21/11/2022 - Lea Glob’s touching portrayal of a young artist, a movie “infused with love”, has won Best Film in the International Competition, with Angie Vinchito’s Manifesto also noticed

It’s all over for the 35th edition of IDFA, which ended on Sunday, with Lea Glob’s Apolonia, Apolonia [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Lea Glob
film profile] taking home the Award for Best Film, alongside the €15,000 cash prize. Talking about the intimate portrayal of a French painter trying to figure things out as an artist and as a woman, the jurors – Pirjo Honkasalo, Vanja Kaludjercic, Yousry Nasrallah, Mary Stephen and Yoshihiko Yatabe – noted it was “infused with love. […] This film has characters who breathe life and take us on a journey, opening us up to the worlds of culture and art, of business and politics, of the mechanics of a success story,” they stated.

Glob, also behind Olmo & the Seagull [+see also:
trailer
film profile], noted: “The first time I had a conversation with Apolonia, via Skype, I instantly felt like I was already in a film. I was watching this woman enter the frame, and as I was speaking with her, all kinds of people would come into view from all sides of the screen. And the whole time, Apolonia was just capturing my attention. I knew at that moment that she would be the person for the film.

“As a documentarian, you know that some people are just creating a film with their presence, and you just need to frame it, in a way. Back then, I didn’t know what an incredible paintress she would become, but I thought Apolonia had this incredible face for cinema, the face of a great actress.”

Simon Chambers picked up the Best Directing Award for Much Ado About Dying [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile]. Mario Steenbergen was noticed for editing Journey Through Our World [+see also:
film review
film profile] – with the movie itself also named Best Dutch Film – as was Paul Guilhaume for lensing Paradise [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile].

Angie Vinchito’s Manifesto – a Russian production – was named the winner in the Envision Competition. “This film is an outcome of the digital era, of an entire generation of children whose reliable outlet for their intimacies, fears and desires is social media,” said the jurors. “The filmmaker blew us away with his ability to structure and edit the found footage of these individual voices into a powerful collective choir. Dark at moments, the film is a humorous yet heart-wrenching portrait of a lost generation under a dictatorial regime.”

In the same competition, Roberta Torre won Best Director for The Fabulous Ones [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Roberta Torre
film profile], and the Award for Outstanding Artistic Contribution went to Ishtar Yasin Gutiérrez for My Lost Country. A Special Mention went to Notes for a Film by Ignacio Agüero.

Darren Emerson won the IDFA DocLab Award for Immersive Non-Fiction for In Pursuit of Repetitive Beats. The Special Jury Award for Creative Technology went to Miri Chekhanovich and Edith Jorisch for Plastisapiens.

Here is the full list of award winners:

International Competition

IDFA Award for Best Film
Apolonia, Apolonia [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Lea Glob
film profile] - Lea Glob (Denmark)

IDFA Award for Best Directing
Much Ado About Dying [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] - Simon Chambers (Ireland/UK)

IDFA Award for Best Editing
Mario Steenbergen - Journey Through Our World [+see also:
film review
film profile] (Netherlands)

IDFA Award for Best Cinematography
Paul Guilhaume – Paradise [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] (France/Switzerland)

Envision Competition

IDFA Award for Best Film
Manifesto - Angie Vinchito (Russia)

Award for Best Directing
Roberta Torre - The Fabulous Ones [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Roberta Torre
film profile] (Italy)

Award for Outstanding Artistic Contribution
My Lost Country – Ishtar Yasin Gutiérrez (Costa Rica/Iraq/Chile/Egypt/France)
Special Mention
Notes for a Film – Ignacio Agüero (Chile/France)

IDFA DocLab Competition for Immersive Non-Fiction

IDFA DocLab Award for Immersive Non-Fiction
In Pursuit of Repetitive Beats - Darren Emerson (UK)

Special Jury Award for Creative Technology
Plastisapiens - Miri Cherkhanovich, Edith Jorisch (Canada/Israel)

IDFA DocLab Award for Digital Storytelling
He Fucked the Girl Out of Me - Taylor McCue (USA)

Special Jury Award for Creative Technology
His Name Is My Name - Eline Jongsma, Kel O’Neill (Netherlands)

IDFA Competition for Short Documentary

IDFA Award for Best Short Documentary
Away - Ruslan Fedotow (Hungary/Belgium/Portugal)
Special Mention
The Porters - Sarah Vanagt (Belgium)

IDFA Competition for Youth Documentary

IDFA Award for Best Youth Film (14+)
Home Is Somewhere Else - Carlos Hagerman, Jorge Villalobos (Mexico/USA)

IDFA Award for Best Youth Film (9-13)
Ramboy - Matthias Joulaud, Lucien Roux (Switzerland)
Special Mention
Jasmin’s Two Homes - Inka Achté, Hanna Karppinen (Finland)

IDFA Award for Best First Feature
The Etilaat Roz - Abbas Rezaie (Afghanistan)
Special Mention
Guapo’y - Sofia Paoli Thorne (Paraguay/Argentina)

IDFA Award for Best Dutch Film
Journey Through Our World - Petra Lataster-Czisch, Peter Lataster
Special Mention
Inside My Heart [+see also:
interview: Saskia Boddeke
film profile] - Saskia Boddeke (Netherlands)

Beeld & Geluid IDFA Reframe Award
Private Footage - Janaína Nagata (Brazil)
Special Mention
The March on Rome [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Mark Cousins
film profile] - Mark Cousins (Italy)

IDFA Forum Award for Best Pitch
Niñxs - Kani Lapuerta (Mexico)

IDFA Forum Award for Best Rough Cut
The Tuba Thieves - Alison O’Daniel (USA)

IDFA DocLab Forum Award
We Speak Their Names in Hushed Tones - Omoregie Osakpolor (Nigeria/South Africa)