'God Bless The Child' wins at CPH:DOX

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CPH:DOX (Nov 5-15), Copenhagen’s festival of documentary cinema, has revealed its award winners for 2015, with God Bless The Child taking the top prize.

Robert Machoian & Rodrigo Ojeda-Beck’s film, which follows four young boys and their 13-year-old sister who are left to their own devices in their Californian home, was presented with the DOX:AWARD, including a prize of $5400 (€5000).

The prize’s jury was composed of Elena Fortes, director of Ambulante, a non-profit organization working to support and promote a documentary film culture in Mexico; Miguel Valverde, festival director and programmer at IndieLisboa; Jim Kolmar, film Programmer for SXSW; Bernie Krause, professional musician turned soundscape ecologist and author; and Katja Adomeit, producer and freelancer for Corpoduction Office Denmark.

Regarding their decision, they stated: “Establishing an otherworldly tone of extraordinary realism and a near magical evocation of family dynamics, the winning film reveals a mastery of observational rigor, and an uncanny willingness to expand the limits of documentary form.”

A DOX:AWARD special mention was made for Uncertain, Ewan McNicol and Anna Sandilands’ film about a tiny town on the border between Texas and Louisiana.

The F:ACT AWARD, which is given to an outstanding film that sits on the edge of documentary and investigative journalism, was presented to Hemal Trivedi and Mohammed Ali Naqvi for their film Among The Believers, a portrait of a jihadist school in Pakistan.

A special mention was given to (T)error, Lyric R. Cabral and David Felix Sutcliffe’s film about the war on terror.

The NORDIC:DOX award, presented to the best Nordic documentary, went to Mika Taanila and Jussi Eerola’s Return Of The Atom, about Finland’s construction of the first nuclear power plant in the West since the Chernobyl disaster.

A special mention was given to Ane Hjort Guttu’s Time Passes, a filmic artwork that was installed at London’s South London Art Gallery June-September this year.

Elsewhere, David Sington’s The Fear Of 13 won the Politkens Audience Award, which comes with a prize of $7000 (€6500) and means the film will be theatrically released in Denmark, and Elvira Lund won the Reel Talent Award, which comes with a prize of $3500 (€3250).

FULL LIST:

DOX:AWARD
God Bless The Child, dir. Robert Machoian and Rodrigo Ojeda-Beck

Special mention to Uncertain, dir. Ewan McNicol and Anna Sandilands

F:ACT Award
Among The Believers, dir. Hemal Trivedi Mohammed Ali Naqvi

Special mention to (T)error, dir. Lyric R. Cabral and David Felix Sutcliffe

NORDIC:DOX Award
Return of the Atom, dir. Mika Taanila and Jussi Eerola

Special mention to Time Passes, dir. Ane Hjort Guttu

NEW:VISION Award
Shared between Bending To Earth, dir. Rosa Barba, and The Digger, dir. Ali Cherri.

Politkens Audience Award
The Fear of 13, dir. David Sington

Reel Talent Award
Elvira Lund