The prize-winners at the third edition of the Al Jazeera Documentary Industry Days, which took place from 14-16 September during the seventh AJB DOC festival, were announced last night in Sarajevo's Kamerni Teatar.

The Georgian-Azerbaijani-Greek co-production The Amateur Photographer's Family Portrait, directed by Nurlan Hasanli and produced by Irina Gelashvili, of Tbilisi-based Radium Films, received the Al Jazeera Documentary Channel Co-production Award in the Main Pitch section, worth $25,000. It is Hasanli's own story: his screenplay was shot without him being notified and was ruined by Azerbaijan's Ministry of Culture. He now seeks creative revenge by uniting his family to remake the film. The project also received the Sheffield Doc Fest Networking Award and the Doha Film Institute – DFI Producers Lab Award.

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Morteza Abaki's Turkish-German-French co-production 32 Meters won the $15,000 Co-production Award in the Work in Progress Section. In a village where no crime has occurred for years, everyone is engaged in arms production. Protagonist Halime challenges the community by deciding to organise a women-only shooting festival. The project also bagged the Rum Pictures & MCQ Award, consisting of a full post-production package.

In the Balkan Stars section, the AJD Channel Co-production Award, worth $10,000, went to the Bosnian project Weeping Houses by Srdjan Perkić. It is the story of a basketball player from a small Bosnian town who became a hot prospect for many Yugoslav teams in the early 1990s. However, he disappeared after being taken to a Serbian concentration camp as the Bosnian War started in 1992. The project also received the BHRT Award and the BH Telecom Award.

In Al Jazeera Balkans Awards, the €8,000 Co-production Award in the Main Pitch section went to Big in Gazi Baba by Pauline Blanchet, a French filmmaker based in Skopje. It is the story of Sadije, a 14-year-old girl wrestler and a champion in North Macedonia, who navigates expectations to fulfil a male role, defying traditional gender norms and ethnic barriers in her isolated Albanian-Muslim community. The project also scooped the Cannes Docs' Marché du Film Award, the IDF's East Silver Caravan Award and the EURODOC Award for Best Pitch.

In the Work in Progress section, the €7,000 Co-production Award was handed to Iranian director Marjan Khosravi's Dreams of the Wild Oaks, about a young Bakhtiari girl in Iran who has to find a rare and endangered bird in order to escape a forced marriage and a tradition of blood sacrifice on a journey that challenges her beliefs and tests the limits of her father’s love.

Finally, in the Balkan Stars section, the €5,000 Co-production Award went to Serbia's Dragan Gmizić for Third Person, an investigation into a swindling practice which results in many people being evicted from their homes owing to poor legal regulation.  

The full list of AJD Industry Days award winners is as follows:

Al Jazeera Documentary Channel Awards

Main Pitch
The Amateur Photographer’s Family Portrait - Nurlan Hasanli (Georgia/Azerbaijan/ Greece)
Production company: Radium Films

Work in Progress
32 Meters - Morteza Atabaki (Turkey/Germany/France)
Production company: 2Pilots Filmproduction GmbH

Balkan Stars
Weeping Houses - Srđan Perkić (Bosnia and Herzegovina/Croatia)
Production companies: Imaginarium, Fist

Al Jazeera Balkans Awards

Main Pitch
Big in Gazi Baba - Pauline Blanchet (North Macedonia/France/UK)
Production companies: Aral Sea Productions, Lumiere Films, Violet Picture, Futur Antérieur

Work in Progress
Dreams of the Wild Oaks - Marjan Khosravi (Iran/Spain/France)
Production companies: Seven Springs Pictures, Lukimedia, Avant la Nuit

Balkan Stars
Third Person - Dragan Gmizić (Serbia)
Production company: Greenfield Production

Partner awards

Doc House Tunisia Award
My Father’s War - Younes Jaddad (Morocco/Libya/France)
Production company: ZKPROD DOC

Beldocs Award
For Whom the Bells Toll? - Denis Karam, Zlatko Ivanišević (Bosnia and Herzegovina/Croatia/UK)
Production company: ProudCloud Productions

Sheffield Doc Fest Networking Award
The Amateur Photographer’s Family Portrait - Nurlan Hasanli

Movies That Matter Impact Award
3 Brothers - Katalin Bársony (Hungary/Sweden)
Production companies: Romedia Foundation, Baxt Films Ltd

Doha Film Institute – DFI Producers Lab Award
The Amateur Photographer’s Family Portrait - Nurlan Hasanli

MIA – Doc & Factual Award
The Other Gaza - Wafa Jamil (Palestine/Sweden)
Production companies: Multimedia Production, Sard Films AB, Driva Production

Sunny Side of the Doc Award
The Other Gaza - Wafa Jamil

Cannes Docs – Marché du Film Award
Big in Gazi Baba - Pauline Blanchet
The Dry Period - Nihal Atasoy (Turkey)
Production company: Tunnel Pictures

IDF – East Silver Caravan Award
Big in Gazi Baba - Pauline Blanchet

Looks TV – Progress Film Award
Magma - Mia Bendrimia (France/Algeria)
Production company: Nazar Films

EURODOC Award for the Best Pitch
Big in Gazi Baba - Pauline Blanchet

Radio Television of Bosnia and Herzegovina – BHRT Award
Weeping Houses - Srđan Perkić

Czech Television Development Award
Close to Paradise – Zarema and Her Rebel Family - Tatsiana Khamliuk (Italy)
Production company: POPCult

Rum Pictures & MCQ Award
32 Meters - Morteza Atabaki

Film Center of Montenegro Balkan Star Award
Weeping Houses - Srđan Perkić

BH Telecom Award
Weeping Houses - Srđan Perkić

Croatian Radio Television – HRT TV Award
Houses on Sand - Vid Begić (Croatia)
Production company: Točka kulture (Culture Point)