2020 Festival

Open City Award

Jury

This award is given by the Open City Jury to the film that exemplifies an author in control of their subject matter, craft and story - matching content and form in a powerful and persuasive fashion.

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When the boat on which she was crossing to Europe capsized off the coast of Lesbos, Syrian artist Amel Alzakout recorded the events using a waterproof camera strapped to her wrist. Co-directed with filmmaker Khaled Abdulwahed, Purple Sea is assembled from the extraordinary images captured during the period she and the other passengers spent trapped in the water. Adrift on the open sea, time see... Read More

Purple Sea + Q&A

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In Intimate Distances, legendary casting director Martha Wollner traverses the streets of Queens, New York City in search of an actor to play a criminal in a film. As she asks potential candidates the same set of deceptively simple questions, a straightforward setup sparks a series of fascinating and compassionate encounters between strangers. Reminiscent of surveillance imagery, cinematographe... Read More

Intimate Distances + Q&A

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Mehrdad Oskouei’s (The Last Days of Winter, Starless Dreams) masterful observational documentary Sunless Shadows depicts life inside a Tehran juvenile detention centre, where a group of teenage girls serve sentences for the murder of abusive male family members. With remarkable candour, these girls share details of the harrowing and often violent circumstances that precipitated their crimes and... Read More

Sunless Shadows + Q&A

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A sparsely-inhabited, half-constructed settlement located deep in the Mojave desert, California City was intended to be a major urban centre rivalling Los Angeles had it been completed. Lashay T. Warren has left his turbulent life in L.A. to live there, looking to make a fresh start amongst its crumbling buildings. As they work to rebuild the city, Lashay and his conservation corp companions ro... Read More

Victoria + Q&A

Emerging Filmmaker Award

Jury

The Emerging Filmmaker Award is presented to a first or second time feature or mid-length filmmaker who displays new and exciting approaches to storytelling, and who exhibits commitment to their choices and a clear directorial vision.

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As their aunt sits on life-support in intensive care, a family gathers to discuss her condition and plan the next steps. There is little chance of recovery, yet decisions must still be made. Over the course of a single, hour-long unbroken take, Gu Xue silently and expertly observes the family discuss the fifth aunt’s fate and argue over who will be responsible—financially and practically—for he... Read More

The Choice + Q&A

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Bellandur, the largest urban lake in Bangalore, is now so polluted that a thick layer of foam covers its surface. Sindhu Thirumalaisamy’s highly distinctive, multi-faceted essay film The Lake and The Lake explores the fraught ecology along Bellandur’s shoreline where fishermen, migrant waste workers, and stray dogs congregate, despite the region’s toxic waters. Nearly two decades ago, the c... Read More

The Lake and The Lake / Land Underwater + Q&A

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After a long period of isolation, Antonin, who suffers from chronic exhaustion, begins working at a bird rescue centre on Lake Geneva. Taking up an apprenticeship under the tutelage of a retiring supervisor, this young man gradually begins to reconnect with the world through the animals he cares for. The intimate and beautiful photography frames life inside the sanctuary like a nature diorama, ... Read More

Bird Island + Q&A

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Elvis Sabin’s assured debut follows Albert and André, two Central African Aka Pygmies, as they attempt to establish a new education system in their forest community. The last in their village still attending school, they are determined to pass their knowledge on, holding classes for other Aka children every afternoon. But their project requires funding and they are counting on the year’s caterp... Read More

Makongo + Intro

UK Short Film Award

Jury

This award, supported by the British Council and awarded by the UK Shorts Jury, is given to the short film that demonstrates the most engaging, innovative and compelling approach to short-form documentary — a film that would best represent UK talent at an international level and that demonstrates promise for the filmmaker's future career.

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3 Logical Exits

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Contoured Thoughts

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I Will Become More Powerful Than You Can Possibly Imagine

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So They Say

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Signal 8

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Sight Unseen

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The Way We Wait

International Short Film Award

Jury

This award, awarded by the International Shorts Jury, is presented to the film that best demonstrates a clear artistic vision, control of craft and the most engaging, innovative and compelling approach to short-form documentary.

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A Crowd

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A Song About Love

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Cloud Forest

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Erpe-Mere

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Good ended happily

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Reserve

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Spit on the Broom

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This Is An Address