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FIPADOC 2023 Awards

Seeds of Hunger – Ukraine 1933 triumphs at FIPADOC

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- Guillaume Ribot’s movie bags the Grand National Prize, while Ahsen Nadeem’s US production Crows Are White wins the international competition

Seeds of Hunger – Ukraine 1933  triumphs at FIPADOC
The director of Seeds of Hunger – Ukraine 1933 Guillaume Ribot on stage at FIPADOC 2023

FIPADOC has announced its winners at the close of its 5th edition, which unspooled 20 – 28 January, gathering together scores of international professionals.

The French competition was won by Guillaume Ribot’s Seeds of Hunger – Ukraine 1933. Written by the director himself, alongside Antoine Germa, the film takes us back to 1933. A secret famine decided upon by Stalin is decimating the Ukraine. A Welsh journalist, Gareth Jones, travels to the country to try to alert the outside world, but the power of the Soviet State’s lie towers before him… The film’s music is composed by Éric Neveux while the documentary itself is produced by Estelle Fialon on behalf of Les Films du Poisson, in co-production with Lobster Films. France 5 are set to broadcast the movie.

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The international competition jury (Salomé Jashi, IIkka Vehkalahti and Anita Reher), meanwhile, crowned Ahsen Nadeem’s American production Crows Are White their champion. Produced by Memory in co-production with Argent Pictures and Normal Content, the film revolves around Absen, a Muslim who hides his marriage from his family. He travels to a Japanese monastery in search of advice in order to put an end to his lie, but the only monk who will listen to him is more interested in ice cream and heavy metal than in meditation. It’s an exploration of truth, faith and love, between zen temples and worship of the Koran.

As for the Musical Documentaries competition, Luke McManus’ Irish feature film North Circular [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
reigned triumphant in this category, while the Impact programme named Rich Felgate’s British production Finite: The Climate of Change [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
its victor.

The full list of award-winners is as follows:

Grand Prize for Best International Documentary
Crows Are White - Ahsen Nadeem (USA)

Grand Prize for Best National Documentary
Seeds of Hunger – Ukraine 1933 - Guillaume Ribot

Grand Prize for Best Musical Documentary
North Circular [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
- Luke McManus (Ireland)

Grand Prize for Best Impact Documentary
Finite: The Climate of Change [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
- Rich Felgate (UK)

Other Awards

INA Madelen Audience Award
Autisme : Le petit chasseur de fantômes -  Laurent Kouchner & Mickaël Mahut (France) (medium-length film)

Smart Prize
The Man Who Couldn’t Leave -  Singing Chen (Taiwan)

Scam New Writing Prize
21-22 China -  Thierry Loa (Canada)

Best Short Film
Sauvage -  Léonore Mercier (France)

Young Creation Prize
Last Call - Noah Cohen (France) (short film)

Tënk Prize
The Silence of the Banana Trees - Eneos Çarka (Hungary/Belgium/Portugal/Albania) (short film)

Young Europeans Prize
Too Close [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
- Botond Püsök (Romania/Hungary)

Mitrani Prize
Silent House - Farnaz Jurabchian & Mohammadreza Jurabchian (Iran/Canada/Philippines/Qatar)

Ciné + Prize
A Holy Family [+see also:
film review
film profile
]
- Elvis A-Liang Lu (Taiwan/France)

PFDM Prize
Les Fantômes du pétrole - Audrey Gloaguen (France)

Coup de Cœur dans les Murs Award
Sankara - Yohan Malka (France)

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(Translated from French)

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