19/04/2024 - Over 100,000 Swiss francs were awarded to sixteen projects during the closing ceremony of the Visions du Réel Festival’s industry sidebar

The team behind The Last Days of the Hospital by French-Iranian director Mehran Tamadon, which won the Eurimages Co-Production Development Prize

The VdR-Industry sidebar of the Visions du Réel Festival has announced the winners of its 2024 edition. This is the first time that the prestigious Eurimages Prize for Co-Production Development, endowed with 20,000 euros, and the trophy handed out by Visions Sud Est - the Swiss national fund aimed at encouraging independent film production in countries with low production capacity - (endowed with 10,000 CHF), have been awarded during the Visions du Réel Festival.

On the subject of its aims, the head of the festival’s industry sidebar, Alice Burgin, stated that: "The increasingly significant role played by the VdR-Industry awards in the international documentary landscape testifies to the continuing importance of non-fiction stories in challenging, inspiring and enriching our lives". She further added that: "We and our partners are in a position to recognise and celebrate the power of audacious and daring projects presented in our market. We hope that in these difficult times, these awards will encourage filmmakers around the world to pursue their passion for telling striking stories about our times".

The Eurimages Prize was won by French-Iranian director Mehran Tamadon’s project The Last Days of the Hospital. The film explores the difficult and precarious situation that health professionals and patients must contend with on a daily basis, in this instance within a French psychiatric hospital. The Eurimages jury also handed out the Special Eurimages Prize - worth 20,000 euros and created to support Ukrainian co-productions in development - to Vadym Ilkov and Clare Stronge’s project Fixing the War.

The jury behind the much coveted Visions Sud-Est Prize (composed of Zsuzsi Bánkuti, Meret Ruggle and John Canciani) singled out Colombian director Hanz Rippe Gabriel for his project The Shadow of Yolüja, which revolves around the indigenous people from the Guajira desert.

Last but not least, the Xe Award worth 5,000 CHF was scooped by Irish director Bob Gallagher’s Life of Tipu within the VdR-Pitching line-up, whose jury was composed of Kristy Matheson, Rémi Burah and Lisa Chanoff Kleiner. The same jury also handed out the Lightdox Award (3,000 euros) to Pablo Lozano’s At Least to See the Ocean within the VdR-Work In Progress line-up.

A number of other trophies were also awarded during the ceremony, including the RTS Award which went to American director Charles Fairbanks, and the new NO NATION FILMS Prize won by Timofey Stekolshuk’s TAU. Finally, the TËNK Award for the best short film project screened within the festival’s Opening Scenes section went to Mawtini by Tabarak Allah Abbas, which was based upon a Japanese anime.

The full list of VdR-Industry winners is as follows:

Eurimages Co-Production Development Prize
The Last Days of The Hospital – Mehran Tamadon (France/Switzerland)
Production: Delphine Morel (TS Productions), Elena Tatti (Box Productions)

Special Eurimages Prize for a Ukranian Co-Production in Development
Fixing the War – Vadym Ilkov & Clare Stronge (Ukraine/Ireland)
Production: Oleksandra Kravchenko (Moon Man), Gary Lennon (Plainsong Films)

Visions Sud Est Prize
The Shadow of Yolüja – Hanz Rippe Gabriel (Colombia)
Production: Fernanda Pineda (Paramo Films)

RTS Prize
She Wrestles – Charles Fairbanks (USA)
Production: Lucila Moctezuma (She Wrestles Documentary)

Xe Prize
Life of Tipu – Bob Gallagher (Ireland)
Production: Ciarán Deeney, Séamus Waters (EZ Films), Jeanie Igoe (Homebird Productions)

Party Film Sales Prize
Dreams of the Wild Oaks – Marjan Khosravi (Iran/Spain/France)
Production: Milad Khosravi (Seven Springs Pictures), Stephanie Von Lukowicz (Lukimedia), Thibaut Amri (Avant la Nuit)

Lightdox Prize
At Least to See the Ocean – Pablo Lozano (Dominican Republic)
Production: Pablo Lozano, Juan Antonio Bisonó (La Felicidad)

Unifrance Doc Prize in Partnership with TitraFilm
Dreams of the Wild Oaks - Marjan Khosravi

TËNK Prize (post-production)
Beyond the Fold – Ross McClean (UK/Ireland/USA)
Production: Bronte Stahl (Here and Elsewhere Films), Ross McClean (Nightstaff), Roísin Geraghty (Little Rose Films)

Raggioverde Subtitling Prize
The Myth of Mahmoud – Shaima Al Tamimi & Mayar Hamdan (Qatar/Palestine/Kenya/Lebanon/Yemen/USA)
Production: Shaima Al Tamimi (Y2P Studios)

Downtown Studios Prize
The Myth of Mahmoud - Shaima Al Tamimi & Mayar Hamdan

Cannes Docs Prize
Magnetic Letters - Demie Dangla (France/Germany)
Production: Gale Osorio (Binisaya Movement Inc.), Philippe Djivas (Dynamo Production), Laura Kloeckner (Seera Films)

DOK Leipzig Prize
Pratopia - Sean Ali Wang (Holland)
Production: Jia Zhao (MUYI Film)

DAE Encouragement Prize
Pratopia - Sean Ali Wang

NO NATION FILMS Prize
TAU – Timofey Stekolshuk (Georgia/Germany)
Production: Sergey Yahontov, Archil Gelovani (Independent Film Project), Pavel Karykhalyn (Eversince GmbH)

TËNK Opening Scenes Prize
Mawtini - Tabarak Allah Abbas (Switzerland) (short film)

(Translated from French)