12/09/2023 - Projects including The Rabbis’ Intifada, The Srebrenica Tape, Until the Buzzing Stops, Bitter Sugar and I Don’t Want To have taken home a slew of sought-after prizes

The second edition of AJD Industry Days, which ran as an integral part of the AJB DOC Film Festival and took place from 9-11 September, has concluded with an awards ceremony at Chamber Theatre 55 in Sarajevo. Once again, the programme was dominated by the pitching forum, where 22 projects were presented (in three categories) to a pool of decision makers at sessions moderated by experienced independent broadcasting executive Rudy Buttignol and Rada Šešić, the Sarajevo Film Festival’s Documentary Competition selector. These sessions were followed by round-table meetings between the filmmakers, their producers and decision makers coming from various backgrounds in the trade (festival and TV executives, national film centre employees and so on). The Industry Days also hosted the Al Jazeera Digital showcase, at which the launch of a new streaming platform called Al Jazeera 360 was announced.

Heather “Chana” Tenzer’s project The Rabbis’ Intifada, dealing with the filmmaker’s personal transition from being a Zionist to becoming an anti-Zionist, under the guidance of the Orthodox Neturei Karta rabbis, scooped the $25,000 AJD Co-Production Award in the Main Pitch category. Chiara Sambuchi’s The Srebrenica Tape won the €8,000 AJB Co-Production Award in the same sidebar. Sambuchi’s project also won the BH Telecom Award, to the tune of €2,500.

The UK-Lebanese-French co-production Until the Buzzing Stops, directed by Abd al-Kader Habak, which follows the friendship and co-operation between beekeeper Ali and the filmmaker during their life as refugees in London, was awarded the Work in Progress Co-Production Award, worth $15,000, from AJD. In the same category, Ana Barjadze’s Bitter Sugar won the Work in Progress Co-Production Award of €7,000, from AJB. The same project also scooped three in-kind accolades from partners, including the Cannes Doc Award, the Sunny Side of the Doc Award and the Movies That Matter Impact Award.

Finally, in the Balkan Stars category, the main $10,000 Co-Production Award from AJD went to Hanis Bagashov’s I Don’t Want To. The AJB €5,000 Co-Production Award went to Damir Markovina’s Another Film About the War, Father & Home, which also scooped the €5,000 prize from the Film Centre of Montenegro and the MIA Award.

Here is the complete list of winners:

Main Pitch $25,000 Co-Production Award Presented by Al Jazeera Documentary Channel
The Rabbis’ Intifada – Heather “Chana” Tenzer (USA)

Main Pitch €8,000 Co-Production Award Presented by Al Jazeera Balkans
The Srebrenica Tape – Chiara Sambuchi (Germany)

Work in Progress $15,000 Co-Production Award Presented by Al Jazeera Documentary Channel
Until the Buzzing Stops – Abd al-Kader Habak (UK/Lebanon/France)

Work in Progress €7,000 Co-Production Award Presented by Al Jazeera Balkans
Bitter Sugar – Ana Barjadze (Georgia/France)

Balkan Stars $10,000 Co-Production Award Presented by Al Jazeera Documentary Channel
I Don’t Want To – Hanis Bagashov (North Macedonia)

Balkan Stars €5,000 Co-Production Award Presented by Al Jazeera Balkans
Another Film About the War, Father & Home – Damir Markovina (Croatia)

Partner awards

Croatian Radio-Television – HRT TV Award of $5,000
Cordon – Anton Mezulić (Croatia)

Film Centre of Montenegro Balkan Stars Award of €5,000
Another Film About the War, Father & Home – Damir Markovina

BH Telecom Award of €2,500
The Srebrenica Tape – Chiara Sambuchi

Sunny Side of the Doc Award (two accreditations for Sunny Side of the Doc 2023)
Solo – Amine Boukhris (Tunisia/France)
Bitter Sugar – Ana Bajaridze

Cannes Doc Award (two Marché du Film badges and a spotlight on the winning project at Cannes Docs 2024)
My Mother and I – Dilpak Majeed (Iraq/Egypt)
Bitter Sugar – Ana Bajaridze

Beldocs Award (invitation to pitch at Beldocs IDFF 2024)
Rear Admiral – Mladen Ivanović (Croatia/Montenegro)

Progress Film Award (video archive worth €3,000)
Moscow Nights – Irina Maldea, Brendan Culleton (Romania/Ireland)

BHRT Award (in-kind award of archive material worth €5,000)
The Partisan Necropolis – Chris Leslie (UK)

Institute of Documentary Film (IDF) – East Silver Caravan Award (one year’s festival distribution service)
December – Grzegorz Paprzycki (Poland/Lithuania)

Eurodoc Award (participation in a five-day Eurodoc session and one year’s membership worth €3,000)
Jana – Mohammad Reza Azadi (Pakistan/Iran/Italy)

Doha Film Institute – DFI Producers Lab Award (selection of one project to participate in the DFI Producers Lab 2023)
Solo – Amine Boukhris

JCC: Carthage Film Festival – Takmil – Carthage Pro Award (post-production support)
My Mother and I – Dilpak Majeed

MIA International Audiovisual Market Award (attendance at the MIA Co-Production Market and Pitching Forum)
Another Film About the War, Father & Home – Damir Markovina

Movies That Matter Impact Award (a selection to attend the festival and its industry days)
Bitter Sugar – Ana Barjadze

Sheffield DocFest Award (industry pass for Sheffield DocFest 2024)
Solo – Amine Boukhris

Al Jazeera Digital Documentary Award ($5,000 to support emerging documentary filmmakers)
December – Grzegorz Paprzycki