/press release 2019

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The Viewpoint Documentary Film Festival Ghent kicked off its 11th edition with a full house for the premiere of 'Doel' by Frederik Sǿlberg, a Danish documentary on the Belgian ghost town Doel. According to the jury 'a beautiful view on the absurdity of life' and 'nicely shot and great characters'.

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During the course of the festival filmgoers could catch 30 feature and short documentary films — selections from among the 1,200 submissions the festival received this year from 69 different countries. Special guests of this year's festival included Frederik Solberg, Rob Maas, Lander Haverals, Annick Timmermans and Bénédicte Liénard who all introduced their work during the festival.

 

The 2019 Viewpoint Documentary Film Festival Ghent prize winners are:

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Best Documentary Feature Film Award - MIDNIGHT RAMBLERS (FRANCE) BY JULIAN BALLESTER

Night after night, Kye, Tobie, Paul, Kim and Tattoo wander through the streets and alleys of Montreal. They support each other, and they are all drug users.

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Best Belgian Documentary Feature Film Award – KEV (BELGIUM) BY CLEMENCE HEBERT

Kevin is a child who runs away, breaks things, cannot speak, has a partly cut-off ear. The type of autism he suffers from is said to be so severe that most institutions refuse to care for him.

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Best Documentary Short Film Award – TUNGRUS (INDIA) BY RISHI CHANDNA

A middle-class suburban Mumbai household. A once adorable chick has survived his early days and grown into a hell-raising, willful rooster.

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Best Belgian Documentary Short Film Award – VAARHEIM (BELGIUM) BY VICTOR RIDLEY

Out Skerries Island, 70 inhabitants. Following the closure of the high school and the fish farm, Julie sees her family split and her house emptying. Powerless.

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Best Experimental Documentary Film Award – PAIN IS MINE (AUSTRALIA) BY FARSHID AKHLAGI

One day, One room, One take. After her spinal surgery, she was always in pain, intense pain, unendurable pain. Painkillers have been her refuge for a long time, but one day, she decided to stop.

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Best Hybrid Documentary Feature Film Award – BY THE NAME OF TANIA (BELGIUM) BY MARY JIMENEZ & BENEDICTE LINEARD

Based upon real testimonies, this hybrid film tells the story of Tania, a teenage girl who is forced into prostitution in the gold mining regions of Peru.

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Best Hybrid Documentary Short Film Award – COMMENTS (GERMANY) JANNIS ALEXANDER KIEFER

Real commentary from YouTube is interpreted and presented afresh in different chapters. Actors embody the protagonists of the virtual conversations and give them human form.

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Best Photography Award – SHOOTING CROWS (SWITZERLAND) BY CHRISTINE HÜRZELER

A park in the fog. Crows flap and caw in the sky. A homeless man sleeps between the trees. A woman disappears. Now and then a crow is shot.

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Best Script Award – THE HOOD IS A MOVIE (NETHERLANDS) BY JUDITH DE LEEUW

This film starts out as a inquiry into the history of a cabin in the Dutch town of Den Helder where a group of men of the Dutch Antilles came together in 'the hood'.

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Best Editing Award – MISSED CALL (UNITED KINGDOM) BY VICTORIA MAPPLEBECK

Shot on an iPhone X, Missed Call explores my relationship with my teenage son, as we discuss how we'll reconnect with his father, who's been absent for a decade.

 

Thanks to all filmmakers for sharing their amazing work!