The winning films were decided by three film professionals: Olivia Cooper-Hadjian, programmer and film critic (Cahiers du cinéma), Beatrice Fiorentino, Artistic Director of Venice Film Critics’ Week, and Marko Grba Singh, filmmaker and the Artistic Director at Beldocs.
The Doc Alliance Award is endowed with 5,000 EUR (Best Feature) and 3,000 EUR (Best Short) for the filmmakers to spend on their next projects.
BEST FEATURE
The Landscape and the Fury / Nicole Vögele / Switzerland / 2024 / 138'
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.
BEST SHORT
Crushed / Camille Vigny / Belgium / 2023 / 13'
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
getty abortions / Franzis Kabisch / Germany, Austria / 2023 / 22'
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.
Full list of Best Feature nominees:
Full list of Best Short nominees:
