The Festival Awards this year were:

• Best UK Short Award, supported by the British Council
• Emerging International Filmmaker Award
• The Open City Award
• Border Crossings – the festival’s initiative to connect filmmakers with academics, encouraging collaboration and the opportunity to create documentary films based on research stories. Six teams were selected to pitch live during Open City Documentary Festival 2018.

WINNERS:

Open City Award
Winner: Flight of a Bullet by Beata Bubenec

“This palpably dangerous film is an unforgettable experience. It reflects a combination of the filmmaker’s capacity to be present, intuitive and to fully utilise the digital camera – revealing a new form of observational filmmaking as both durational and dramatic. It captures the disturbing carnivalesque of military operations – and the undecidable nature of the filmmaker’s role in this, where her camera is both witness and weapon/shield.”

An honourable mention was given to The Swing by Cyril Aris for its “impeccable judged framing and profoundly touching meditation on mortality and morality.”

Emerging International Filmmaker Award
Winner: Angkar by Neary Adeline Hay

“Woven together with an unusual master of craft, this film is a remarkable intergenerational dialogue between father and daughter that ties together strands of history, place, loss, justice and memory. It is a brave exploration of the past that also shines a light on the present. ”

Best UK Short Award
Winner: The Mess by Dorothy Allen-Pickard

“The Best UK Short Award goes to The Mess for its visceral and empathetic portrayal of mental illness. The jury was impressed by its creative and collaborative approach to making an otherwise mental state visible.”

Border Crossings
Winner: Lifeblood by Dylan Howitt and Elizabeth Haines
Second Prize: The Affordability Game by Antony Butts and Paul Honeybone

The Border Crossings Judging panel featured: Chloe Trayner, Associate Director – Open City Documentary Festival; Kim Longinotto, filmmaker & Riete Ooerd, filmmaker.

Above: Open City Award winner Beata Bubenec talks about her win.