Prize Money at Record 79,000 Euros

The Golden Doves of the 55th International Leipzig Festival for Documentary and Animated Film were presented on Saturday night. A total of 16 prizes were awarded during the closing festivities in Leipzig’s Central Theater, with a record 79,500 euros of prize money having been awarded during the festival week.

The prestigious Golden Dove in the International Competition Documentary Film went to COLOMBIANOS by the Swedish filmmaker Tora Mårtens. The 10,000 euro prize money was provided by TELEPOOL GmbH. The Silver Dove was given to the Bulgarian director Ilian Metev for SOFIA’S LAST AMBULANCE. Metev had won the Talent Dove in Leipzig four years ago and used the prize money to finance his new film.

The Golden Dove for best animated film, which comes with a cash award of 5,000 euros, was given to FATHER, a film produced by Ivan Bogdanov, Moritz Mayerhofer, Veljko Popovic, Asparuh Petrov, Rositsa Raleva and Dmitry Yagodin.

The Golden Dove in the German Competition – also worth 10,000 euros – went to Gerd Kroske (Berlin) for his film HEINO JAEGER – LOOK BEFORE YOU KUCK.

The Talent Dove of the Media Foundation of Sparkasse Leipzig was awarded to the two Austrian filmmakers Severin Fiala and Veronika Franz for their portrait film KERN. The 10,000 euro prize money is intended as seed money for the recipients’ next documentary project.

In the International Short Documentary Competition, BOUCHBENNERSCH OTTO. VOM UMGANG MIT ANDERSARTIGKEIT(BOUCHBENNERSCH OTTO. HOW TO TREAT DIFFERENTNESS) received the Golden Dove. Director Janina Jung (Cologne) will receive a cash prize worth 5,000 euros.

The 8,000 euro Healthy Workplaces Film Award, sponsored by the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work, was awarded to PABLO’S WINTER by Chico Peirera. The 3,000 euro MDR Film Prize for an outstanding East European documentary was given to PRIVATE UNIVERSE by Helena Třeštiková (Czech Republic). The DEFA Sponsorship Award for an outstanding German documentary, a scholarship worth 4,000 euros, went to Mario Schneider (Halle) for his film MANSFELD (THE MAN'S FIELD). The 2,000 euro Goethe Institute Documentary Film Prize was given to David Sieveking for VERGISS MEIN NICHT (FORGET ME NOT). With a cash award of 2,000 euros, the Prize of the Ecumenical Jury was awarded to Olivier Zuchat for LIKE STONE LIONS AT THE GATEWAY INTO NIGHT.

The FIPRESCI jury awarded its prize to ANOTHER NIGHT ON EARTH by David Muñoz (Spain). The film was also presented with the Prize of the Trade Union ver.di, which comes with a cash award of 2,500 euros. The Youth Jury Prize of the Leipzig Film School was presented to Andy Wolff for his film DER KAPITÄN UND SEIN PIRAT (THE CAPTAIN AND HIS PIRATE). The mephisto 97.6 Audience Award went to Emma de Swaef and Marc James Roels (Belgium) for their animated film OH WILLY...

More Information: www.dok-leipzig.de