Best Editing (International)
Stolen
Directors: Violeta Ayala and Daniel Fallshaw
AUSTRALIA 2009 / 78min.

Best Cinematography (International)
At the Edge of the World
Director: Dan Stone
USA 2009 / 90min.

Best Director (International) - Joint Winners
Defamation
Director Yoav Shamir
ISRAEL/DENMARK/USA/AUSTRIA 2009 / 93min.
and
Petition
Director Zhao Liang
CHINA/SWITZERLAND/UK/FRANCE/BELGIUM
2009 / 124min.

International Competition: Short Documentary
The Solitary Life of Cranes
Director Eva Weber
UK 2008 / 27min.

International Competition: Feature Documentary
Last Train Home
Director Lixin Fan
CANADA 2009 / 87min.

Best Emerging New Zealand Filmmaker
Five Hours with Raja
Director/Producer Anna McKessar
NEW ZEALAND 2009 / 52min.

Best NZ Director
The Unnatural History of the Kakapo
Director/Producer Scott Mouat
NEW ZEALAND 2009 / 77min.

Documentary Edge Form Best Pitch
Simon Burgin, Bring it on Home

25 FEB 2009 - DOCNZ 2009 Film Festival hosted their annual awards night with more than 250 guests including politicians, media and members of the broadcasting industry present at the ceremony that saw New Zealand Broadcasting Minister Dr. Jonathan Coleman give the keynote address.

The big winner of the night was New Zealand director Stuart Page, who picked up the prize for Best New Zealand Feature to go along with the Staples Rodway Best Emerging New Zealand Filmmaker award for his documentary Shustak. The film is exploration of the legacy of enigmatic radical Lawrence Shustak, a popculture philosopher who left New York in the 1970s and later set up the photography department at the University of Canterbury.

Assume Nothing directed by Kirsty MacDonald was singled out for special mention in the New Zealand Competition - Feature category.

Winner for the New Zealand Competition – Short section was the Susan Potter directed film An Ordinary Person, which is a critical examination of the “homosexual panic” legal defense that saw the killer of Auckland man David McNee escape a murder conviction.

The Screenrights Best Educational Documentary was won by Monique Oomen’s The Last Western Heretic, a look at the life and trials of prominent Wellington theologian Llyod Geering.

In the International Competition – Feature section the Steve James and Peter Gilbert directed death penalty film At the Death House Door picked up the top award. Directors Leon Gellera and Marcus Vetter’s IsraeliPalestinian organtransplant story The Heart of Jenin earned a special mention in the same category. Directors Juan Diego Spoerer and Hakan Engstrom won the International Competition – Short section for Don Roberto’s Shadow.

In the technical categories:
Heddy Honigmann was awarded the prize for Best Director for her film El Olvido (Oblivion).
Francis Verster won the title of Best Editor for Sea Point Days.
John Collins and Ian Kerr won Best Cinematographer for their work on The Wild Horse. Redemption.

International Competition

Short Documentary: "A Summer Not to Forget"
Director: Carol Mansour

Special Mention: "Wittenoom"
Director: Caro MacDonald

Medium Documentary: "Please Vote for Me"
Director: Weijun Chen

Special Mention: "My Daughter the Terrorist"
Director: Beate Arnestad

Feature Documentary: "Knee Deep"
Director: Michael Chandler

Special Mention: "Terra Incognita"
Director: Maria Finitzo

New Zealand Competition

Short Documentary: "In the Night Kitchen"
Director: Simon Burgin

Medium Documentary: "Darling! The Pieter-Dirk Uys Story"
Director: Julian Shaw

Feature Documentary: "The Nuclear Comeback"
Director: Justin Pemberton

Best Educational Documentary: "Please Vote for Me"
Director: Weijun Chen