18/03/2021 - Directed by Serhiy Lysenko, the project won the East Doc Platform Award and the Current Time TV Director’s Award. 72 Hours and Kix - A Story of a Street Kid are also among the winners

Organised by the Institute of Documentary Film, the tenth edition of East Doc Platform (EDP), the largest industry platform for Central and Eastern European documentaries, welcomed over 400 guests. Unfolding online this time, from 6-17 March, the extended digital version offered a number of lectures, presentations and masterclasses on top of the networking activities.

Directed by Serhiy Lysenko, Ukrainian project Lagoons. A Battle for Paradise was the winner of the main prize, the East Doc Platform Award 2021, as decided by the jury comprising Asta Dalman (SVT), Luisa Schwamborn (NEW DOCS) and Jane Mote (The Whickers), who highlighted “very strong scenes and characters and themes about man's greed versus the protection of the natural world”. The EDP Award is accompanied by financial support of €7,500 for further development and production. The project, produced by Anna Kapustina and Oleksandra Kravchenko, also received the Current Time TV Director’s Award worth $3,000 and is dedicated to the memory of three Belarussian filmmakers –  Maxim Gavrilenko, Lyubov Zemtsova and Vladimir Mikhailovski – who died in a car accident in May 2020.

The Czech TV Co-production Award, worth 150,000 CZK (€5,700) and a subsequent co-production deal, went to the project 72 Hours. Focusing on a struggling mother in Belarus, this co-production between Belarus, Belgium and France is directed by Anna Savchenko and produced by Isabel de la Sern, Jean-Marie Gigon, Iva Tkalec, and Volia Chajkouskaya. Hungarian project Kix - A Story of a Street Kid, directed by Balint Révész and Dávid Mikulán, received the HBO Development Award. The jury underlined the persistence of the filmmakers “following for more than a decade a coming-of-age story. It also offers a strong insight into the life of the young generation in post-communist countries, where their fate is sometimes predestined.”

Furthermore, director Diana Fabiánová and producer Silvia Panáková received the Golden Funnel valued at €1,000 for the Slovak-Czech co-production The Boundaries of Fidelity, which was the project that made the biggest progress during a year-long Ex Oriente Film training session. Moreover, the Ex Oriente Fine Cut Award went to A Year of Endless Days, directed by Croatian filmmaker Renata Lučić, which will thus receive editing consultations from renowned editors. The newly introduced Cut Thru the Noise Award, which consists of consultancy sessions and a tailor-made PR & distribution plan offered by Andrea Hock, head of sales of Autlook Filmsales, and Mirjam Wiekenkamp, founder and manager of international projects at NOISE PR, went to Smiling Georgia by Luka Beradze.

As for the partner festivals’ awards, The Trans Syrian Express, directed by Alina Rudnitskaya and produced by Pertti Veijalainen, received both the Sunny Side of the Doc Prize and the DocsBarcelona Award.

Here is the full list of award winners at the tenth East Doc Platform:

East Doc Platform Award
Lagoons. A Battle for Paradise - Serhiy Lysenko (Ukraine)
Producers: Anna Kapustina, Oleksandra Kravchenko

Czech TV Co-production Award
72 Hours - Anna Savchenko (Belgium/Belarus/France)
Producers: Isabel de la Sern, Jean-Marie Gigon, Volia Chajkouskaya, Iva Tkalec

Current Time TV Director’s Award
Lagoons. A Battle for Paradise - Serhiy Lysenko

HBO Development Award
Kix - A Story of a Street Kid - Balint Révész and Dávid Mikulán (Hungary)
Producer: Viki Réka-Kiss

Golden Funnel Award
The Boundaries of Fidelity - Diana Fabiánová (Slovakia/Czech Republic/Bulgaria)
Producers: Silvia Panáková, Maia Martiniak

Ex Oriente Fine Cut Award
A Year of Endless Days - Renata Lučić (Croatia)
Producers: Tamara Babun, Matija Drniković

Cut Thru the Noise Award
Smiling Georgia - Luka Beradze (Georgia/Germany)
Producers: Nino Chichua, Anna Khazaradze

IDFA Spotlight Award
Swinging Fields - Sareen Hairabedian (Jordan/United States/Ireland)
Producer: Azza Hourani

DOK Leipzig Co-Production Market Award
I'm Not Everything I Want to Be - Klára Tasovská (Czech Republic/Slovakia)
Producer: Lukáš Kokeš

DOK Leipzig Preview Award
Mastery - Kateřina Turečková (Czech Republic)
Producers: Klára Mamojková, Wanda Kaprálová, Vít Janeček

Sunny Side of the Doc Prize
The Trans Syrian Express - Alina Rudnitskaya (Finland/Poland/Russian)
Producer: Pertti Veijalainen

DocsBarcelona Award
The Trans Syrian Express - Alina Rudnitskaya

DAE Encouragement Prize
One for the Team - Katarzyna Wiśniowska (Poland)
Producers: Tomasz Morawski, Marcin Kupiecki

Swarm - Ula Przybylska (Poland/Hungary)
Producer: Viktoria Szabo

Pitch the Doc Award
Blix Not Bombs [+see also:
film review
film profile] - Greta Stocklassa (Czech Republic/Sweden)
Producer: Radovan Síbrt