AJB DOC 23

The AJB DOC Main Award went to When Spring Came to Bucha by Mila Teshaieva and Marcus Lenz. The Al Jazeera Balkans Program Jury Award was presented to Nick Read and Ayse Toprak for My Name is Happy. Special Recognition Awards went to Pure Unknown, by Valentina Cicogna and Mattia Colombo, and Flotation, directed by Alesandra Tatić and Eluned Zoe Aiano.

Parma-based filmmaker Matteo Ferrarini explains that Spring in Mariupol (screening in Competition in AJB Doc) is intended to give a very different perspective on the Ukrainian war than that provided by most of the western mainstream media. Many western journalists visited Mariupol during the siege but most left after a couple of days. Maurizio stayed put for the whole of the spring, he tells BDE, trying to understand what the city’s residents were enduring. The siege lasted until late May.

Does the subject or ‘star’ of a documentary really know what they are signing up for before agreeing to have their story told? Will the experience be cathartic or will ongoing public exposure determine that the trauma they have hitherto suffered will continue, or even intensify. Jennifer Tiexiera and Camilla Hall’s new film, five years in the making, talks to the subjects of some the most celebrated documentaries of recent years who reflect on their experiences of being in front of the camera.

After a change in Latvian law, Una tries to trace her sister who went missing decades ago during their adoption process. But then Una discovers that she has not one but four sisters, all scattered across the world. Her dramatic story is told in the new doc My Mother, The State by Ieva Ozolina. “Our goal is to deliver to the audience a moving human story which turns into a personal investigative journey,” says producer Madara Melberga.