the flats

Source: CPH:DOX

‘The Flats’

Alessandra Celesia’s The Flats scooped the main Dox:Award prize at CPH:DOX in Copenhagen this evening (Friday, March 22).

The film depicts a run-down Belfast housing estate, where echoes of conflict in Northern Ireland still haunt the lives of the residents.

Scroll down for the full list of winners

The Flats is a co-production between France’s Films de Force Majeure, the UK’s Dumbworld Productions, Ireland’s Planet Korda Pictures and Belgium’s Thank You & Good Night Productions.

The CPH:DOX jury praised it for “not only creative and conceptual daring, but a filmmaker with the humility to realise when the story outgrows its framework, and the confidence to follow where it and its fantastically vivid characters lead.”

France’s The Party acquired world sales rights on the film last month. Belfast-based Italian filmmaker Celesia has previously made documentaries including 2017’s Locarno entry Anatomy Of A Miracle.

The Flats was one of several UK co-productions awarded at the CPH:DOX ceremony, with Jacob Perlmutter and Manon Ouimet’s Two Strangers Trying Not To Kill Each Other receiving a special mention in the Dox:Award section.

The film, following an elderly artist couple dealing with mortality, is produced by the directors’ UK company Manon et Jacob, with Danish doc stalwarts Final Cut for Real.

Aura Satz’s UK-Finland co-production Preemptive Listening, exploring the function and iconic value of the siren, won the main award in the New:Vision section. Sasha Litvintseva and Beny Wagner’s UK-Netherlands co-production My Want of You Partakes Of Me received a special mention in the same strand, as did Ondrej Vavrecka’s Czech-Slovak title Lichens Are The Way.

The inaugural Human:Rights award was won by Shiori Ito’s Black Box Diaries, which debuted at Sundance Film Festival in January; while the F:Act prize went to Alina Simone’s US title Black Snow

Following its documentary award and Panorama documentary audience award wins at the Berlinale, Israel-Palestine documentary No Other Land picked up the CPH:DOX audience award.

CPH:DOX gave out its industry prizes yesterday (Thursday, March 21), with Ukrainian project Timestamp among the winners. The festival continues until Sunday, March 24. 

CPH:DOX 2024 winners

Dox:Award – The Flats (Fr-UK-Ir-Bel) dir. Alessandra Celesia
Special mention – Two Strangers Trying Not To Kill Each Other (UK-Den-US) dirs. Jacob Perlmutter, Manon Ouimet

F:Act award – Black Snow (US) dir. Alina Simone

Nordic:Dox award – The Son and the Moon (Den) dir. Roja Pakari
Special mention – G – 21 Scenes From Gottsunda (Swe-Den) dir. Loran Batti

New:Vision award – Preemptive Listening (UK-Fin) dir. Aura Satz
Special mention – Lichens Are The Way (Cze-Slovak) dir. Ondrej Vavrecka
Special mention – My Want Of You Partakes Of Me (UK-Neth) dirs. Sasha Litvintseva, Beny Wagner

Next:Wave award – Grand Me (Bel-Ire) dir. Atiye Zare Arandi
Special mention - G – 21 Scenes From Gottsunda (Swe-Den) dir. Loran Batti

Human:Rights award – Black Box Diaries (Jap-US-UK) dir. Shiori Ito
Special mention – Marching in the Dark (Bel-Neth-India) dir. Kinshuk Surjan

Audience award – No Other Land (Pal) dirs. Rachel Szor, Yuval Abraham, Basel Adra, Hamdan Bilal

Inter:Active award – Intangible (Den) dir. Carl Emil Carlsen