OPEN CITY DOC FEST (04 to 09 SEP 2018): Award Winners Announced
Last weekend saw the close of the eighth edition of the Open City Documentary Festival (04 to 09 SEP, venues across London). Selected by an international jury, the awards were announced at the festival’s Awards Ceremony on 08 SEP 2018.
Celebrating the art of non-fiction, this year’s festival showcased 30 features, 48 shorts and hosted 2 world premieres, 3 European premieres and 26 UK premieres across non-fiction titles from more than 30 countries.
The festival award categories this year included:
- Best UK Short Award, supported by the British Council
- Emerging International Filmmaker Award
- The Open City Award
- Border Crossings – the festival’s initiative to connect filmmakers with academics, encouraging collaboration and the opportunity to create documentary films based on research stories. Six teams were selected to pitch live during Open City Documentary Festival 2018.
Words by Open City Docs.
Open City Award
Winner: FLIGHT OF A BULLET by Beata Bubenec*
“This palpably dangerous film is an unforgettable experience. It reflects a combination of the filmmaker’s capacity to be present, intuitive and to fully utilise the digital camera – revealing a new form of observational filmmaking as both durational and dramatic. It captures the disturbing carnivalesque of military operations – and the undecidable nature of the filmmaker’s role in this, where her camera is both witness and weapon/shield.”
Open City awarded an honourable mention to THE SWING by Cyril Aris for its “impeccable judged framing and profoundly touching meditation on mortality and morality.”
Emerging International Filmmaker Award
Winner: ANGKAR by Neary Adeline Hay
“Woven together with an unusual master of craft, this film is a remarkable intergenerational dialogue between father and daughter that ties together strands of history, place, loss, justice and memory. It is a brave exploration of the past that also shines a light on the present. ”
Best UK Short Award
Winner: THE MESS by Dorothy Allen-Pickard
“The Best UK Short Award goes to THE MESS for its visceral and empathetic portrayal of mental illness. The jury was impressed by its creative and collaborative approach to making an otherwise mental state visible.”
Border Crossings
Winner: LIFEBLOOD
Second Prize: THE AFFORDABILITY GAME
The Border Crossings Judging panel featured: Chloe Trayner, Associate Director – Open City Documentary Festival; Kim Longinotto, filmmaker & Riete Ooerd, filmmaker.
HUNGRY FOR MORE?
- Discover Open City Documentary Festival and 2018’s full programme divided into film events, special events and industry events.
- Follow Open City Docs on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter including news of their year-round programme of activities.
- We spoke to marketing manager Matt Turner before the festival to get his personal highlights.
- Fond of docs? Then catch up with the excellent Last Frame Club for regular Walthamstow screenings of outstanding features and shorts and, of course, don’t forget London’s dedicated documentary screen, Bertha DocHouse at Curzon Bloomsbury.
*Featured image: FLIGHT OF A BULLET by Beata Bubenec.