11/06/2015 - A Syrian Love Story wins Grand Jury prize

Joshua Oppenheimer’s The Look of Silence [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] has won the Audience Award at the recently concluded Sheffield Doc/Fest. Sean MacAllister’s A Syrian Love Story has won the Grand Jury prize. On behalf of the Grand Jury Ruby Chen said, “The Jury were enamoured by this Bergmanesque portrait of a relationship and love, taking place against an ever-changing and tumultuous backdrop. Delivering unusual gender portraits it explores vulnerabilities, looking at the concept of belonging, providing a unique and intimate portrait of disillusionment. 

The Environmental Prize was awarded to Jerry Rothwell’s How to Change the World [+see also:
trailer
film profile]. Speaking for the jury, Margret Jonasdottir said, “The strength of mind and willpower of the filmmaker to recapture and recreate the archive was poetically echoed in the film itself. From powerful images of protagonists standing arm-in-arm in front of a moving ship, cracking through the ice, to a man prepared to handcuff himself to the fruits of the harvest at risk of his life, gave meaning to how hard it is to change the world. And yet the film dealt with both success – the mind bomb – and with ultimate failure.”

Other winners include the Sheffield Youth Jury Award for Marc Silver’s 3½ Minutes, 10 Bullets, the Tim Hetherington Award for Matthew Heineman’s Cartel Land, the Student Doc Award for Benjamin Huguet’s Archipelago, the Short Doc Award for Michal Szczesniak’s Starting Point, the   Interactive Award for Gabo Arora and Chris Milk’s Clouds Over Sidra, and the In The Dark Audio Award for Rikke Houd’s The Woman on Ice.

This year the Inspiration Award was awarded to former festival director Heather Croall.