10/03/2015 - East Doc Platform 2015, which took place in Prague last week, offered not only traditional workshops, pitching and networking sessions for documentary filmmakers, but also new awards

Noemi Veronika Szakonyi and Julianna Ugrin, receiving the award for Afterglow

For the first time ever, this year the East Doc Platform (EDP) Development Award of €7,500 was announced by the organiser, the Institute of Documentary Film (IDF). The international jury granted it to the Hungarian project Afterglow (dir: Noemi Veronika Szakonyi; prod: Julianna Ugrin). One of the jury members, Jo Lapping, commented on the decision: “We chose a film that we felt had the potential to cross borders and work on many levels. A family drama, a historical thriller and a personal quest for the truth. Its trailer worked well as a teaser and gave a great sense of the director's ambition with real visual flair.” The qualities of the project were confirmed when another award was granted to it, as it was chosen to be co-produced by HBO Europe. The general media partner of EDP, Czech Television, granted its Post-production Award to People from Nowhere (dir: Jaak Kilmi; prod: Antra Gaile).

The Golden Funnel Award, worth €1,000, was given to the Estonian project Working on Title (dir: Aleksandr Heifets; prod: Eero Talvistu), as it was the project that developed the most during the Ex Oriente Film Workshop. The same title caught the eye of the IDF’s partners from DOK Leipzig, who handed it the DOK Leipzig Co-Production Meeting Award.

Yorinde Segal bestowed the IDFA Forum Award upon the new Bulgarian project by Vesela Kazakova and Mina Mileva, The Beast Is Still Alive [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile]. Both directors and producers will thus attend the IDFA Forum 2015. The Docs Barcelona Award, which enables filmmakers to introduce their project at the pitching forum in Spain in May, was given to The Good, the Bad and the Living (dir: Ksenia Okhapkina; prod: Riho Västrik - Estonia/Germany).

The organisers of the EDP believe that all the support given by means of these awards will end up making a great contribution to the best of Eastern and Central European documentary filmmaking.