DOK Leipzig Honors MDM-Funded Films

MDM-funded films scooped up a total of four awards at the 64th edition of the Leipzig International Festival for Documentary and Animated Film, which ended yesterday.

"Among Us Women" by Sarah Noa Bozenhardt, which had its world premiere in the International Competition, received an Honorable Mention by the jury. It praised the documentary about Northern Ethiopian midwives’ determined fight against patriarchal structures for its "cinematic tenderness, intimacy, and for the tremendous trust the filmmaker enjoyed among the protagonists".

The paint-on-glass animation film "The Crossing" by Florence Miailhe (Competition for Audience Award) received the award "Gedanken-Aufschluss" (roughly: "Unlocking of the Mind"). The winner of this award was chosen by inmates of the juvenile detention center of Regis-Breitingen.

The documentary "Nasim" by Ole Jacobs and Arne Büttner, which received MDM funding for the "screening and presentation" stage, was featured in the German Competition, where it won two awards: the DEFA Sponsoring Prize, worth 4,000 euros, and the Prize for Solidarity, Humanity and Fairness (sponsored by ver.di, a labor union), worth 2,500 euros.

Among the films having their German premiere at DOK Leipzig were also "Cat and Bird" by Franka Sachse (Kids DOK section), a short film animated using the cutout technique and produced by Leipzig-based Ulrich Seis Mediengestaltung, and the documentary "Cabinets of Wonder" by Susanne Kim, produced in Leipzig by Neufilm.