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ZAGREBDOX 2021 Awards

Downstream to Kinshasa and My Uncle Tudor receive the Big Stamps at ZagrebDox

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- Dieudo Hamadi’s documentary has scooped the top prize in the International Competition, while Olga Lucovnicova was the winner in the Regional Competition

Downstream to Kinshasa and My Uncle Tudor receive the Big Stamps at ZagrebDox
Director Dieudo Hamadi receiving the Big Stamp for his documentary Downstream to Kinshasa

The 17th International Documentary Film Festival ZagrebDox wrapped on 19 June with the awards ceremony. This special edition of the leading Croatian festival started on 13 June, and the local audience had a chance to watch close to 80 documentaries at the Zagreb Student Centre and at the Tuškanac Open Air Cinema.

The International Competition jury, chaired by Croatian director Rajko Grlić, and featuring editor Vesna Biljan Pušić and Russian director Ilya Povolotsky, who won last year’s ZagrebDox, handed the main prize, the Big Stamp, to Downstream to Kinshasa [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
by Dieudo Hamadi. According to the jury, it is “a strongly told and emotionally charged story about innocent victims of war on a futile search for a slice of justice”. Furthermore, the jury’s Special Mentions were presented to Lonely Rock [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
by Alejandro Telémaco Tarraf, “for a masterful mix of reality and legend, mythology and everyday life”, and to the short film Shadows of Your Childhood by Mikhail Gorobchuk.

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In the Regional Competition, the Big Stamp went to Moldovan director Olga Lucovnicova for her short film My Uncle Tudor. The regional jury, consisting of Croatian director Đuro Gavran, Romanian director and investigative journalist Radu Ciorniciuc, and film historian and curator Jasmin Bašić, explained, “This talented and brave young filmmaker from Moldova has sent a strong message to the world: the sexual abuse of children is one of the biggest social problems of our time, which we have to face up to and which we have to solve.” The jury also awarded a Special Mention to Punta Sacra [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Francesca Mazzoleni
film profile
]
by Francesca Mazzoleni, for “its astounding cinematography and sound, its grounded way of exploring the human condition and its truly powerful artistic value”.

As for the Young Jury, consisting of film producer and curator Lejla Dedić, film industry promoter Mirjam Wiekenkamp, and psychologist and scholar Boris Jokić, the Small Stamp, an award for the best director up to 35 years of age, went to Roman Hodel’s short film The Game, “for its high cinematic and artistic value, for its approach to a popular topic and its deep immersion in an occupation that is often overlooked”. The two Special Mentions in this section went to Punta Sacra and to Wake up on Mars [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Dea Gjinovci
film profile
]
by Dea Gjinovci, for “raising the important topic of resignation syndrome and the hardships in the lives of asylum seekers worldwide”.

In the Movies That Matter Competition, for films that promote human rights, the jury, consisting of producer and festival programmer Oliver Sertić, Iranian filmmaker Mehrdad Oskouei, and Zagreb Academy of Dramatic Arts dean Franka Perković Gamulin, awarded the main prize to The Earth Is Blue as an Orange [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Iryna Tsilyk
film profile
]
by Iryna Tsilyk, with the two Special Mentions going to Radiograph of a Family [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
by Firouzeh Khosrovani and medium-length film Holy Bread by Rahim Zabihi. As for the International Federation of Film Critics – FIPRESCI Award, it went to the film The Wire [+see also:
film review
interview: Tiha K Gudac
film profile
]
by Tiha K Gudac.

The My Generation Award, given out each year by ZagrebDox director Nenad Puhovski to a film by an auteur from his generation, went to The First 54 Years – An Abbreviated Manual for Military Occupation [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Avi Mograbi
film profile
]
 by Israeli filmmaker Avi Mograbi. Finally, the Audience Award went to the Croatian documentary Love Around the World [+see also:
film review
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]
by Anđela Rostuhar and Davor Rostuhar, which had its world premiere at ZagrebDox.

Here is the complete list of winners at the 17th ZagrebDox International Documentary Festival special edition:

International Competition

Big Stamp
Downstream to Kinshasa [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
- Dieudo Hamadi (DR Congo/France/Belgium)
Special Mentions
Lonely Rock [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
- Alejandro Telémaco Tarraf (Argentina/Mexico/Qatar/UK)
Shadows of Your Childhood - Mikhail Gorobchuk (Russia) (short film)

Regional Competition

Big Stamp
My Uncle Tudor - Olga Lucovnicova (Hungary/Belgium/Portugal) (short film)
Special Mention
Punta Sacra [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Francesca Mazzoleni
film profile
]
- Francesca Mazzoleni (Italy)

Young Jury

Small Stamp
The Game - Roman Hodel (Switzerland) (short film)
Special Mentions
Punta Sacra - Francesca Mazzoleni
Wake up on Mars [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Dea Gjinovci
film profile
]
- Dea Gjinovci (Switzerland/France)

Movies That Matter Award
The Earth Is Blue as an Orange [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Iryna Tsilyk
film profile
]
- Iryna Tsilyk (Ukraine/Lithuania)
Special Mentions
Radiograph of a Family [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
- Firouzeh Khosrovani (Norway/Iran/Switzerland)
Holy Bread - Rahim Zabihi (Iran) (medium-length film)

FIPRESCI Award
The Wire [+see also:
film review
interview: Tiha K Gudac
film profile
]
- Tiha K Gudac (Belgium/Croatia)

Teen Dox Award
Desert Dogs - Samuel Morris (Switzerland) (short film)

My Generation Award
The First 54 Years – An Abbreviated Manual for Military Occupation [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Avi Mograbi
film profile
]
- Avi Mograbi (France/Finland/Israel/Germany)

Audience Award
Love Around the World [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
- Anđela Rostuhar, Davor Rostuhar (Germany/Croatia)

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