On the eighth day of the festival, March 8, the closing ceremony took place at Splendid Palace, during which awards were presented in several categories. In total, the jury evaluated 31 documentary films from the Baltic Focus and Artdocfest Open competition programs.
The winner of the Baltic Focus competition program, receiving the HERZ award, was the film "Trains" (Poland, Lithuania), directed by Maciej Drygas. In this program, the award for Best Director went to Birgitte Stærmose for the film "Afterwar" (Denmark, Kosovo, Sweden, Finland). A Special Prize was awarded to Aleksandrs Grebņevs' film "The Moment Before" (Latvia).
The jury of the Artdocfest Open competition program awarded the Grand Prix to Volodymyr Sydko's film "Mission 200" (Ukraine). A Special Award was given to Vera Krichevskaya's film "Connected" (United Kingdom). An Special Mention was given to Orkhan Aghazadeh's film "Return of the Projectionist" (Azerbaijan, France, Germany). The award for Best Director went to Tetiana Dorodnitsyna and Andrii Lytvynenko's film "Everything needs to live" (Poland, Ukraine).
ARTDOCFEST/RIGA 2025 RESULTS
ARTDOCFEST OPEN COMPETITION
Jury:
- Ivars Seleckis — cinematographer and film director (Latvia)
- Christine Camdessus — Artistic Director of FIPADOC (France)
- Sevgil Musaieva — journalist, editor-in-chief (Ukraine)
Grand Prix — "Mission 200"
Director: Volodymyr Sydko
Ukraine, 2023, 65 min.
Best Director — "Everything needs to live"
Directors: Tetiana Dorodnitsyna, Andrii Lytvynenko
Poland, Ukraine, 2024, 70 min.
Special Award — "Connected"
Director: Vera Krichevskaya
United Kingdom, 2025, 104 min.
Special Mention — "Return of the Projectionist"
Director: Orkhan Aghazadeh
Azerbaijan, France, Germany, 2024, 88 min.
BALTIC FOCUS
Jury:
- Ināra Kolmane — documentary and feature film director and producer (Latvia)
- Filipp Kruusvall — film critic and DocPoint coordinator (Estonia)
- Arūnas Matelis — documentary film director (Lithuania)
Grand Prix — "Trains"
Director: Maciej Drygas
Poland, Lithuania, 2024, 80 min.
Best Director — "Afterwar"
Director: Birgitte Stærmose
Denmark, Kosovo, Sweden, Finland, 2024, 84 min.
Special Award — "The Moment Before"
Director: Aleksandrs Grebņevs
Latvia, 2025, 71 min.