is an audio-visual whodunit who keeps the followers of the podcast on permanent tenterhooks: who killed American schoolgirl Hae Min Lee?
IDFA Award for Student Competition
“No Lullaby” by Helen Simon
The film is a reconstruction of a horrific family history across three generations.
IDFA Melkweg Music Documentary Audience Award
“Keep On Keepin’ On” by Alan Hicks
The film is about jazz legend Clark Terry (1920) and his young protégé Justin Kauflin, a blind jazz pianist.
IDFA DOC U Award
“My Beautiful Broken Brain” by Sophie Robinson and Lotje Sodderland
Following a serious stroke, resilient, intelligent Lotje Sodderland tries to recapture her previously glorious life.
Mediafondsprijs Kids & Docs 2014
“Giovanni and the Water Ballet” by Astrid Bussink
A special children’s jury chose “Giovanni and the Water Ballet” as the best Dutch youth documentary of the past year.
The next IDFA will take place November 18-29, 2015
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