Silence of Reason and The Stimming Pool share top prize at IceDocs
- In addition to the ex aequo award to Kumjana Novakova and The Neurocultures Collective, winners also include Klára Tasovská's I'm Not Everything I Want to Be

The sixth edition of the IceDocs - Iceland Documentary Film Festival (17-21 July) came to a close on Sunday night after five days of screenings, events, industry and youth programmes in the town of Akranes, Iceland.
The Main Competition Award went jointly to Kumjana Novakova’s Silence of Reason [+see also:
film review
interview: Kumjana Novakova
film profile] and The Stimming Pool [+see also:
film review
film profile] by The Neurocultures Collective and Steven Eastwood.
The jury comprising Stephanie Fuchs of Austria’s Autlook Filmsales, producer and distributor Oliver Sertić of Croatia’s Restart and Icelandic filmmaker Halla Kristín Einarsdóttir decided to give out the prize to two very different but equally original and creative films. Silence of Reason, which world-premiered at last year’s Sarajevo Film Festival where it won the best documentary prize, and later won the best director award in IDFA’s Envision Competition, deals with the experiences of violence and the torture of women in the Foča rape camps during the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and works as a collective memory through a rejection of framing and an elusive, fluid editing.
Meanwhile, The Stimming Pool, which world-premiered at CPH:DOX in March, is an experimental, at times fantastical hybrid feature film co-created by The Neurocultures Collective, consisting of five British neurodivergent artists (Sam Chown Ahern, Georgia Bradburn, Benjamin Brown, Robin Elliot-Knowles, Lucy Walker) and filmmaker Steven Eastwood. Aftersun [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] cinematographer Gregory Oke served as the DoP, shooting on film.
The jury said: “Through this exceptionally creative film, we are taken on a sensorial rollercoaster ride that leaves us eager to watch it again as soon as the credits roll. With its unique approach and storytelling, the film invites us on an intense trip. This playful mosaic journey gives us a glimpse into the extraordinary potential of human minds when given the freedom to simply be ourselves.”
In the Short Film Competition, Finnish director Nina Forsman won the top prize for The Rooster Who Laid Eggs. Meanwhile, the Youth Jury awarded Klára Tasovská’s Berlinale Panorama entry I’m Not Everything I Want to Be [+see also:
film review
interview: Klára Tasovská
film profile], another immensely creative documentary which tells the decades-long story of the maverick Czechoslovak photographer Libuše Jarcovjáková solely through her photos.
The full list of awards:
Main Competition
Best Film Award
Silence of Reason [+see also:
film review
interview: Kumjana Novakova
film profile] – Kumjana Novakova (Bosnia and Herzegovina/North Macedonia)
The Stimming Pool [+see also:
film review
film profile] – The Neurocultures Collective, Steven Eastwood (UK)
Youth Jury Award
I’m Not Everything I Want to Be [+see also:
film review
interview: Klára Tasovská
film profile] - Klára Tasovská (Czech Republic/Slovakia/Austria)
Short Film Competition
Best Short Film Award
The Rooster Who Laid Eggs – Nina Forsman (Finland)
Special Mention
Torn - Simone Hart, Jón H. Geirfinnsson (Iceland)
Youth Jury Award
Nelson the Piglet - Anneke de Lind van Wijngaarden (Netherlands)
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