Zoya Laktionova’s Ukrainian documentary Ashes Settling In Layers On The Surface took home the €20,000 Eurimages co-production development award at the Visions du Reel industry awards.
The film uses personal archives, historical documents and contemporary footage to tell the story of a family in Mariupol, living through destruction and restoration.
The jury said Ashes Settling “celebrates an ambitious artistic proposition emerging from a deeply personal invitation to travel into a modern industrial fairytale shaped by lived experiences, physical memories of a city that is political, intimate and imagined at the same time.”
Comprising the jury were Eleni Chandrinou (Eurimages), Gianluca Matarrese (director), and Tamara Tatishvili (head of Hubert Bals Fund)
Further winners included Andrea Suwito’s A Distant Call which won the Visions Sud Et award worth €10,000. A UK-Indonesian-French co-production, the film explores gender fluidity in indigenous Indonesian communities.
The VdR-industry jury gave out several awards across the VdR-Pitching and VdR-Works in Progress showcases with the top prize, worth €3,242, going to Natyvel Pontalier’s I Eat With Two Hearts from France and Belgium.
The industry programme gave out 16 prizes overall, worth over €85,000.
VdR-industry winners 2025
Eurimages Co-production Development award
Ashes Settling In Layers Of The Surface (Ukr-Fr)
Dir. Zoya Laktionova
Visions Sud Et award
A Distant Call (UK-Indo-Fr)
Dir. Andrea Suwito
Visions du Reel award
I Eat With Two Hearts (Fr-Bel)
Dir. Natyvel Pontalier
Visions du Reel Special Mention
Anamiga (Fr)
Dir. Raphaële Benisty
RTS award
I Eat With Two Hearts (Fr-Bel)
Dir. Natyvel Pontalier
Tënk post-production award
Time Hunter (US-Ger-Namibia)
Dirs. Daniel Chein, Mushiva
Tënk opening scenes award
Homunculus (It)
Dir. Bonheur Suprême
The Party Film Sales award
Time Hunter (US-Ger-Namibia)
Dir. Daniel Chein, Mushiva
Lightdox award
Jaripeo (US-Fr-Mex)
Dirs. Efraín Mojica, Rebecca Zweig
Unifrance Doc award
Alea Jacarandas (Fr-Alg)
Dir. Hassen Ferhani
Mase Studios award
Put Your Soul On Your Hand And Walk (r)
Dir. Sepideh Farsi
Cannes Docs award
Time Hunter (US-Ger-Namibia)
Dir. Daniel Chein, Mushiva
Dok Leipzig award
The Big Boom (Switz)
Dir. Gabriel Tejedor
No Nations Films award
Field Notes (Ger)
Dir. Daniel Asadi Faezi, Mila Zhluktenko
AIDC award
The Stimulation (Fr)
Dir. Justine Harbonnier
DAE Encouragement award
Field Notes (Ger)
Dir. Daniel Asadi Faezi, Mila Zhluktenko
No comments yet