The 29th edition of DocsBarcelona  (7 to 17 May) announced its awards last Saturday, after attracting more than 12,300 attendees to screenings and side events – a 12% increase on last year – according to preliminary figures, with 28 sold-out screenings and a 70% attendance rate, and strong support for the films and their creative teams.

The official jury awarded Best Film to Amazomania, directed by Nathan Grossman. The documentary revisits the 1996 expedition to the Amazon to film the isolated Korubo tribe, questioning the colonial legacy and the human consequences of that “discovery”. The jury also awarded a special mention to Das Deutsche Volk, by Marcin Wierzchowski, which reconstructs the racist attack in Hanau, Germany, through testimonies from survivors and relatives of the victims, highlighting structural racism in contemporary Europe.

The Docs&Cat jury awarded the Best Catalan Film – XAL Award to The Travelers, by David Bingong, which follows a group of migrants on the border between Morocco and Spain as they wait for the right moment to cross into Europe. A special mention went to Bèstia, Helena Garza’s debut feature, a portrait of three hunters from inland Catalonia that explores rural masculinity and the contradictions between tradition and contemporary perspectives.

The Audience Award – Moritz went to Corren las liebres by Lorena Ros, which follows a trans Roma woman who, after being released from prison, struggles to regain custody of her children while facing social and housing exclusion in Barcelona. This film also won the 3Cat Award.

The Amnesty International Catalonia Award and the Docs Jury Award – Antaviana were both awarded to Atlas of Disappearance, by Manuel Correa, an investigative work on the missing persons transferred to the Valley of the Fallen and on the forensic tools now used to reconstruct their memory.

Elsewhere in the awards, viewers of the Docs of the Month series awarded their prize to the Oscar-winning film Mr. Nobody Against Putin, by David Borenstein and Pasha Talankin;  the Docs Award for Best Editing – AMMAC went to Mailin by María Silvia Esteve; the Docs New Talent – Filmin Award went to Do You Love Me, by Lana Daher; the Docs&Teens Audience Award went to  Runa Simi, by Augusto Zegarra; the Doc Around Europe Award went to Les culpables, the debut feature by Marta Duran Lozano; and the Reteena Youth Jury Award was collected by last year’s IDFA winner A Fox Under a Pink Moon, by Mehrdad Oskouei.

As for the winners in DocsBarcelona Pro, the festival’s industry section, Not Friend but the Mountains, directed by Yaser Talebi (Iran/Turkey), won the DocsBarcelona Award for Best Project, while Crossed, by Carla Grande (UK/USA/Mexico/Denmark), won the 3Cat Award for Best Project, the most lucrative prize at DocsBarcelona Pro (€15,000), and My Sister Gaza, by Rima Jabaly (Palestine/Norway), won the prizes awarded by ARTE (€10,000) and Al Jazeera (€10,000). The rest of the winners are listed below.

The list of winners:

Best Film Award
Amazomania - Nathan Grossman (Sweden/Denmark/France)
Special Mention
Das Deutsche Volk - Marcin Wierzchowski (Germany)

Best Catalan Film – XAL Award
The Travelers - David Bingong (Spain)
Special Mention
Bèstia - Helena Garza (Spain)

Best Short Film Award
Retales - Juanjo Giménez (Spain)

Other Awards

Audience Award – Moritz 
Corren las liebres - Lorena Ros (Spain)

Audience Award Short Films – 16Nou
Dreams for a Better Past - Albert Kuhn (Spain/Netherlands)

Jury Award – Antaviana
Atlas of Disappearance - Manuel Correa (Spain/Norway)

Docs of the Month Award
Mr. Nobody Against Putin - David Borenstein, Pasha Talankin (Denmark/Czech Republic)

Best Editing – AMMAC
Mailin - María Silvia Esteve (Argentina/France/Romania)

New Talent Award – Filmin
Do You Love Me - Lana Daher (France/Lebanon/Germany/Qatar)

Docs&Teens Award
Runa Simi - Augusto Zegarra (Peru)

3Cat Award
Corren las liebres - Lorena Ros (Spain)

Doc Around Europe Award
Les culpables - Marta Duran Lozano (Spain)

Amnesty International Catalonia Award 
Atlas of Disappearance - Manuel Correa

Young Jury Award – Reteena
A Fox Under a Pink Moon - Mehrdad Oskouei (Iran/France)

DocsBarcelona Pro

DocsBarcelona Award for Best Project
No Friend but the Mountains – Yaser Talebi (Iran/Turkey)
Production: Sunrise

DocsBarcelona Award for Best New Tech Pitch Project
Miss Annie – Mathilde Lavenne (France)
Production: Margaux Missika

3Cat Co-production Award for Best Forum Project
Crossed – Carla Grande (United Kingdom/United States/Mexico/Denmark)
Production: Lucy Draper

ARTE European Talent Development Award
My Sister Gaza – Rima Jabaly (Palestine/Norway)
Production: Palarctic Productions AS, Idioms Films

Al Jazeera Documentary Co-production Award for Best Forum Project
My Sister Gaza – Rima Jabaly

Stories that Travel Award
State of Immortality - Piotr Winiewicz (Denmark)
Production: Henrik Underbjerg

Music Library Award
About a Boy and the Building / Four Winters en Edificio Cuba – Aleksandra Maciuszek (Poland/France/Cuba/Spain)
Production: Aleksandra Maciuszek

Antaviana Award for Best Pitch
Ever and the Sharks – Lucía Flórez (Peru/Spain)
Production: Claudia Chávez Lévano

Women Make Movies Award (joint winners)
Crossed – Carla Grande
Into the Mist

FipaDoc Award
Words We Never Say - Agnieszka Zwiefka (Poland/Bulgaria/Germany/Spain)
Production: Izabela Igel

East Doc Platform Award
Diary of Experiences - Dorota Roś (Poland/Czech Republic)
Production: Zofia Kujawska

MIA DOC Award
Crossed – Carla Grande

San Sebastián Forum Lau Haizetara Award
State of Immortality - Piotr Winiewicz

DOCXS Award
Parallel Space – Martin Piga (Slovakia/Czech Republic)
Production: Tereza Tokárová

Cuban International Film and Television School (EICTV) Award
Ruda – Aida Bañeres (Spain)
Production: Produccions Saurines SCCL