02/06/2020 - The film by Italy’s Valentina Pedicini has triumphed at the Catalonian gathering, which was held online and which managed to beat its own audience record, with 130,000 viewers tuning in via Filmin

It wasn’t necessary to travel all the way to Barcelona this year in order to enjoy the city’s International Documentary Film Festival: all audiences needed to do was connect to the Filmin platform, and they could enjoy the meticulously curated programme of its 23^rd edition. This allowed people from all over Spain to watch the big winner of the event, Faith [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Valentina Pedicini
film profile], directed by Italian filmmaker Valentina Pedicini. Indeed, many of the 130,000 viewers did so – a figure that exceeded all expectations and which broke the gathering’s own record.

Joan González, its director, could not disguise his delight: “Four years ago, we had more than 10,000 viewers for the first time; two years ago, we passed the 25,000-viewer threshold, including online viewings; and this year, we’ve passed 130,000. We couldn’t be more grateful to everyone who has made this possible over the last 23 years,” he stated. The festival – which unspooled from 19-31 May – drew to a close on Sunday with the screening of Forman vs. Forman [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Czech directors Jakub Hejna and Helena Třeštíková, which paints a portrait of the acclaimed director of Amadeus and One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.

As for the other award winners, it’s worth mentioning that Kenya’s The Letter by Maya Lekow and Christopher King picked up the Special Jury Mention, while Artemio Benki, who passed away recently, won the New Talent Award with his Solo [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Artemio Benki
film profile]. El gran viaje a un país pequeño, depicting the experience of two families of Syrian refugees in Uruguay, took home the Latitud Award, and the What the Doc! Award was conferred upon the Italian movie Once More Unto the Breach [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Federico Ferrone, Michele M…
film profile]. The French-Belgian co-production Overseas [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Yoon Sung-A
film profile] snagged the Amnesty International Award and the Spanish short film Mareas ocultas the DOC-U Award; meanwhile, the Young Jury Reteena Award ended up going to the French-Belgian flick That Which Does Not Kill [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Alexe Poukine
film profile].

The Audience Award, for which all films in the official sections (Panorama, Latitud and What the Doc!) were eligible, was picked up by Can You Hear Me? [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Pedro Ballesteros. For their part, the teenage viewers plumped for Some Might Say [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Nila Núñez, and thus it took home the Docs&Teens Award. Lastly, the Docs del Mes (lit. “Docs of the Month”) Award, which tots up the votes cast by people who have attended online screenings over the course of the year, was bestowed upon In Search… [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], a German production directed by Beryl Magoko. As the organisers pointed out, the winners’ list highlights the primordial role of female directors in this year’s crop of documentaries, as eight women helmers took home a prize from the festival.

Furthermore, DocsBarcelona fully supports the batch of projects taking part in its industry activities, establishes synergies and agreements with various festivals and other entities in order to facilitate the subsequent run of said projects, and recognises the quality of these documentaries in development through five awards (see the news). At this edition, the titles that won prizes were Spain’s Science Fiction by Matthew Barton, Francisco Forbes and Ferran Romeu, Long Live My Happy Head by Will Hewitt and Austen McCowan (produced by British outfit Melt the Fly), Savoy by Israel’s Zohar Wagner, Fight (Armenia/France) by Lilit Movsisyan, and the UK’s 1001 Days by Chloe White.

Here is the full list of winners:

DocsBarcelona Award for Best Documentary
Faith [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Valentina Pedicini
film profile] – Valentina Pedicini (Italy)

Special Jury Mention
The Letter - Maya Lekow and Christopher King (Kenya)

New Talent Award
Solo [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Artemio Benki
film profile] – Artemio Benki (Czech Republic/France/Argentina/Austria)

Latitud Antaviana Award
El gran viaje al país pequeño – Mariana Viñoles (Uruguay)

What the Doc! Award
Once More Unto the Breach [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Federico Ferrone, Michele M…
film profile] – Michele Manzolini and Federico Ferrone (Italy)

Amnesty International Catalonia Award
Overseas [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Yoon Sung-A
film profile] - Sung-A Yoon (France/Belgium)

Audience Award
Can You Hear Me? – Pedro Ballesteros (Spain)

DOC-U Award
Mareas ocultas – Mònica Cambra (Spain)

Docs&Teens Award
Some Might Say [+see also:
trailer
film profile] – Nila Núñez Urgell (Spain)

Young Jury Reteena Award
That Which Does Not Kill [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Alexe Poukine
film profile] – Alexe Poukine (France/Belgium)

Docs del Mes Award
In Search… [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] – Beryl Magoko (Germany)

ProDocs Award
És a l´aire – Christophe Sion and Santi Suárez (Spain)
King Ray – Sergio Romero Castaño (Spain)

DocsBarcelona Industry

Public Pitch Award
Science Fiction – Matthew Barton, Francisco Forbes and Ferran Romeu (Spain)

DAE Award for New Talent
Long Live My Happy Head - Will Hewitt and Austen McCowan (UK)

FIPADOC Award
Savoy - Zohar Wagner (Israel)

East Doc Platform Award
Fight - Lilit Movsisyan (Armenia/France)

Music Library Award
1001 Days - Chloe White (UK)

(Translated from Spanish)