This year’s DOCU/UKRAINE programme includes films that, each in a different way, depict Ukraine’s difficult path to independence and its present day through the personal stories of individual people.
The jury members for the national feature films are
Tetiana Oharkova, Ukrainian literary scholar, journalist, essayist, and member of the Ukrainian PEN;
Christine Camdessus, General Artistic Director of the Fipadoc International Documentary Film Festival;
Marc Bauder, German director and producer.
MAIN PRIZE
Songs of Slow Burning Earth / Olha Zhurba / Ukraine, Denmark, Sweden, France / 2024 / 95'
For the accurate and profound depiction of the collective experience of war and the multilayered nature of trauma, for the ability to observe without haste how the situation unfolds and for the fidelity to what is seen, the jury selected Songs of Slow Burning Earth by Olha Zhurba as the main winner of the festival in the Docu/Ukraine category.
SPECIAL MENTION
My Dear Théo / Alisa Kovalenko / Poland, Ukraine, Czech Republic / 2025 / 98'
For the outstanding individual courage, generosity in sharing intimate experience, and ability to turn the film's characters into friends of the viewer, the jury's special award goes to the film My Dear Théo by Alisa Kovalenko.
The participants of DOCU/UKRAINE were:
- My Dear Théo, dir.Alisa Kovalenko (Poland, Ukraine, Czech Republic)
- In Limbo, dir.Alina Maksimenko (Poland)
- Militantropos, dir.Yelizaveta Smith, Alina Gorlova, Simon Mozghovyi (Ukraine, Austria, France)
- Songs of Slow Burning Earth, dir.Olha Zhurba (Ukraine, Denmark, Sweden, France)
- Timestamp, dir.Kateryna Gornostai (Ukraine, Luxembourg, Netherlands, France)
