It wasn’t necessary to travel all the way to Barcelona this year in order to enjoy the city’s International Documentary Film Festival: all audiences needed to do was connect to the Filmin platform, and they could enjoy the meticulously curated programme of its 23^rd edition. This allowed people from all over Spain to watch the big winner of the event, Faith [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Valentina Pedicini
scheda film], directed by Italian filmmaker Valentina Pedicini. Indeed, many of the 130,000 viewers did so – a figure that exceeded all expectations and which broke the gathering’s own record.

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Joan González, its director, could not disguise his delight: “Four years ago, we had more than 10,000 viewers for the first time; two years ago, we passed the 25,000-viewer threshold, including online viewings; and this year, we’ve passed 130,000. We couldn’t be more grateful to everyone who has made this possible over the last 23 years,” he stated. The festival – which unspooled from 19-31 May – drew to a close on Sunday with the screening of Forman vs. Forman [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] by Czech directors Jakub Hejna and Helena Třeštíková, which paints a portrait of the acclaimed director of Amadeus and One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.

As for the other award winners, it’s worth mentioning that Kenya’s The Letter by Maya Lekow and Christopher King picked up the Special Jury Mention, while Artemio Benki, who passed away recently, won the New Talent Award with his Solo [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Artemio Benki
scheda film]. El gran viaje a un país pequeño, depicting the experience of two families of Syrian refugees in Uruguay, took home the Latitud Award, and the What the Doc! Award was conferred upon the Italian movie Once More Unto the Breach [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Federico Ferrone, Michele …
scheda film]. The French-Belgian co-production Overseas [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Yoon Sung-A
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intervista: Alexe Poukine
scheda film].

The Audience Award, for which all films in the official sections (Panorama, Latitud and What the Doc!) were eligible, was picked up by Can You Hear Me? [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] by Pedro Ballesteros. For their part, the teenage viewers plumped for Some Might Say [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] by Nila Núñez, and thus it took home the Docs&Teens Award. Lastly, the Docs del Mes (lit. “Docs of the Month”) Award, which tots up the votes cast by people who have attended online screenings over the course of the year, was bestowed upon In Search… [+leggi anche:
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scheda film], a German production directed by Beryl Magoko. As the organisers pointed out, the winners’ list highlights the primordial role of female directors in this year’s crop of documentaries, as eight women helmers took home a prize from the festival.

Furthermore, DocsBarcelona fully supports the batch of projects taking part in its industry activities, establishes synergies and agreements with various festivals and other entities in order to facilitate the subsequent run of said projects, and recognises the quality of these documentaries in development through five awards (see the news). At this edition, the titles that won prizes were Spain’s Science Fiction by Matthew Barton, Francisco Forbes and Ferran Romeu, Long Live My Happy Head by Will Hewitt and Austen McCowan (produced by British outfit Melt the Fly), Savoy by Israel’s Zohar Wagner, Fight (Armenia/France) by Lilit Movsisyan, and the UK’s 1001 Days by Chloe White.

Here is the full list of winners:

DocsBarcelona Award for Best Documentary
Faith [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Valentina Pedicini
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Special Jury Mention
The Letter - Maya Lekow and Christopher King (Kenya)

New Talent Award
Solo [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Artemio Benki
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Latitud Antaviana Award
El gran viaje al país pequeño – Mariana Viñoles (Uruguay)

What the Doc! Award
Once More Unto the Breach [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Federico Ferrone, Michele …
scheda film] – Michele Manzolini and Federico Ferrone (Italy)

Amnesty International Catalonia Award
Overseas [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Yoon Sung-A
scheda film] - Sung-A Yoon (France/Belgium)

Audience Award
Can You Hear Me? – Pedro Ballesteros (Spain)

DOC-U Award
Mareas ocultas – Mònica Cambra (Spain)

Docs&Teens Award
Some Might Say [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] – Nila Núñez Urgell (Spain)

Young Jury Reteena Award
That Which Does Not Kill [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Alexe Poukine
scheda film] – Alexe Poukine (France/Belgium)

Docs del Mes Award
In Search… [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] – Beryl Magoko (Germany)

ProDocs Award
És a l´aire – Christophe Sion and Santi Suárez (Spain)
King Ray – Sergio Romero Castaño (Spain)

DocsBarcelona Industry

Public Pitch Award
Science Fiction – Matthew Barton, Francisco Forbes and Ferran Romeu (Spain)

DAE Award for New Talent
Long Live My Happy Head - Will Hewitt and Austen McCowan (UK)

FIPADOC Award
Savoy - Zohar Wagner (Israel)

East Doc Platform Award
Fight - Lilit Movsisyan (Armenia/France)

Music Library Award
1001 Days - Chloe White (UK)