Award Winners 2007

The International Jury for Documentary Film awards for Documentary Films and Videos (longer than 45 min):

Golden Dove: "Nu te supara, dar ..." (Don’t Get Me Wrong)
by Adina Pintilie (Romania)
Prize: € 10,000 granted by TELEPOOL to the film
We can recognize ourselves and our lives in the repetitions of these people. In only 8 days the 27-year-old Adina Elena Pintilie found hope in hopelessness.

Silver Dove: "Kinder. Wie die Zeit vergeht" Children. As Time Flies.
by Thomas Heise (Germany)
Prize: € 3,000 partially funded by Corona Films
Twilight, industrial landscape, young boys, bleak future – And Germany.

The International Jury for Documentary Film awards
for Documentary Films and Videos / Short Metrage (to 45 min)

Golden Dove: "Moujarad Raiha" (Merely a Smell )
Directed by: Maher Abi Samra (Lebanon)
Prize: € 5,000 partially funded by Filmverband Sachsen e. V.
Five shots – one dedication – the rest is your imagination.

The International Jury for Documentary Film awards

Honorary Mention to the film: "Doel Leeft" (Doel Is Alive )
Directed by Tom Fassaert (Belgium)
Old people are fighting back and therefore live longer.

Honorary Mention: "Dirty Pictures (Hotel Diaries 7)
Directed by John Smith (UK, Palestine)
A personal way of thinking and filming at the same time.

The German Jury for Documentary Film awards for Documentary Films and Videos:

Zweitausendeins Filmpreis: "Nach der Musik" (A Father’s Music )
Directed by Igor Heitzmann (Germany)
Prize: € 10,000
An intimate portrait about public life and a great documentary film about the secrecy of the private. When
filmmaker Igor Heitzmann realises that he can understand his father, the conductor Otmar Suitner, only through
his art, he explains both: Not only does he open up the complex nature of the classical interpretation of music,
he also relates an almost incredible love story. This masterful montage combines the discrete approach to the likeable protagonists and the carefully selected footage from the archives in a unique filmic composition.

The International Jury for the Young Talent Competition

Talent Dove of the Media Foundation of the Sparkasse Leipzig: "Someone Like You"
Directed by Nanna Frank Møller (Denmark)
Prize: € 10,000 as start-up funding for the next documentary film project
This film portrays the relationship between two sisters at a crucial point of their life. We see dramatic scenes
unfold in front of the camera which reveal their personalities in a touching and poetic way. The director shows a combination of real interest in human psychology together with serious artistic intentions and professional craftsmanship.

The International Jury for the Young Talent Competition awards for an extraordinary documentary film talent
an Honorary Mention to the film: "Ugolnaja Pyl" (Coal Dust)
Directed by: Marija Miro (Russia)
In this film a young director is using expressive images to construct a metaphorical picture that illustrates the life
and destiny of a community facing social and economical problems. The story is being told in a cinematographic
way, with different instruments, from photography to sound design.

Honorary mention to the film: "One Day"
Directed by Ditte Haarløv Johnsen (Denmark)
The film tells the story of an African woman prostituting herself in Europe. The director courageously uses an
original style, with precise close ups, stressing small details of the protagonist’s everyday life, thus revealing the situation she is caught up in.

The International Jury for Animated Films awards for Animated Films and Videos

Golden Dove: "Eletvonal" (Life Line)
Directed by Tomek Ducki (Hungary)
Prize: € 5,000
The breathtaking aesthetics of the images and especially the soundtrack carry us into a world foreign yet close
to us.

Silver Dove: "Kafka Inaka Isha" (Franz Kafka’s A Country Doctor)
Directed by Koji Yamamura (Japan)
Prize: € 2,000
The film shows us a new way of using animation and a unique interaction of cinematographic components.

The International Jury for Animated Films awards

Honorary Mention: "Bildfenster I Fensterbilder" (Framing)
Directed by Bert Gottschalk and Rudi Zieglmeier (Germany)
The film succeeds in finding poetry in places, where one might not expect it.

The International Jury for Animated Films awards

Honorary Mention: "Le Pont" (Bridge)
Directed by Vincent Bierrewaerts (France, Belgium)
In this touching and convincingly related story, a child’s curiosity and innocence are confronted with the harsh
world of the adults.

The MDR (Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk) awards for an excellent Eastern European documentary film

MDR Film Prize along with
to the film: "La Mere" (The Mother )
Directed by Antoine Cattin and Pawel Kostomarow (Switzerland, France, Russia)
Prize: € 3,000
With great intensity and from a close distance we get an insight into the life of a mother with 9 children who live
deep in the Russian countryside. Every-day life is hard and bleak, but still full of energy, zest for life and love. It
is exclusively women who run the daily affairs. Ljuba argues, cries, laughs and executes her protective role
alternately at a breath-taking speed. Camera and montage keep drawing us back into this maelstrom of events and blows of fate. There are images which are going to haunt us for a long time to come, such as the one, when a child drags a sledge through the mud of a cow shed. And still: We are not dismissed with an uneasy feeling, but are hoping and dreaming together with Ljuba and her sprightly family.

The DEFA Foundation awards

the DEFA Sponsoring Prize: "Heinz und Fred" (Heinz and Fred)
Directed by Mario Schneider (Germany)
Prize: € 4,000
"Once upon a time, there used to be a king who lived with his only son in a huge kingdom...," are the words
how the story of Heinz and Fred begins. Their kingdom in Ahlsdorf is a world of work made up of steel and
scrap. Director Mario Schneider combines reality and fiction in a marvellous way. He increases the film’s fairy-tale potential further by choosing a dialect speaker as narrator, by his love of details and colours as well as by the background provided. The subject matter of this documentary film is artistically alienated by the expressive
images which tell a very emotional story about father and son in an otherwise rather rough and strange atmosphere of this region, the Mansfelder Land.

The Jury of the Trade Union ver.di – Department of Media and Arts : "Rain in My Heart "
Directed by Paul Watson (UK)
Prize: € 1,500
"You can’t solve the problems – but you have to show that they exist," are the words of filmmaker Paul Watson.
He was refused access to more than 70 medical facilities when he was working on his film project – just one
opened its doors. This is where he met Wanda, Mark, Tony and Nigel, four people whose lives have been
determined by alcohol. Watson became their confidant during the shooting – and he didn’t let them down.
He accompanied these people with his camera – paying them respect without being voyeuristic –– both in
hopeful situations and when they received devastating body-blows in their fight between life and death. He
manages to keep the right balance between closeness and distance thus reminding us in a pitiless and yet
sensitive way of our fellow-men who live a life on the brink and are forgotten by society. For this he deserves
our gratitude.

The Ecumenical Jury awards

Prize of the Ecomenical Jury: "Kamienna Cisza" (Stone Silence )
Directed by Krzysztof Kopczynski (Poland)
Has Amina, a married woman, been stoned for adultery in an Afghan village? The fascinating pictures of the movie are taking the viewer through a labyrinth of truths and lies, of unspoken words and contradictions, where the village community tries to evade the pressure exerted by the law, religion, tradition and human feelings. In an exciting search for the truth, the film manages to go far beyond the local context and, in a provocative way, puts the old biblical words to the test: “Let him who is without sin cast the first stone.”

The FIPRESCI Jury awards

FIPRESCI Prize: "Juizo" (Behave )
Directed by Maria Augusta Ramos (Brazil)
For the brilliant portrayal of the vicious circle of a judicial system expressed through a cinemathographic language, as fresh as it is adequate.

The Youth Jury of the Filmschule Leipzig e. V. awards: "Draußen bleiben" (Run Out )
Directed by Alexander Riedel (Germany)
The film presents a highly explosive subject firsthand on the screen: the life in a home for asylum seekers and
the ongoing fear of being expelled. The film largely owes its high quality especially to the dynamic camera work,
the expressive images and the harmonious interaction between interview and everyday-life scenes. "Draußen
bleiben" lives above all on its young and lively protagonists who present their situation in a convincing manner. The film will therefore reach especially people of the same age who recognize in some scenes events and
incidents that happen in their personal environment. Still, the women-protagonists remain witty, direct, self- confident and enjoy life, despite the poor living conditions. Valentina was particularly fascinating: She made a great step forward in her development during the shooting, from the cheeky little kid in a city ghetto to a young and independent woman. The strong and friendly relationship that flourishes between Alex, the director, and Valentina gives the film its special flair. – The film associates joy and exuberance, but never loses its touching seriousness.

Discovery Channel Audience Prize: "Sportsfreund Lotzsch" (Sportsman Lotzsch )
Directed by Sandra Prechtel and Sascha Hilpert (Germany)
Prize: € 5,000

the mephisto 97,6-Publikumspreises: "Ubornaya Istoriya – Lyubovnaya Istorya" (Lavatory - Lovestory )
Directed by Konstantin Bronzit (Russia)