The winners of the 36th IDFA (8-19 November) were announced at an awards ceremony that took place in the Internationaal Theater Amsterdam on Thursday 16 November.

The Dutch gathering saw the triumph of 1489 [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Shoghakat Vardanyan
scheda film] by Shoghakat Vardanyan (Armenia), in receipt of the IDFA Award for Best Film, worth €15,000. The jury described it as “a film that acts as a piercing light that makes visible the vast, hidden interior landscape of grief and creates a tangible presence from unbearable absence”. The picture also snagged the FIPRESCI Award.

Next, the Award for Best Film in the Envision Competition went to Ariel Kuaray Ortega and Ernesto de Carvalho for Canuto's Transformation (Brazil). The prize is also worth €15,000. “With a decades-long commitment to the filmmaking process within a community, a sense of humour and a quest to move between worlds, this film embodies the many meanings of transformation,” the jury said in its supporting statement.

Moreover, the IDFA Award for Best Directing (worth €5,000) in the International Competition went to Mohamed Jabaly for Life Is Beautiful [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] (Norway/Palestine). The jurors labelled Jabaly’s film as “a timely cinematic expression of the universal need to be recognised in our full humanity”, and “a compelling indictment of the bureaucratic and political structures that deny that”.

The jury members of the International Competition were Emilie Bujès, Francesco Giai Via, Tabitha Jackson, Ada Solomon and Xiaoshuai Wang, whilst the Envision Competition jurors were Annouchka de Andrade, Cao Guimarães, Kirsten Johnson and Kivu Ruhorahoza.

Next, the IDFA Award for Best First Feature (worth €5,000) went to Chasing the Dazzling Light (Syria/Qatar/Sweden) by Yaser Kassab.

Finally, the IDFA Forum Awards were announced in Felix Meritis, a European centre for art, culture and science, on Wednesday 15 November. Mohammed Almughanni’s project Son of the Streets (Poland/Palestine) snagged the IDFA Forum Award for Best Pitch, whilst Amber Fares’ Coexistence, My Ass! (USA) took home the Forum Award for Best Rough Cut, and Turbulence by Ben Joseph Andrews and Emma Roberts (Australia) scooped the DocLab Forum Award.

Here is the full list of this year’s award winners:

International Competition

IDFA Award for Best Film
1489 [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Shoghakat Vardanyan
scheda film] - Shoghakat Vardanyan (Armenia)

IDFA Award for Best Directing
Life Is Beautiful [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] - Mohamed Jabaly (Norway/Palestine)

IDFA Award for Best Editing
Anand Patwardhan - The World Is Family (India)

IDFA Award for Best Cinematography
Anirban Dutta and Anupama Srinivasan - Flickering Lights (India)

Envision Competition

IDFA Award for Best Film
Canuto’s Transformation - Ariel Kuaray Ortega, Ernesto de Carvalho (Brazil)

IDFA Award for Best Directing
Silence of Reason [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] - Kumjana Novakova (Bosnia and Herzegovina/North Macedonia)

IDFA Award for Outstanding Artistic Contribution
Canuto’s Transformation - Ariel Kuaray Ortega, Ernesto de Carvalho

IDFA DocLab Competition for Immersive Non-Fiction

IDFA DocLab Award for Immersive Non-fiction
Turbulence: Jamais Vu - Ben Joseph Andrews and Emma Roberts (Australia)

Special Jury Award for Creative Technology for Immersive Non-fiction
Natalie’s Trifecta - Natalie Paneng (South Africa)

IDFA DocLab Competition for Digital Storytelling

IDFA DocLab Award for Digital Storytelling
Anouschka - Tamara Shogaolu (Netherlands/USA/Switzerland)

Special Jury Award for Creative Technology for Digital Storytelling
Borderline Visible - Ant Hampton (Switzerland/Turkey/Greece/Belgium)

IDFA Competiton for Short Documentary

IDFA Award for Best Short Documentary
At That Very Moment - Rita Pauls, Federico Luis Tachella (Argentina/Germany)

Special Mention
My Father - Pegah Ahangarani (Iran/Czech Republic)

IDFA Competition for Youth Film

IDFA Award for Best Youth Film (13+)
Sister of Mine - Mariusz Rusiński (Poland)

IDFA Award for Best Youth Film (9-12)
And a Happy New Year - Sebastian Mulder (Netherlands)

Other awards

IDFA Award for Best First Feature
Chasing the Dazzling Light - Yaser Kassab (Syria/Qatar/Sweden)

IDFA Award for Best Dutch Film
Gerlach - Aliona van der Horst, Luuk Bouwman (Netherlands)
Special Mention
Mother Suriname – Mama Sranan, Tessa Leuwsha (Netherlands)

Beeld & Geluid IDFA Reframe Award
Selling a Colonial War - In-Soo Radstake (Netherlands)
Special Mention - Beeld & Geluid IDFA Reframe Award
Milisuthando - Milisuthando Bongela (South Africa/Colombia)

IDFA Forum

IDFA Forum Award for Best Pitch
Son of the Streets - Mohammed Almughanni (Poland/Palestine)

IDFA Forum Award for Best Rough Cut
Coexistence, My Ass! - Amber Fares (USA)

IDFA DocLab Forum Award
Turbulence - Ben Joseph Andrews, Emma Roberts (Australia)