The 6th International Documentary Film Festival IDFF Artdocfest/Riga has concluded and announced the winners of its two competition programmes — Baltic Focus and Artdocfest OPEN.
The Baltic Focus Grand Prix, the HERZ Award, was awarded to “Lagoon” by director Šarūnas Bartas, while the main prize of the Artdocfest OPEN competition went to “Memory” by director Vladlena Sandu.
The film “Mr. Nobody Against Putin” also received an award. From Riga, Pavel Talankin heads directly to the United States for the Academy Awards ceremony.
The festival closing event featured a musical tribute by Gidon Kremer marking the 100th anniversary of Herz Frank.
More about the awards
This year Artdocfest/Riga hosted two documentary film competitions. The juries announced the winners on the evening of March 7.
Baltic Focus Competition
Ten films were evaluated by Daira Āboliņa (Latvia), Jean Perret (Switzerland) and Edvinas Pukšta (Lithuania).
HERZ Award winners:
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Grand Prix — “Lagoon” (Lithuania, France), director Šarūnas Bartas
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Best Director — Natalia Koniarz, “Silver” (Poland, Norway, Finland)
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HERZ Special — “Mr. Nobody Against Putin”, directors David Borenstein and Pavel Talankin (Denmark, Czech Republic)
Artdocfest OPEN Competition
The programme included 19 films, judged by Julia Aug (Estonia), Boris Zimin (USA) and Vadim Radionov (Latvia).
Awards went to:
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Grand Prix — “Memory”, director Vladlena Sandu (France)
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Best Director — Aliman Toktogulova, Karash Zhanishov, “The Dogs” (Kyrgyzstan)
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Special Prize — “2000 Meters to Andriivka”, director Mstyslav Chernov (Ukraine)
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Special Mention — “Winter in March”, director Natalia Mirzoyan (Estonia, Armenia, France, Belgium) and “Welded Together”, director Anastasiya Miroshnichenko (France, Netherlands, Belgium)
The festival is supported by Valsts Kultūrkapitāla fonds, the Riga City Council, German television channel Deutsche Welle, the Goethe-Institut, German Films, the Embassy of Poland, the Embassy of Israel, the Jewish Community Restitution Fund of Latvia, Splendid Palace Cinema, Tallink Hotel, Media Hub Riga community centre “Power-Up Space”, ZUZEUM Art Centre, Benjamiņa nams, Skrīveru saldumi, Rīgas Melnais balzams, LiveRiga Agency, the Riga Film Museum, media outlets Meduza, Delfi, LSM, Radio SWH, and the platforms Artdoc.Media and AfishaMira.